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XII. A Letter from Dr. Ducarel, F. R. S. 
and F. S. A. to William Watfon, M. D. 
F. R. S. upon the early Cultivation of 
Botany in England ; and Jome Particulars 
about John Tradefcant, a great Promoter 
of that Science , as well as Natural Hi- 
ftory , in the laft Century , and Gardener 
to King Charles L 
S I R, 
Read Nov. 2, ’\ 7 ’ OUR love for Botany, and your 
j[ great knowledge in that fcience, 
will, I hope, be a fufficient apology for laying be- 
fore vou fome obfervations which have occurred to 
j 
me on that fubjedt. And I flatter myfelf that the 
following anecdotes will not be altogether unaccept- 
able to you. 
The fciences, we know, are fubjedt to revolutions. 
But is it not a very extraordinary one that Botany, lo 
ufeful to mankind, and fo well known to the an- 
cients, fhould, for fome ages, abandon Europe, and 
remain almoft: unknown there till the fxteenth cen- 
tury; when it is fuppofed to have fuddenly revived ; 
and has lince, by the induflry of the moderns, been 
brought to the highefc perfection ? 
I. Th© 
