Xiv THE HISTORY OF THE BOTANICAL MAGAZINE 
the first edition of the Hortus Kewensis; W. Forsyth, his 
successor at Chelsea, and afterwards gardener to the King 
at Kensington; and his son Charles, the first Curator of 
the Cambridge Botanic Garden. Of his literary works, his 
Gardeners’ Dictionary gained him a European reputation, 
and was translated into Dutch, French and German. Li 
nzeus said of this book, ‘“‘ Non erit Lexicon Hortulanorum, 
sed Etiam Botanicorumn.” The first edition was published 
in 1731, and there are ten English editions, and there are 
also French, German and Dutch editions. 
Toe Founper oF THE “ Botanica, MAGAZINE” 
was William Curtis, born at Alton, Hampshire, in 1746, the 
son of a master tanner, and a member of the Society of 
Friends. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to his 
grandfather, an apothecary of the same town, and at the 
expiration of his apprenticeship he went to London, and 
entered the service of Mr, Talwyn, in Gracechurch Street, 
and later succeeded him in the apothecary’s business ; but 
his botanical pursuits interfered so much with his profes- 
sional duties that he was not very successful. He early 
acquired a taste for botany in a singular manner. The 
house adjoining his father’s at Alton was an inn, and an 
ostler, named James Lagg,’ employed there, was versed in 
the study of Gerard and Parkinson’s Herbals. From him 
Curtis received his first lesson in botany, and soon after 
some books of a more scientific character came in his way, 
by means of which he laid the foundation of a profession 
that brought him fame and fortune. 
After neglecting his medical practice to such an extent 
that it was worth little, he disposed of it, and devoted him- 
self entirely to botany. In 1773 he was appointed Botanic 
Demonstrator to the Society of Apothecaries at Chelsea, the 
post having been given up in his favour, according to Dr. 
Thornton,’ by William Hudson, the author of the well-known 
Flora Anglica. But, on the authority of Field, Hudson 
resigned in the spring of 1771, and Mr. Stanesby Alchorne, 
who had been connected with the Society for some years, 
officiated as Honorary Demonstrator for nearly two years, 
During his term of office this gentleman seems to have 
' Field, Memoirs of the Botanic Garden at Chelsea, p. 81. 
* J. E. Smith, in Rees’ Cyclopedia. 
* In a Sketch of the Life and Writings of the late Mr. William Curtis, 
p. 6. This biographical sketch is more sympathetic than it is exact in 
minor details. 
