MfSCEM,ANEOUS INTET.UGBNCK. 113 



THE GARDENS 



OF THB 



ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY OF LONDON, 



INNER CIRCLE, REGENT'S PARK. 



(Continued from page 94.) 



The arrangement of this portion of the objects of the society has been 

 confided to an architect possessing considerable taste and judgment in lavino- 

 out ornamental grounds ; and it is needless to say that he has complied with 

 the utmost expectations of the enlightened promoters of the society. The 

 geographical and physical distribution.of plants is to be preserved as much as 

 possible, and a necessary accessary is the application of national architecture 

 in the buildings devoted to the production of individual countries. Other 

 artistical decorations, as statues and vases, will also be employed as far as 

 possible ; and it is saying much in praise of the objects of the society, that 

 only in this department, without going into any unnecessary expence, they 

 may powerfully contribute to the cultivation of public taste. While the 

 several ornamental edifices will present a synopsis of the various styles of 

 architecture, a proper selection of statues and vases, would afford all the 

 benefit of a gallery or museum. This would give the public an opportunity 

 of becoming acquainted with the best production of the several schools, and 

 the elucidation of this ohject should be by no means omitted in the catalogue 

 of the gardens. The selections might include casts of the several styles of 

 Egyptian art, and of the finest ancient and modern specimens of the several 

 Greek, Italian, French, and English schools. Whether these are classed in 

 the general catalogue, or formed into a separate volume, the descriptions 

 should contain sufficient information of the works and their artists, and the 

 base of every figure should have inscribed the name of the artist, and date 

 and style of the work. 



The plants are to be arranged according to the two great systems of clas- 

 sification, the artificial and the natural ; and will likewise be disposed in 

 such a manner as may be useful to every class of botanist. The artificial 

 system, is that of Linnaeus, founded on the visible organs of plants, while it 

 presents great faciliiies of reference, is too loose for any strict classification, 

 and resembles the old method of animal arrangement, which in its difinition 

 of quadrupeds included in the same class of animals, reptiles, and excluded 

 cetaceae. The natural system formed, by Jessieu, is founded upon the con- 

 stitutional differences of plants, and establishes as clear a distinction between 

 the several classes, as in animal tribes the distinction between warm and 

 cold blooded. The adoption of this latter system is of almost universal 

 preference in all continental gardens founded upon improved principles, and 

 is well calculated, by its introduction here, to impress the student with the 

 importance of studying the organic constitution of plants. 



The circle is proposed to be distributed into compartments, for the recep- 

 tion of the several plants indigenous to Europe, Asia, Africa, America, Aus- 

 tralia, and the Polar Regions. These again are proposed to be subdivided 

 into gardens, in illustration of the style of ornamental gardens of the several 

 countries of the great divisions. 



At the entrance of the grounds from the grand drive leading from the 

 Colosseum a building will be erected, devoted to the general business of the 

 Society, and containing a library, museum, and rooms tor study. The library 

 will consist of botanical works and periodicals, and to it will be annexed a 

 reading room for the use of fellows and members. The museum will contain 

 dried specimens, drawings, and engravings of recent plants, and specimens 

 of fossils, and it would augment the value of these latter if they were accom- 

 panied by such recent plants as are identical to them, or have the nearest 

 relation. It will farther contain illustrations of the application of vegetable 

 Vol. VII. No. 75. o 



