50 THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN 



mend, and use, than hurriedly to throw aside. 

 We may feel chilly without them ! 



The virtue of viper's fat is still firmly believed 

 in, and used in country districts. " Brusher 

 Mills," a Caliban of modern days, who, a few 

 years ago, lived under the trees in the New 

 Forest, and caught snakes for the Zoological 

 Gardens, found a ready sale for the fat of 

 vipers he killed in the autumn. Whether 

 the fat of vipers has, or has not, a virtue, 

 absent from the fat of other animals, it would be 

 difficult to say. Happily there is not enough of 

 it to allow of any extensive trial. 



During his last years at the Manor House at 

 Chelsea he felt, as old people do, the loneliness 

 of life. He must have made many friends 

 older than himself men from whom he could 

 learn. They had all gone. John Ray, half a 

 century before, had written a touching farewell 

 letter to his " best of friends." Even his 

 contemporaries had gone. Like Tithonus, 

 " cruel immortality " seemed to oppress 

 him. 



His treasure house, with its wonders of 

 nature and man's art, was some consolation ; 

 and George Edwards (the librarian at the 

 College of Physicians a Natural History artist, 

 and author of the best book on birds of its 

 date) came once a week to see him and bring 

 news. Then in 1753 he suddenly dropped, 

 as he said he would, " like a ripe fruit," and 

 the consumptive boy passed away just before 

 reaching his 93rd birthday. 



His great and varied collection, which he 

 valued at 80,000 (the gold and silver coins and 



