September 23, 1922] 



NA TURE 



425 



botanic gardens of the time. Plant collectors were 

 despatched to various countries, the first being Francis 

 Masson, who went to South Africa in 1772. 



After the death of George III. as well as that of 

 Banks in 1820, the gardens gradually declined in effi- 

 ciency and repute, until at the accession of Queen 

 Victoria there was a serious danger of their disappear- 

 ance altogether as a botanic establishment. However, 

 a committee of inquiry, headed by John Lindley. 

 'reported strongly in favour of their continuance and 

 further development, and in 1840 their control was 

 vested in the Commissioners of Woods and Forests. 

 In 1841. Sir William Hooker was appointed director, 

 and thus was inaugurated the second great period in 

 the history of Kew. 



• During the last eighty years the area devoted to 

 botany and horticulture has increased from about 

 15 acres to 288 acres. Its work as the botanical centre of 

 the British Empire and for the distribution of economic 

 plants to all our colonies and possessions is well known. 

 To the public generally it is, of course, best known as a 

 popular resort. Nor must its place as a training school 

 in horticulture be forgotten, especially for curators of 

 Colonial and Indian Botanic Gardens and superin- 

 tendents of public parks at home. No better testi- 

 mony of its value to the Empire can be adduced than 

 that of Joseph Chamberlain, then Colonial Secretary, 

 in the House of Commons on August 2, 1898 : " I do 

 not think it is too much to say that at the present time 

 there are several of our important colonies which owe 

 whatever prosperity they possess to the knowledge and 

 experience of, and the assistance given by, the authori- 

 ties at Kew." 



In pure botany its chief work has been the preparation 

 and publication of Floras of British possessions — a 

 botanical survey of the Empire. Bentham and 

 Hooker prepared their " Genera Plantarum " at Kew, 

 and the monumental " Index Kewensis " was compiled 

 there. The Herbarium contains some 2,500,000 

 specimens and the library upwards of 24,000 volumes. 



Turning to the more conspicuous objects in the 

 accompanying illustration, the one that catches the 

 eye first is the Pagoda (A). This was erected by Sir 



William Chambers in 1 761-2 ; it has ten storeys and 

 is 163 feet high. From its summit the Crystal Palace 

 is usuallv visible and, with a favourable atmosphere, 

 Windsor Castle. During the coal strike in the spring 

 of last year all the more lofty buildings as far as St. 

 Paul's could be seen. 



The Temperate House (B) is a structure of three main 

 compartments, the large central one, built in 1862, 

 being devoted largely to the cultivation of Australian 

 and New Zealand trees and shrubs, the smaller ones, 

 built 1897-1899, to Himalayan and subtropical ones. 

 The North Gallery (D) contains 848 paintings of flowers 

 and tropical and subtropical vegetation by the late 

 Marianne North ; both the paintings and the buildings 

 were presented by her to Kew in 1882. The Flagstaff 

 (K), which appears merely as a dark streak in the 

 illustration, was presented by British Columbia, and 

 is 214 feet high, 2 feet 9 inches in diameter at the base, 

 1 foot in diameter at the summit ; at the time of its 

 erection in October 1919 it weighed 18 tons. 



The Palm House (F), where tropical plants, such as 

 palms, cycads, pandanads, bamboos, and bananas, are 

 grown, is an iron structure built 1844-1848. It is 

 362 feet long and 66 feet high in the centre. The 

 Orangery (H) is one of Chambers's buildings and was 

 erected in 1761. The orange trees originally housed 

 there were transferred to Kensington Palace in 1841, 

 soon after Kew became public property. It is now 

 known as Museum III. and contains exhibits of exotic 

 timber and miscellaneous objects. 



Kew Palace (I), once known as the Dutch House, is a 

 red brick, Jacobean dwelling, built by Samuel Fortrey 

 in 1631. By his grandson it was sold to Sir Richard 

 Levett, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1700, and in 

 1781 it was purchased from the Levetts by George III., 

 who used it as a dwelling for himself and his large family 

 when the Court was at Kew. His sons, the Dukes of 

 Clarence and of Kent, were married in one of the rooms, 

 and his wife, Queen Charlotte, died there November 17, 

 1818. It is now open to the public who visit the 

 Gardens, but is not attached in any scientific sense to 

 the establishment, containing only mementoes of the 

 Royal Family. 



Obituary. 



Dr. R. H. Codrington. 



IN the fulness of years, at the age of ninety-two. 

 Dr. R. H. Codrington, the apostle of Melanesia, 

 has passed away. After a distinguished Oxford career 

 he became Fellow of Wadham ; soon after, he joined 

 Bishop Patteson and afterwards lived with Bishop 

 Selwyn at Norfolk Island. After thirt)-two years' 

 service in the Melanesian mission he returned to 

 England and became vicar of Wadhurst and Pre- 

 bendary of Chichester. A friend who knew him well 

 describes him as "the soundest of scholars, kindliest 

 of teachers, most practical of saints, most genial and 

 tolerant of friends." He will be remembered as the 

 first and greatest ethnologist and linguist who studied 

 the people of Melanesia. His fame rests on two great 

 hooks — "' The Melanesian Languages," and " The 

 Melanesians, their Anthropology and Folk-lore," 

 published by the Oxford Press in 1855-1891. The 



NO. 2760, VOL. I io] 



former laid the foundation of the scientific knowledge 

 of the speech of that region ; the second is invaluable 

 to the anthropologist as giving the first and fullest 

 account of religious beliefs. Dr. Codrington was also 

 the discoverer 'of the principle of Mana, which has 

 played a leading part in the exploration of savage 

 religion since he made it known to the world. 



The Chemiker Zeitung for September 5 announces 

 the death on August 7 of Prof. Emilio Noelting, 

 for many vears Director of the Chemical School at 

 Mulhausen." Prof. Noelting was an authority on 

 dye-stuffs ; he was born on June 8, 1851, at Porta 

 Plata, San Domingo, and after studv at Zurich he took 

 up his position at Mulhausen in 1S80. In the issue 

 for September 9 of the same journal the death is 

 announced of Prof. E. Bergmann. director of the 

 Chemisch-Technische Reichsanstalt, Berlin. 



