6 MEMOIR OF SIB HANS SLOANE, BART. 



So great was the admiration of these extraordinary novelties, that 

 many of them were purloined by the curious visitors, to the no 

 small vexation of their learned proprietor. " When I returned," 

 says Dr. Sloane, f from Jamaica, I brought with me a collection of 

 dried specimens of some very strange plants, which excited the curi- 

 osity of the people who loved things of that nature to see them, 

 and who were welcome, till I observed some so very curious as to 

 desire to carry part of them privately home with them, and injure 

 what they left. This made me upon my guard with them." 



He was chosen secretary to the Royal Society in 1693, when he 

 revived the publication of its Transactions, which had been for some 

 years suspended, and continued to edit them till 1712. In 1696 he 

 published his Catalogus Plantarum Insulce Jamaica;, etc., which he 

 dedicated to the Royal Society and the College of Physicians. 

 Laudari a laudato viro is always an honour to be coveted ; and, on 

 this occasion, it was justly awarded to him by his friend Mr. Ray, 

 who in the Philosophical Transactions, has ably dilated upon the 

 value and importance of this masterly work. About this time, Dr. 

 Sloane established a Dispensary, the first known, for supplying the 

 poor with medicines at prime cost. His eager pursuit of natural 

 history, amidst all his other employments, never ceased to enrich 

 his collection with every thing curious and valuable that this or any 

 other country could produce; and in 1701 his Museum was consi- 

 derably increased by the purchase of Mr. Courten's large collection, 

 on condition that he should pay certain legacies and debts with 

 which it was charged. This duty he strictly performed, although 

 the amount to be paid rendered the purchase a dear one. In 1694, 

 Dr. Sloane was chosen physician to Christ's Hospital, which ap- 

 pointment he held for thirty-six years, and exhibited a rare exam- 

 ple of munificence by devoting the whole of the money he received 

 to the benefit of such objects in this establishment as most needed 

 his assistance. Two years afterwards he married Elizabeth, 

 daughter of Alderman Langley, of London, who died in 1724, 

 after she had brought him one son (who died at an early age) and 

 three daughters, the youngest of whom died, also, in her infancy. 

 Sarah, the eldest, married George Stanley, Esq., of Poultons, in the 

 county of Hants ; and Elizabeth, the second, married the Right 

 Hon. the Lord Cadogan, colonel of the second regiment of horse 

 guards, and governor of Tilbury Fort and Gravesend.* 



* By the act of incorporation of the British Museum (26th of Geo. II.), 

 Lord Cadogan and Hans Stanley, Esq., were appointed family trustees, and 

 the present Earl Cadogan and Lord Stanley are now the representatives of 

 this trust. 



