INTRODUCTION. 



11 



&c., the whole being systematically arranged for ready 

 reference. Formerly such collections were called a 

 " Hortus siccus," or dry garden, now " Herbarium." 

 Part of the natural history collection of Sir Hans 

 Sloane which laid the foundation of the British 

 Museum, consisted of a Hortus siccus, to which have 

 been successively added the collections made during 

 the voyages of Captain Cook and subsequent ex- 

 plorers, as well as that left by the will of the late Sir 

 Joseph Banks. 



Second in importance to the British Museum collec- 

 tion, if not first in regard to number of species, is that 

 of tl)e late Sir William Hooker, which has by purchase 

 lately become the property of the nation. It occupies 

 the whole of the house formerly the residence of the late 

 King of Hanover at Kew. Both these collections are 

 free to the public, that is, to botanists or persons wishing 

 to examine specimens for a special purpose. In con- 

 nexion with these two herbariums, museums for ex- 

 hibiting the products of plants have also been formed, 

 those at Kew having been established in 1847, by the 

 late Sir William Hooker, through whose indefatigable 

 zeal, assisted latterly by Dr. Hooker (now director), a 

 most extraordinary collection has been brought together, 

 occupying three large buildings; the whole of the 

 specimens are arranged in their respective families, also 

 named and described, and in many cases their uses 

 illustrated by articles of manufacture. These, with the 

 herbarium, libraries, and living plants form a phyto- 

 logical collection worthy of the nation, which, with the 

 garden and museum collections of Oxford, Cambridge, 

 Edinburgh, and Dublin, as also the herbarium of the 

 Linneean Society in London, furnish materials for the 



