THE CHELSEA ‘ PHYSICKE 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 Pharmacopedists 
“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 1787, 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 
Linné, better known as Linneus. 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 Linnzus 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. Linneus 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 Linneus thither. He only visited two botanic 
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