84 THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN 



cherished by their predecessors, and when they 

 found how numerous a body of medical 

 students were still anxious to profit by it 

 (500 having applied for admission during the 

 past summer) they resolved that a vigorous 

 effort should be made to render it efficient." 



They thereupon voted 700 and an extra 

 annual grant. 



Necessary repairs were carried out, improve- 

 ments made, and John Ray's valuable collec- 

 tion of dried plants, each one sewn on a sheet of 

 old hand-made paper neatly labelled and in- 

 dexed, was handed over to the British Museum 

 for greater safety a welcome gift. A few 

 years later it was agreed that women students, 

 accompanied by responsible teachers, should 

 have access to the Garden, and that annual 

 prizes should be offered them. 



Nathaniel B. Ward, the inventor of " War- 

 dian " cases, who had been examiner for 

 prizes, was the moving spirit in this heroic 

 rally. He seems to have been a man of gentle 

 and attractive character from childhood a 

 devoted lover of Nature and though practising 

 (as his father had done) among the poor in the 

 East of London, was to be seen on fresh, early 

 summer mornings before his work began 

 and the world was afoot among the wild 

 flowers and birds on Wimbledon Common, 01 

 Shooters Hill. 



It seemed unfortunate that a devoted botan- 

 ist should be living amid streets so unfavourable 

 to the growth of flowers ; but the misfortune 

 brought about the great discovery of the 

 " Wardian " case. 



