CHAPTER IV 



Sir Hans Sloane ; born in North of Ireland ; delicate boy ; 

 attends lectures at Apothecaries' Hall, Chelsea Physic Garden, 

 Paris and Montpellier ; accompanies Duke of Albemarle to 

 Jamaica ; returns with large collection of Flora and Fauna ; 

 practises as a physician in Bloomsbury ; created a baronet by 

 George I ; purchases the Manor of Chelsea ; dies in 1753, 

 leaving his collection (under conditions) to form a British Museum. 

 Horace Walpole a trustee. Statue placed in Physic Garden. 

 Sloane had saved the Physic Garden, and the right of residents 

 in Chelsea to use King's Road. 



IT is evident that it is to Sir Hans Sloane, 

 beyond all others, that the Physic Garden owes 

 its existence at the present day. 



Hans Sloane was born in 1660 in County 

 Down, Ireland, where his father a Scotch- 

 man was Receiver- General of Taxes. His 

 mother was a daughter of Dr. Hickes, Preben- 

 dary of Winchester. Hans, the youngest of 

 seven brothers, was an intelligent child, devoted 

 to Natural History ; but, at sixteen, all studies 

 were cut short by an attack of haemorrhage from 

 the lungs due no doubt to tubercle, " con- 

 sumption " being at that time the prevalent 

 plague in Ireland. 



His illness was a blessing in disguise. 

 Paradoxical as it seems, his long and successful 

 life may have been partly due to this early 

 attack of a dangerous malady. He was laid 

 up for three years the drawn sword over his 

 head painfully visible. During that time he 



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