SIR HANS SLOANE. 
29 
Upon his recovery, he resorted to London for 
the purpose of attending his professional studies. 
The Botanic Garden at Chelsea had at that time 
very recently been established by the Company of 
Apothecaries.* Here he became an indefatigable 
student, attending also lectures on chemistry, 
anatomy, and physic. At this period, he formed 
an acquaintance with the two eminent philosophers, 
Boyle and Ray, with whom he ever after lived 
on the most friendly terms. After four years of 
severe application in London, for his farther 
improvement he determined to visit the Conti- 
nent ; and in company with two fellow students, 
one of whom was Mr (afterwards Sir Tancred) 
Robinson, crossed over to Dieppe, and from 
thence to Paris, where he attended the botanical 
lectures of the celebrated Tournefort, and those 
of Du Verney for anatomy ; at the conclusion of 
which, he visited Montpelier, taking with him 
letters of recommendation from Tournefort to 
Monsieur Chirac, then chancellor and professor of 
* In 1673, they obtained a lease of a piece of ground, 
containing three acres one rood, for sixty-one years, at a 
ground rent of £5 per annum, of which Sir Hans Sloane, 
in 1721, granted them the freehold. In 1732, a spacious 
greenhouse was erected, and the grounds laid out anew, and 
systematically arranged. It is now said to be suffering 
materially from the confined situation and smoky air 
consequent upon the vast increase of London. 
