62 The New Botanical School at Cambridge. 
poses of advanced students this place was presently superseded by 
a nondescript gallery, on the south side of a sort of half-staircase 
room in which a Botanical Library was arranged. What Dr. Vines 
had commenced Mr. Walter Gardiner continued, and he was instru¬ 
mental in the founding of the present Museum collection, in the 
re-organisation and reconstruction of the plant-houses at the 
Botanic Garden, and in the erection of the well known “lean-to ” 
all along the face of the herbarium to serve the purposes of a 
general elementary laboratory. Old Cambridge men will he grateful 
to Mr. Gardiner for a recently issued pamphlet, in which he details 
the early struggles of the Museum Department, and traces it hack 
to the original conception of the late Professor J. S. Henslow in 
the remote past. 
The “ lean-to ” was followed by the annexation of a dwelling- 
house, interesting from an antiquarian point of view, but, in 
equilibrium, leaving something to be desired as a laboratory for the 
pursuit of delicate physiological investigations. This annexe, how¬ 
ever, was a pleasant spot, bathed in sunshine, and has been the 
centre of much good work during the last twelve or fifteen years. 
Throughout the whole of this early period of the revival, and con¬ 
tinuously to the present day, the department enjoyed the very great 
advantage of having the support and counsel of Mr. Francis Darwin, 
as Deputy-Professor or as Reader—a connection that has con¬ 
tributed to its advancement in many ways. 
With the year 1895 we come to the commencement of the 
later phase in the growth and consolidation of Botany at Cam¬ 
bridge. Professor Marshall Ward was elected to the Chair rendered 
vacant by the death of Professor Babington (who had long been an 
invalid), and to his energy and directive skill, primarily, is owing the 
magnificent building into which the department has just migrated. 
We say primarily, for of course the new building is a joint product, 
and represents the collective wisdom of the whole Cambridge Staff. 
And it is evident on inspection that nothing has been left to chance. 
The needs of the department from the several points of view of the 
general elementary student, the advanced worker, and the original 
investigator have been fully realised, and whilst the building is per¬ 
fectly adapted to the various activities of the present regime , it is 
sufficiently elastic to admit of such adjustment as the future trend 
of Botanical work may dictate. As it is, the equipment of so many 
laboratories and rooms for physiologicaland experimental work is 
pot only in accord with modern requirements but seems a very 
