1755.] DOCTOR GARDEN. 391 



very acceptable, as will also be any of your country seeds of plants, 

 or shrubs ; some of which are hardy enough to endure our severe 

 winters. Of the Catalpa, I have enough from Dr. Witt. Very 

 few of those seeds thee sent me, came up ; only the Indica, and 

 the Thea, which I find to be a Sida ; two or three plants of a 

 smooth, oblong, thick, shining leaf, growing opposite. Pray, what 

 is your Palmetto royal ? How high doth it grow, before it bears 

 fruit ? which is very pretty tasted. I am apt to think I have three 

 come up. The leaves are shining, something like parsley, and 

 grow opposite. 



I hope thee art fallen into good business : being so much con- 

 fined in town, I shall be glad if it don't endanger thy health. 



As to the sudden changes of heat and cold, in your climate, as 

 well as ours, I suppose they are caused by our open exposition to 

 both. As we are situated so near the open sea, and southern 

 heats, so we are also exposed to the greatest extremity of the 

 northern blasts, a little tempered by the intermediate heat in ade- 

 quate degrees to the power and progress of the southern currents 

 of air : for I can't find that there is, in all North America, any 

 chains of mountains so high as to intercept the currents of the air 



obscure departments of Zoology especially Fishes and Reptiles were his con- 

 stant resources for amusement and health, amid the sometimes overwhelming 

 duties of his profession, and the inconveniences of a delicate constitution. In 

 Natural History he was, throughout, a zealous and classical Linncean. No one 

 welcomed the publications of the Swedish luminary, from time to time, with more 

 enthusiasm, or was better able to appreciate them; for he had felt by experience 

 the insufficiency of preceding systems of Botany, and had been, in consequence, 

 near giving up the science in despair. 



When the political disturbances of America came on, Dr. Garden took part 

 with the British government ; and, like many others, suffered a very considerable 

 loss of property. He returned to Europe, about the end of the war, with his wife 

 and two daughters, residing for some years in Cecil Street, in the Strand. A 

 pulmonary consumption, confirmed by the effects of sea-sickness, terminated his 

 life, April 15, 1791, in the sixty-second year of his age. His son conformed to 

 the new American government, and remained in Carolina. 



The cheerful, benevolent character of Dr. Garden is conspicuous in his letters. 

 His person and manners were peculiarly pleasing ; and he was a most welcome 

 addition to the scientific circles in London, as long as his declining health 

 would permit. In compliment to his botanical attainments and services, his 

 friend, Mr. Ellis, dedicated to his name that elegant and delightful shrub, the 

 Gardenia florida, commonly called Cape Jessamine, of which so many other species 

 have been since discovered, that it is now one of the most extensive, as it is cer- 

 tainly one of the most beautiful and fragrant genera in the whole vegetable 

 kingdom. Smith's Linncean Correspondence. 



