AMSTERDAM. 217 



mentioned as an exception, a beautiful specimen gracing 

 one of these subterranean repositories. 



The hardy plants were formerly arranged after the me- 

 thod of Royen of Leyden ; but, about ten years ago, the 

 present Professor, Dr Vrolik, made a new arrangement of 

 them, according to the Linnean classes and orders, and al- 

 so prevailed on the authorities of Amsterdam considerably 

 to enlarge the boundaries of the garden. There is a sepa- 

 rate arrangement of plants indigenous to Holland ; and its 

 Flora, when thus concentrated, makes a respectable appear- 

 ance. 



As a matter of course in a Hortus Medicus, a division 

 is allotted to plants used in medicine. The medical ar- 

 rangement is indeed extensive, embracing all the more 

 hardy species which have ever been recommended in the 

 practice of physic, although comparatively few of them now 

 enter even the pharmacopoeias of the Dutch Provinces. 

 The tallies are clumsily large, and, in genuine Dutch taste, 

 painted red and white : after all, they have only numbers 

 marked on them, not the names of the plants ; but there 

 is a printed catalogue for the use of the students *. 



The collection of succulent exotics is ample, and may be 

 regarded as the boast of the Amsterdam Garden. It is 

 rich in the genera Aloe, Agave, and Stapelia, and in the 

 the natural orders Cacti, Euphorbias, and Ficoideae. Two 

 very large specimens of American Aloe, in vases, form or- 

 naments at the gate. In the collection, we observed Aloe 

 diaphana, and large plants of A. arborescens and ferox. 

 Our notice was likewise attracted by a monstrous variety 

 of Stapelia hirsuta, resembling, in its mode of growth, the 



* ♦' Catalogus Plantarum Medicinalium in Horto Medico Amstelodami," 

 .published by Mr Holtrop in Kalverstraat. 



