London  Botanic  Gardens. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm.. 
I    February,  1906. 
of  the  rooms  was  fitted  up  with  book-shelves  as  a  commencement 
towards  carrying  out  this  project.  At  Sir  Joseph  Banks'  death, 
however,  the  plan  was  abandoned,  and  the  house  remained  empty 
until  the  reign  of  William  IV,  who  granted  it  to  the  Duchess  of 
Cumberland  for  life.  The  Duke  of  Cumberland,  who  subsequently 
succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Hanover,  resided  in  it  occasionally,  and  it 
accordingly  became  known  as  Hanover  House.  After  his  death, 
Hanover  House  remained  unoccupied.  When  Sir  William  Hooker 
took  charge  of  the  Gardens  at  Kew,  they  were  unprovided  with  any 
public  herbarium  or  scientific  library,  the  collections  that  had  pre- 
viously existed  there  having  been  dismembered  before  his  appoint- 
ment, as  has  already  been  noted.  Sir  William  Hooker,  however, 
possessed  an  extensive  herbarium  and  library  of  his  own,  which  he 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  public,  the  Government  renting  a 
neighboring  house,  afterwards  known  as  "  West  Park,"  for  their 
accommodation,  and  as  a  residence  for  the  director.  In  185  2,  though 
still  remaining  his  private  property,  the  director's  herbarium  and 
part  of  his  library  were  removed  to  Hanover  House.  After  his 
death  in  1865,  his  herbarium  and  library  were  purchased  by  the 
Government  at  a  valuation  and  added  to  the  public  herbarium  at 
Kew,  which  had  been  founded  in  1854,  when  Bentham  presented  his 
extensive  private  collection  of  plants  and  botanical  library  to  the 
nation. 
The  older  portion  constituting  the  herbarium  building  proper  was 
erected  in  1877  to  take  the  place  of  the  northern  portion  of"  Han- 
over House,"  the  oldest  portion  of  all,  fronting  Kew  Green,  being 
now  devoted  to  the  library.  The  west  wing,  erected  on  the  site 
of  the  former  students'  garden,  was  completed  in  1903. 
Since  the  time  of  Sir  W.  J.  Hooker's  appointment  to  the  direc- 
torate, the  herbarium  has  received  almost  all  the  collections  made  by 
Government  expeditions,  and  it  has  also  been  the  chief  recipient  in 
this  country  of  contributions  from  British  and  foreign  travellers,  as 
well  as  from  Continental  museums,  so  that  its  collections  now  consist 
of  upwards  of  two  million  specimens.  The  expansion  of  the  library 
has  kept  pace  with  that  of  the  herbarium,  and  it  now  consists  of 
nearly  20,000  volumes.  Of  these,  twelve  hundred  are  kept  in  a 
separate  building  for  the  use  of  the  gardeners,  and  the  keeper  of  the 
museums  has  about  700  works  of  reference  in  his  office. 
