380 A SKETCH OF THE PROGRESS OF 



the Charterhouse ; he, nevertheless, found time to correspond with natur- 

 alists in all parts of the world, and to form a large museum of specimens in 

 all departments of science. In 1697 Petiver's collection of plants numbered 

 'between 5 & 6 thousand different specimens ' (Sloane MSS. 3333, fol. 255). 

 Neither did he neglect home botany, making frequent expeditions to Hamp- 

 stead and the neighbourhood, with his friends Doody and Buddie. In 

 1699* we find him visiting Eay, now past seventy years old, at Black Notley 

 in Essex. 



The Gazophyladum Naturm et Artis, of which the first part was published 

 in 1702, was of a similar character to the Museum already mentioned, con- 

 sisting of descriptions of objects of natural history, in octavo. Each ' decade,' 

 however, was accompanied by ten plates. Two volumes (of five decades) 

 were published, the last decade appearing in 1709. ' Catalogues,' or 

 indices, to each volume were subsequently printel. The work was pub- 

 lished by subscription, and each plate is dedicated to a subscriber. The 

 mingling of birds, snakes, insects, plants, fossils, and even antiquities, 

 with an occasional impossibility,t gives these plates a most unscientific 

 appearance. 



Petiver contributed to the third volume of Eay's Historia, in 1704, lists 

 of little known Asiatic and African plants. Of these, Dr. Pulteney 

 remarks that they will ' remain a lasting testimony of the early and extreme 

 diligence of this indefatigable collector.' 



In 1707, the year after Doody's death, the Society of Apothecaries, of 

 which Petiver was an active member, being in difSculties with respect to 

 the Physic Garden at Chelsea, he, together with Messrs. Wyche and Andrews, 

 were appointed to inspect it. A plan was ultimately agreed upon by which 

 a lease was made out between the Society on the one part, and twenty mem- 

 bers (amongst whom were Petiver, Rand, and Joseph Miller) on the other 

 part, who agreed to subscribe 100/. or more per annum, to keep the garden 

 in repair, for seven years from Michaelmas 1707. The lease was granted 

 for 5/. per annum ; but the plan does not seem to have answered. | Petiver 

 ' ofifieiated as demonstrator of plants to the Society as early as 1709, but 

 how long prior to that period cannot now be ascertained. He probably 

 resigned it to, or at least was assisted in that ofiice by, Mr. Eand.' § 



In 1707 Petiver commenced a monthly periodical called, The Monthly 

 Miscellany ; or, Memoirs for the Curious . . . by several hands. As it seems 

 to be exceedingly scarce, || a brief account of it will be of interest. The 

 first volume, from January to December 1707, contains nothing botanical 

 except a review of the first volume of the Gazophylacium. In the June and 

 July numbers of the second volume (1708) is a paper ^ by 'J. P.' entitled 

 'Mr. John Eay, his method of English Plants illustrated; in a letter to 



* Sloane MSS. 4039, fol. 275. 



t Such as the ' Papilio ' in tab. 10, fig. 6, named by LinnEeiis EccUpis. 



t Field's Memoirs of the Bolanick Garden ai Chelxea, p. 21. § Ibid. p. 2.5. 



II The only complete (?) copy we have seen is in the British Museum Library {PP. 5420). 



% The MS. of this is in Sloane MSS. .3337, ff. 20-25. 



