viii PREFACE 







part of the nineteenth century. Only within the last few 

 years has it been included in the list of University institutions 

 in that publication. And, strangely enough, this recognition 

 has coincided with the residence of the Secretary to the 

 Delegates of the University Press in a house overlooking it. 

 The Garden has never since been absent from the list of 

 institutions in the Calendar ; but in the Historical Registers 

 of the University of Oxford up to and including the year 1900 

 it has no place. Now, however, when recognised, its descrip- 

 tion is misleading. In the most recent and revised edition 

 of the "Student's Handbook" it is mentioned as "the first 

 piece of public ground set apart in this country for the 

 scientific study of plants." Now, the ground is not what is 

 commonly understood as public property, and never was; 

 it is part of the corporate estates of Magdalen College, leased 

 to the University for the benefit of medical, horticultural, and 

 botanical science. 



In the face of omission from publications that are so often 

 referred to as authoritative and official, it is hardly surprising 

 that we should not have found adequate mention of the 

 Garden elsewhere. A few instances : The reader of a recent 

 address on the growth and development of the Oxford Medical 

 School made no mention of her ancient Medical Garden, 

 founded for the cultivation of " phisical simples." Again, on 

 the occasion of a visit of the Managers of the Royal Institution, 

 the oldest Botanic Garden in England was the only University 

 institution of importance omitted from the list of objects 

 worthy of their notice. In the best of small guides to Oxford 

 and its colleges, there is no allusion to the Garden, although 

 there is a whole chapter devoted to the University collections. 

 Professor Vines has pointed out that the very date of the 

 foundation of the Garden is in most cases inaccurately stated, 

 being wrong by a decade. And lastly, it happened a few days 

 ago that we came across a new book with the alluring title, 



