THE HERBARIUM AND LIBRARY hi 
ment of the natural orders and genera of flowering plants, the 
Herbarium follows the Genera Plantarum of Bentham and Hooker. But 
the species of each genus are arranged geographically ; 
for instance, the rhododendrons of India are put together, 
as are those from China and Japan, those from Europe, etc. For 
the purposes of this arrangement the globe is separated into eighteen 
geographical divisions. 
The beginning and early development of the Library at Kew 
coincided with those of the Herbarium. It was founded in 1853 
The Lib r by gift °f Dr. Bromfield’s books, and was largely 
augmented in 1854 by George Bentham’s presentation 
of his library, which contained more than a thousand volumes. It 
has since been made as complete as possible by gift, exchange, and 
purchase. The most important purchase was that of Sir William 
Hooker’s library in 1866. At the present time the Kew Library 
consists of about 23,000 volumes. These in the main, of course, deal 
with botany, especially that branch of botany which treats of the 
classification of plants. But it includes as an incidental feature a 
collection of books of travel, containing more or less botanical matter. 
These amount to 1,100 volumes. Though the books are mainly those 
essential for carrying on the practical work of the establishment, 
the early authors, whose writings are chiefly of historical interest, 
are well represented. The ancient history of the science may be 
regarded as dating from the time of Theophrastus Eresios, a Greek 
philosopher, who was born in 371 B.c. Writings attributed to him 
were first printed in Greek at Venice, but the work bears no date. 
Dated editions from the famous press of Aldus Manutius appeared 
in 1495 and 1498. In 1483 a Latin translation by Gaza was pub- 
lished, and of this rare work Kew possesses a remarkably well- 
preserved copy, besides copies of later editions. This, however, is not 
the oldest printed book in the Library, for that distinction belongs to 
the Ruralium Commodorum libri duodecim of Petrus de Crescentiis, 
a native of Bologna, who was born about the year 1230 and died 
in 1310. This work is dated 1471. It is a small folio in Gothic 
letter, without title-page, pagination, signatures, or catchwords, the 
customary characteristics of books of this period, and treats of plant- 
ing and pruning .trees, ploughing and threshing corn, flower and 
fruit gardening, country sports, etc. Numerous editions in Latin, 
French, and Italian followed, of which Kew possesses four. It may 
