Ixxvii 
West Park and Kew , 1841-1865. 
The Museum was no sooner sanctioned than my father 
began to cater for objects wherewith to fill it, by applica- 
tion to merchants and manufacturers and by interesting his 
correspondents all over the world, many of whose replies 
were published in the £ J ourrials of Botany 5 which he con- 
ducted. His enthusiasm was catching. The Secretary of 
State for Foreign Affairs (Lord Aberdeen), on hearing of it, 
caused circulars to be sent to our Ministers and Consuls 
in foreign countries, desiring them to transmit specimens 
intended for Kew; the First Lord of the Admiralty (Lord 
Auckland) requested him to draw up instructions 1 for 
collecting for officers in their service, and the Minister of 
the Colonies displayed the same interest. 
Consequently contributions poured in in embarrassing quan- 
tities, especially on the close of the Great Exhibition of 1851, 
when Messrs. Lawson and Co. of Edinburgh presented their 
magnificent exhibit of the agricultural products of Scotland. 
Increased accommodation was hence necessary and was found 
in two wings of the building, which had been used (one or 
both) as dwellings of gardeners ; these provided four additional 
rooms and a staircase to a gallery which was constructed in 
the main room, and which was lighted from the roof. These 
completed the Museum building, which presented within 6,000 
square feet of glazed wall-cases, and eight glazed table-cases, 
most of them with glazed drawers underneath. To add to 
the interest of the exhibits, framed coloured drawings of 
economic plants, palms, &c., lent by the Director, were hung 
to the gallery rails all round. A Guide to the Museum was 
drawn up by him in 1 855, for sale at the Garden gates ; 
it contained a plan of the interior, eighty pages of. descriptive 
matter, twenty-six woodcuts, and notices of 560 of the objects 
most worthy of the visitor’s inspection 2 . In 1857, when the 
1 The Admiralty Manual of Scientific Enquiry was the result, the botanical 
part of which was supplied by W. J. Hooker, assisted by D. Hanbury, Esq. 
2 In 1857, on opening of the second Museum, he published a second edition 
of the Guide-book, in which 612 of the most interesting objects were described. 
In 1861 Professor Oliver brought out a third edition with notices of 1,000 exhibits. 
