44 THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN 



But Sir Hans Sloane was not an indiscrim- 

 inate giver. He took care that the Garden should 

 not remain in idle, or in inefficient hands ; 

 so a stipulation was made that every year, for 

 forty years, fifty specimens of plants (all grown 

 in the Garden, and no two alike), carefully 

 dried, mounted and named, should be sent to 

 the Royal Society. This ensured that 2,000 

 different species of trees, shrubs and flowers 

 would be grown in the Garden during that 

 time. The agreement was faithfully kept. 1 

 Another condition was made that if the Garden 

 was not kept up as a Physic Garden it should 

 be offered to the Royal Society, and if the 

 Royal Society refused to take it, to the College 

 of Physicians under the same conditions, and 

 if the physicians refused, it should revert to 

 Sir Hans Sloane 's heirs. 



That, too, was a wise precaution, for it kept 

 any future generation of Apothecaries, in w r ant 

 of funds to meet some unexpected expenses, 

 from the temptation to sell such a valuable 

 building site. 



1 More than 3,000 were sent to the Royal Society ; they are 

 now carefully preserved in the Natural History Museum. 



