72 THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN 



no more effect than the offer of a silver spoon 

 or an inkstand would have on a frightened dog. 

 But the coast was claimed for England, and 

 the spot where the plants were dried was 

 named Botany Bay. 



Cook's ship returned to Deal in 1771. The 

 next year saw Banks in Iceland, climbing to the 

 top of Hecla , and bringing back from its desolate 

 slopes a cargo of lava for the Physic Garden. 



The adventures and dangers he went through 

 gave him a fellow-feeling for all explorers ; 

 so that, when President of the Royal Society, he 

 insisted that the collection and diaries of 

 French travellers, which our cruisers captured 

 in the war, should be returned to France 

 unopened generosity warmly acknowledged by 

 Cuvier. 



He lived till 1820 leaving to the British 

 Museum his magnificent library. 



Sir Joseph Banks was a type of the old-world 

 naturalist, who, like Gilbert White, Petiver, 

 Sloane and others, took all Nature as his 

 province. Such men must have lived a more 

 joyous life than many a naturalist of the 

 present day, condemned to search diligently in 

 some little corner of life, and strain his eyes 

 to learn what his microscope can teach him. 



The old naturalist lived much in the open air 

 full of love and admiration for the beauty, mystery 

 and infinite variety of Nature. New forms of 

 life were for ever being presented to him none 

 came amiss tropical flowers and rare birds, 

 wonderful shells and gorgeous butterflies, 1 



1 The writer has water-colour drawings, made in 1784, of rare 

 butterflies in Sir Joseph Banks' collection. 



