CHAPTER VIII 



South wall built on Chelsea Embankment. Thomas Moore, 

 curator. Garden passes to Charity Commissioners. Trustees 

 of London Parochial Charities undertake its management. 

 Rebuilding of curator's house, laboratory, lecture-room, green- 

 houses. Present work on botanical research. Teachers and 

 students. Advantage of some knowledge of botany. 



COMPENSATION for loss of access to the river 

 was paid to the Society, and the money spent 

 on building the present south wall with its 

 iron gates. The work of the Garden was 

 carried on as before but with diminishing 

 zest. London had crept far into the country 

 on all sides, and had long since put an end to 

 botanical excursions. Botany had become a 

 less important part of medical training. Ex- 

 penditure on the garden had to be curtailed, 

 and the Garden inevitably relapsed into 

 " winter sleep." Thomas Moore, the curator, 

 lived there for years among his ferns, and wrote 

 books on them. It became a neglected Garden, 

 with the damp smell of slow decay. Better 

 far open common, where dead wood can be 

 trodden into earth, and the dead leaves swept 

 by the wholesome wind. 



Neither the Royal Society nor the College 



of Physicians would accept the reversion of 



the Garden, so, soon after Moore's death, 



the Apothecaries finally and sorrowfully 



9 6 



