668 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1749- 



The greatest velocity of spring tide in Orkney, in the channels where it runs 

 quickest, is about 9 miles an hour: the greatest velocity of neap tide is about 

 one third or fourth of spring tide. The tides are most rapid commonly between 

 the third and fourth hour. Spring tides acquire a considerable degree of strength 

 in less than one hour after their quiescent state begins ; neap tides are hardly 

 sensible in 2 hours after. 



Some Account of the Remains of John Tradescant" s* Garden at Lambeth. By 

 Mr. JV. Watson, F.R.S. N°492, p. 160. 



Upon a visit made to Mr. John Tradescant's garden at South Lambeth, May 

 21, 1749, by Dr. Mitchell and Mr. Watson, were observed the under-menli- 

 oned exotic plants. 



* " John Tradescant (says Dr. Pulteney, in his work entitled " Historical and Biographical Sketches 

 of the Progress of Botany in England,") was by birth a Dutchman, as we are informed by A Wood. 

 On what occasion, and at what period he came into England, is not precisely ascertained. He is 

 said to have been for a considerable time in the service of Lord Treasurer Salisbury, and Lord 

 Wotton. He travelled several years, and into various parts of Europe; as far eastward as into 

 Russia. He was in a fleet that was sent against the Algerines in 162O, and mention is made of his 

 collecting plants in Barbary, and in the isles of the Mediterranean. He is said to have brought the 

 trifolium stellatum Lin. from the island of Fermentera ; and his n.ime frequently occurs in the 

 second edition of Gerard, by Johnson ; in Parkinson's Theatre of Plants, and in his Garden of Flowers 

 printed in l656". But I conjecture, that Tradescant was not resident in England in the time of 

 Gerard himself, or known to him. He appears however to have been established in England, and 

 his garden founded at Lambeth ; about the year 16'29, he obtained the title of gardener to Charles 

 ihe First. Tradescant was a man of extraordinary curiosity, and the first in this country who made 

 any considerable collection of the subjects of Natural History. He had a son of tlie same name 

 who took a voyage to Virginia, from whence he returned with many new plants. They were the 

 means of introducing a variety of curious species into this kingdom ; several of which bore their 

 name. Tradescant's spiderwort, Tradescant's aster, are well known to this day; and Linnaus has 

 immortalized them among the Botanists, by making a new genus, under their name, of the spider- 

 wort, which had before been called ephemeron. His museum, called Tradescant's ark, attracted 

 the curiosity of the age, and was much frequented by the great, by whose means it was also much 

 enlarged, as appears by the list of his benefactors, printed at the end of his Museum Tradescantianum ■ 

 among whom, after the names of the king and queen, are found many of the first nobility. This 

 small volume the author entitled " Museum Tradescantianum, or a Collection of Rarities preserved at 

 South Lambeth, near liondon, l6"56," 12mo. It contains lists of his birds, quadrupeds, fish, shells 

 insects, minerals, fruits, artificial and miscellaneous curiosities, war instruments, habits, utensils 

 coins, and medals. These are followed by a catalogue, in English and Latin, of the plants of his 

 garden, and a list of his benefactors. Prefixed to this book were the prints of both father and son 

 which, from the circumstance of being engraved by Hollar, has rendered the book well known to 

 the collectors of prints, by whom most of the copies have been plundered of the impressions. In 

 what year Tradescant died is not certain, but his print represents him as a man advanced in age 

 The son inherited the museum, and bequeathed it by a deed of gift to Mr. Ashmole, who loclwed in 

 Tradescant's house. It afterwards became part of the Ashmolean Museum, and the name of 7'ra- 

 descant was unjustly sunk in that of Ashmole. John, the son, died in 1 662. His widow erected a 

 a curious monument, in memory of the family, in Lambeth church yard." 



