195 
Chelsea Physic Garden.— The following account of the re- 
organisation of this old Botanic Garden is extracted from the 
Times of April 18, 1899 :— 
“ The garden was established by the Society of Apothecaries in 
1673. In the first instance, the ground was apparently leased by 
them from Lord Cheyne as a site in which to keep the ornamental 
barge that was a usual appanage of a City Company at that period, 
but at least a portion of it was almost immediately devoted to 
the culture of herbs for the use of the Society’s laboratory. From 
the beginning the Apothecaries evidently felt its expenses a 
serious burden on their resources. Some 40 years after it was 
established, they approached Sir Hans Sloane, who had purchased 
the manor of Chelsea from Lord Cheyne in 1712, with the desire 
of obtaining his assistance, and the outcome was that i n 1722 he 
granted them the land for ever in consideration of a yoxiy rent 
of 425 to the end that * The said gardens may at all times hereafter 
** be continued as a Physie Garden, and for the better encouraging 
* and enabling the said Society to support the charge thereof, for 
* the manifestation of the power, wisdom and glory of God in 
* the works of the Creation, and that their apprentices and others 
* may better distinguish good and useful plants from those that 
* bear resemblance to them and yet are hurtful, and other the 
“like good purposes." 
The grant further — that, if the conditions were not 
fulfilled, or if the Society should at any time convert the garden 
into buildings for habitation, or to any other uses save such as 
were necessary for a Physie Garden, it should be lawful for 
Sir Hans Sloane, his heirs and assigns to enter upon the premises 
and hold them for the use and benefit of and in trust for the 
Ro oyal E or if that body refused ico — the duties entailed, 
then in trust for the College of Physicians of London, subject to 
the same vendidos as those aliy charged on the Apothe- 
caries. 
In spite of these very clearly-expressed intentions on the part 
of Sir Hans Sloane, who may in a sense be regarded as the 
“pious founder" of the garden, on several occasions the alienation 
of the place to other ses has been distinctly contemplated. 
r purpo 
In 1893 the Apothecaries formally applied to the Charity Com- 
missioners with the intention of getting their trusteeship dis- 
continued. In the absence of any Sore Some Ll aes 
rises to the garden (with the ee of two bequests of 
£200 and £100 respectively) the cost of m stia fell heavily 
on their corporate revenues. Moreover, it was ur on their 
behalf that, as a botanic Cei the place er neither merit 
nor attraction, a nd that it was impossible to galvanize it into a 
state of active A: Ver taion re Thes had carried it on 
of recent years, they said, only in the hope that it might be 
utilized for other purposes, and because of its potential value, the 
latter being the reason why rather than relinquish it they would 
prefer to a Be it to become a wilderness. In this connection, it 
may be mentioned that the value of the site, which extends to 
about 3} acres, is estimated at fully £50,000 as a freehold 
property. 
