12 INTRODUCTION 



glasshouse on either side, which were not badly warmed by the 

 sun, and where plants were protected from cold. In summer 

 they were used for forcing. The whole appearance was satis- 

 factory. Bobart complained that two years previously he had 

 lost many plants through frost, to which Herr D. Biittner 

 answered very neatly, that that cold winter had done much 

 injury to Botany, for it had not only removed very many plants, 

 but also three eminent Botanists, Tournefort in Paris, Hotton 

 in Leyden, and Trionfetti in Rome. 



" Bobart showed us an Amygdalum Nanum Aegyptiacum flore 

 pleno, saying that when it first arrived, Mr. D. Hermann of 

 Leyden was with him in Oxford, and when he saw the plant his 

 eyes filled with tears and he called out, ' That is my plant.' 

 And that was quite true ; for the ship with it and with many 

 other plants which he had himself collected with the greatest 

 trouble in India, had been captured by a French privateer, and 

 a selection of them found their way to Oxford." We are glad 

 to think that Bobart restored a few to the possession of their 

 rightful owner, Mr. Hermann. Uffenbach also noticed a small 

 stone basin in the middle of the small garden, in which some 

 green thing floated on the water. Bobart asked him if he did 

 not know the saying Vilior alga, for this was an Alga which 

 grew floating in the water. 



The less critical Dr. John Ayliffe, however, gave the Garden 

 a better character in 1714,* stating that it contained many 

 thousands of plants " for the Use and Honour of the University ; 

 serving not only for Ornament and Delight and the pleasant 

 Walking and Diversion of Academical Students and of all 

 Strangers and Travellers ; but of great use also, as is easily 

 found, among all Persons willing to improve their Botanical 

 inclinations and studies ; and for the pleasant Contemplation 

 and Experience of Vegetative Philosophy, for which is here sup- 

 posed to be as good Convenience as in any Place of Europe 

 (if not the best) and also for the service of all Medicinal Prac- 

 * " The Antient and Present State of the University of Oxford," 1714. 



