48 THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN 



dead." They, no doubt, agreed that 

 pius should keep his serpent to himself ! 



Sloane and his collection arrived safely in 

 England, and Evelyn reported on it in his 

 diary : 



" April 16, 1691. I went to see Dr. Sloane 's 

 curiosities, being an universal collection of 

 the natural productions of Jamaica, consisting 

 of plants, fruits, corals, minerals, stones, earth, 

 shells, animals and insects, collected with 

 great judgment ; several folios of dried plants, 

 and one which had about 80 sorts of ferns, 

 and another of grasses ; the Jamaica pepper in 

 branch, leaves, flower, fruit, etc. This col- 

 lection, with his journal . . . very copious 

 and extraordinary, sufficient to furnish a history 

 of that Island." 



A history of the island was published by 

 Sloane some years afterwards -two large 

 volumes with nearly 300 engraved plates. It 

 had been preceded by a Catalogus Plantarum 

 in 1696. 



Sloane settled in London, took a house in 

 Great Russell Street, near the very spot to 

 which, after his death in 1753, his great col- 

 lections were moved. He became physician to 

 Christ's Hospital (to which he returned the 

 salary he received), and secretary of the 

 Royal Society, of which he revived the " Trans- 

 actions." He married Mrs. Rose, widow of a 

 wealthy Jamaica magnate, took an M.D. degree 

 at Oxford, received honours from several 

 foreign Academies, and was appointed Physician 

 to Queen Anne. 



