WILLIAM CURTIS 75 



Among those who are susceptible, a love of 

 botany can be caught like measles. Curtis 

 caught it from John Lagg, an ostler at the 

 Crown Inn at Alton, who knew his Parkinson 

 and Gerard well. Curtis became a devoted 

 botanist, lectured at Apothecaries Hall as well 

 as at the Physic Garden, began his Flora 

 Londiniensis plants growing within ten miles 

 of London with large folio plates of flowers 

 beautifully drawn and coloured, showing their 

 very life and habit of growth a work too costly 

 to allow of its being continued beyond the sixth 

 volume. He then started the Botanical 

 Magazine, which at once became popular. 

 From 1787 it was continued month after month, 

 not only through Curtis' lifetime, but up to 

 the present day. 1 Its author could not have 

 dreamed that it would still be appearing on the 

 bicentenary of Sir Hans Sloane's gift of the 

 Garden. 



By 1793, seeds for the Garden had been 

 contributed liberally by Sir Joseph Banks, and 

 also by Sir James Smith, the founder of the 

 " Linnean Society." Seeds and bulbs also 

 came in from St. Lucia, Sierra Leone, Port 

 Jackson, Cape of Good Hope and Madrid. 

 Loam was obtained from the Duke of North- 

 umberland at Sion House, and black mould 

 from Lord Spencer, Lord of the Manor of 

 Wimbledon. 



But there was more urgent need of funds 

 than of rare seeds, so in 1815 an additional tax 

 on the Apothecaries was again proposed and 



1 In a bookseller's catalogue just received there is a note : 

 " Curtis' Botanical Magazine, from 1787 to 1915, with over 

 8,000 coloured plates, 190." 



