76 THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN 



agreed to, although three years afterwards the 

 barge had to be given up, and the barge-house 

 let to the proprietor of the Swan brew-house. 



Instruction in botany meantime went on 

 without hindrance. Since the time of the 

 gallant Thomas Johnson the editor of Gerard's 

 Herball botanical excursions to see wild plants 

 growing among their natural surroundings had 

 formed an important part of the Apothecaries' 

 training. 



It was the duty of the Demonstrator to be the 

 leader of these parties. Five times a year, 

 during the summer, the apprentices and other 

 students met early in the morning. No one 

 was allowed a great coat or umbrella, but 

 each one carried a tin box slung over his 

 shoulder ; and there was an attendant, with a 

 larger box for larger plants, following the party. 

 Sometimes they would tramp through the fields 

 of Islington to the wilder country of Hampstead 

 Heath ; sometimes they would cross the river, 

 and wander through Battersea fields, where 

 Fritillaries then grew, as they still grow in the 

 meadows below Oxford, and where that curious 

 plant, the Water Soldier, hid itself in the 

 Battersea ditches. Wandsworth, Putney and 

 Hammersmith were favourite districts for the 

 herborizers, for the banks of the Thames were 

 then gardens of wild flowers, and the Inn at 

 Putney a convenient spot for dinner and talk. 

 Then the tin boxes would be opened, and the 

 plants laid out on the table, to be named, 

 classified, and have their medicinal values 

 explained. But many plants had already fallen 

 from their great estate ; the Potentilla was no 



