THE OLD ENGLISH HEEBALS 
123 
from the Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Oxford, as 
well as a knowledge of plants and of the history of botanical nomencla¬ 
ture. It seems impossible that Miss Rohde should have overlooked 
these works—indeed, she quotes from Dr. Arber by name on p. 67, 
hut without any indication of the book whence her extract is taken : 
in any case, we hope that in the second edition of her attractive book, 
which will assuredlv be called for, the omissions we have felt it our 
duty to indicate will be duly supplied. 
The Romance of the Apothecaries' Garden at Chelsea. By P. 
Dawteey Deewitt, M.A., M.D., P.R.C.P. Crown octavo, 
cloth ; pp. xii, 106 ; 11 illustrations. Price 7s. 6d. net. Chapman 
and Dodd, 1922. 
It was a happy inspiration which moved Dr. Drewitt, who repre¬ 
sents the College of Physicians on the Managing Committee of the 
Chelsea Physic Carden, to produce this delightful little volume. 
He justifies its title on the ground that “ it is indeed a romance ” 
that, notwithstanding the continual destruction of its old life by 
modern London, “the peaceful Carden of the Apothecaries should 
still be teaching its students the names and nature of plants, as it did 
in the days of the Stuarts ”; and he traces its history from its 
foundation in 1617 to its relinquishment by the Apothocaries’ 
Company to the Charity Commissioners in 1893, and so on to its 
present position under a Managing Committee, of which, as has been 
said, Dr. Drewitt is a member. The Carden has thus had so long a 
history that it must have been difficult to condense into reasonable 
compass an account which should combine a record of facts with a 
narrative style which should appeal to the general reader ; but in this 
Dr. Drewitt has been eminently successful. 
The first book on the Carden (apart from lists of its contents) by 
Henry Field, a member of the Court of the Society of Apothecaries, 
was printed in 1820 at the expense of the Society for distribution to 
its members; a greatly enlarged edition by Dr. R. H. Semple, 
published in 1878, continues the history of the Carden to that period, 
and on this Dr. Drewitt has “ chiefly depended ” ; in acknowledging 
this, however, he adds that “ other works of interest have been con¬ 
sulted,” and the numerous evidences of this increases the attractive¬ 
ness of the volume. 
An excellent sketch of the life of Sloane deservedly occupies many 
pages, for it was he who, as owner of the Manor of Chelsea, pre¬ 
sented the Physic Carden, where he had learnt botany, to the Apothe¬ 
caries’ Company; Dr. Drewitt thinks that Sloane Street, which bears 
his name, well represents his life: “those who walk all the way down 
it know that it is very long, obviously prosperous, and perfectly 
straight! ” Among those connected with the Company or with the 
Garden, Thomas Johnson, Petiver, Rand, Philip Miller, Wheeler, 
and Forsyth receive special attention ; among the visits to the 
Garden, those of Linnaeus and Kalm are treated at some length—we 
note that Dr. Drewitt accepts the tradition which connects Linnaeus 
with the furze on Putney Heath. There is a pathetic account of 
