THE CHELSEA " PHYSIGKE GARDEN " 



the same in England, and it also erected a statue to Sir Hans 

 Sloan, by a German sculptor one Michael Rysbrach. This, 

 when finished, at the cost of 280, was placed in front of the new 

 hot-house, but was subsequently removed to its present position 

 at the junction of several of the principal walks. It is a dignified 

 presentment of a distinguished man, but, unfortunately, only a 

 distant view of it appears in my drawing. The Latin inscription 

 on the pedestal sets forth that the Society of Pharmacopaedists 

 " being sensible how necessary this branch of science is to the 

 faithful discharging of the duty of their profession, with grateful 

 hearts, and general consent, ordered this statue to be erected in 

 the year of our Lord 1733 ; that their successors and Posterity 

 may never forget their common Benefactor. Placed here in the 

 year 1737, Sir Benjamin Rawlins, Knight, master." The names 

 of the wardens are also appended. 



The year that saw the erection of the Statue to Sir Hans Sloan 

 was made additionally memorable in the annals of the Physic 

 Garden by the visit to it of the great Swedish botanist, Carl von 

 Linne, better known as Linnaeus. Before his time botany was 

 a chaotic assemblage of facts ; he left it a definite science. His 

 lectures at the university of Upsala afterwards drew men from 

 all parts of the world ; the normal number of Students there was 

 500, but whilst Linnaeus occupied the chair of Botany, it rose 

 to 1,500. 



At the period of his arrival in England the illustrious Swede was 

 barely thirty years of age, and although as yet comparatively little 

 known out of his own country, he brought with him such warm 

 recommendations from scientists in Holland to Sir Hans Sloan 

 and others, that it is curious that the great man of Chelsea received 

 him coldly. However, at the Physic Garden he had a better 

 reception ; Philip Miller, F.R.S., considered the first botanical 

 gardener of his time, who was in authority there for forty-eight 

 years, had apparently more discernment than his patron, and 

 more quickly recognized budding genius. Linnaeus writes in 

 his diary : " ' Miller of Chelsea ' permitted me to collect many 

 plants in the garden and gave me several dried specimens collected 

 in South America." 



Thus the fame of the Chelsea garden was now so great that it 

 had sufficed to draw Linnaeus thither. He only visited two botanic 



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