4H 
Early  Botanical  and  Herb  Gardens. 
/  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1  September,  1908. 
an  apprentice,  to  the  printing  trade,  of  Samuel  Keimer,  under  Ben- 
jamin Franklin. 
From  the  available  records  it  appears  that  Webb  had  been  an 
Oxford  student,  but  by  some  misadventure  had  been  brought  to 
Pennsylvania,  as  a  bound  servant,  and  sold  to  Keimer  shortly  before 
the  return  of  Benjamin  Franklin  from  his  first  visit  to  London. 
Webb  says: 
"  Close  to  the  dome  a  garden  shall  be  joined, 
A  fit  employment  for  a  studious  mind, 
In  our  vast  woods,  whatever  simples  grow, 
Whose  virtues  none,  or  none  but  Indians,  know. 
Within  the  confines  of  this  garden  brought, 
To  rise  with  added  lustre  shall  be  taught  ; 
Then  culled  with  judgement  each  shall  yield  its  juice, 
Saliferous  balsam  to  the  sick  man's  use  ; 
A  longer  date  of  life  mankind  shall  boast, 
And  death  shall  mourn  her  ancient  empire  lost." 
The  Pietist  colony  itself  was  comprised  of  religious  ascetics  and 
avowed  celibates  who  had  come  to  America  to  escape  persecution 
and  petty  interference  with  their  religious  beliefs  and  practices. 
The  members  were,  as  a  rule,  men  of  more  than  average  intelli- 
gence and  learning,  particularly  in  their  day,  and  many  of  them 
subsequently  took  an  important  part  in  the  religious  as  well  as  the 
social  development  of  the  American  Colonies. 
After  the  death  of  their  first  leader,  Johannes  Kelpius,  a  number 
of  the  then  members  deserted  the  Colony  and  established  themselves 
elsewhere.  Among  these  early  deserters  was  Christopher  Witt,  an 
Englishman,  who  had  come  to  the  Colony  in  1704.  This  gifted, 
though  in  many  respects  eccentric  physician  and  naturalist  was  born 
in  Wiltshire,  England,  in  1674.  He  had  evidently  received  a  good 
classical  education,  and  was  also  well  versed  in  the  natural  sciences, 
and  appears  to  have  been  a  medical  practitioner  of  more  than 
average  ability.  Christopher  Witt  was  a  most  versatile  individual, 
who,  in  addition  to  being  a  student,  scholar,  naturalist  and  physician, 
was  also  a  mechanician,  magician,  astronomer,  astrologer,  artist  and 
alchemist,  and  he  is  said  to  have  been  most  eccentric  in  his  habits. 
It  is  little  wonder,  therefore,  that?  he  was  able  to  impress  his  generally 
more  simple-minded  neighbors  to  such  a  degree  that  he  was  widely 
known,  in  Germantown  and  vicinity,  as  "  Der  Hexenmeister,"  or 
master  of  the  witches.  His  advice  was  generally  sought  and  ob- 
served, though  his  influence  may  have  been  feared. 
