NOTICES OF BOOKS AND MEMOIRS. 379 



Nottcts of lioofts antr iJltmotvi^. 



Memoirs of the Botanic Garden at Chelsea, belontjing to the Society of 

 Apothecaries of London. By tlie late Henry Field, Esq. 

 Eevised, coiTected, and continued to the present time, by 

 E. H. Semple, M.D. London : printed by Gilbert and 

 Eivington. 1878. 

 The editor of this interesting history of the old Chelsea Garden 

 may be congratulated on the happy manner in which he has 

 executed his work, and carried on its memorials to the present 

 day. Mr. Field's original book was printed in 1820, and though 

 fifty-eight years is but a short time in the history of a city 

 company, yet this period has seen such an extension of London 

 westward that the Apothecaries' Physic Garden is now completely 

 within its bounds, and subject to all the baneful influences of its 

 smoke-laden atmosi)here. The formation a few years back of the 

 Chelsea embankment has still further altered the physical cha- 

 racters of the garden, and destroyed completely the picturesque 

 river front. In spite of all changes, however, the Society has 

 steadfastly held on to their tenure, and continued, at a large cost, to 

 kee^) up the scientific character of their garden. It must be allowed 

 that the Society deserves well of botanists, and has contributed 

 largely in the past, often in the face of difficulties and discourage- 

 ments, to foster and facihtate the study of plants. That it is still 

 animated by the same sj)irit is evidenced by the i)resent state of 

 the garden and by the examination for women founded in this year. 

 The book is much fuller than Field's, and contains a portrait 

 of Sir Hans Sloane, the donor of the land, a charming view of the 

 garden from the river, several plans, and a complete hst of the 

 plants cultivated at the present time, di-awn up by the well-known 

 curator, Mr. Thomas Moore. The only want is an index of 

 names of persons mentioned in the book. There are several inte- 

 resting biographical sketches of botanists who have been connected 

 with the garden, the last being that of Mr. N. B. Ward, who 

 took a prominent i^art in restoring and maintaining it in a state 

 of scientific efficiency. The memoii' of Mr. Thomas Wheeler, for 

 forty-two years Demonstrator of Botany to the Society, is written 

 with much freshness, evidently from personal remembrance. Dr. 

 Semple has indeed clearly been animated throughout by a love of 

 his work, and has given us a little book which cannot fail to be 

 read with interest and pleasure. H. T. 



Anthopht/ta quce in Japonia leyit beat. Emayiuel Weiss, Med. Dr. et 



qu(E museo nationali himc/arico ^jroc?t/'«fzt Joannes Xanthus, 



mus. nat. conserv., enumerat Augustus Kanitz. Buda- 



Pesth. 1878. 



This is a simple enumeration, with localities, of the plants 



gathered by the A ustro- Hungarian Expedition in Japan. Scarcely 



