382 BOTANY : ITS POSITION AND PEOSPECTS 



a thing for Kew, but we are still young, and have far too 

 much to do to complete what we have on hand. 



Were a Herbm. not necessary to Kew, I would say at 

 once let my Father's go to the B. M., but it is impossible 

 to work scientifically a garden of 20,000 to 30,000 species, 

 and name the hundreds of things sent to us to name, with- 

 out a first-rate Herbarium and Library here, as good as ever 

 the B. M. ought to be made. The seeds sent are often to be 

 known only by the accompanying dried specimens which 

 go into the Herbarium, and the latter becomes in a thousand 

 ways an indispensable adjunct to the Garden and reciprocally 

 (by being the depository of the plants once cultivated in 

 the Garden) an integral part of the estabhshment, and a 

 record of its progress and efforts, its successes and failures 

 as a horticultural estabhshment, all quite apart from its 

 scientific uses. 



The offer of other botanical collections to Oxford and 

 Cambridge, neither of which was enthusiastic, had already 

 given opportunity for pushing the cause of science in the 

 older Universities, where it was still of small account. The 

 Fielding and Lemann collections were on offer, but there 

 were difficulties to be overcome. Thus * The Fielding Her- 

 barium,' 1 he writes to Harvey in January 1852, * is to be 

 offered to Oxford upon conditions of good keep, accessibility 

 and extension : terms which I think Oxford won't agree to.' 

 Moreover the question of extra-mural Trustees and their duty 

 after the collections had been accepted was a thorny one, 

 aHke to Sir W. Hooker, who had been nominated, and to the 

 University as legatee. 



I cannot help thinking [he writes to Bentham, Feb. 5, 1852] 

 that these Legacies may be the means of instilling new hfe 

 into the Universities; the conditions being reasonable. A 

 proper representation backed perhaps by P. A. [Prince Albert] 

 as Chancellor, with the offer of such a Herb, as Fielding's 

 or Lemann's, should do wonders, especially as, in future, a 



^ Henry Borron Fielding, a country gentleman whose health prevented 

 him from taking any active share in scientific life, devoted himself to botany. 

 He purchased Dr. Steudel's herbarium in 1836 and the Prescott collection in 

 1837, bequeathing his entire herbarium and many books to Oxford on his 

 death in 1851. 



