176 
London  Botanic  Gardens. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
Apiil,  1906. 
in  June,  one  in  July,  and  one  in  August,  but  there  are  no  means  of 
determining  the  exact  period  at  which  a  definite  series  of  these  stu- 
dents' herborizings  was  instituted.  It  is  apparent,  however,  that  the 
organization  of  these  excursions  cannot  have  been  far  removed  from 
the  creation  of  the  office  of  Demonstrator  of  Plants,  and  the  duties 
of  that  functionary  at  these  herborizings  were  defined  in  the  pre- 
viously mentioned  instructions  of  1773  as  follows  : — "  He  is  to  accom- 
pany and  conduct  the  students  of  this  Society  in  their  search  after 
indigenous  plants,  upon  every  day  appointed  for  their  private  Herbor- 
izings, which  are  only  five  in  each  summer  ;  when  he  is  desired  to  use 
his  best  endeavors  to  preserve  strict  decorum  among  his  pupils,  and 
for  directing  and  confining  their  attention  solely  to  the  intended  busi- 
ness of  the  day."  The  details  of  the  excursions  are  of  the  greatest 
interest,  but  we  must  needs  content  ourselves  with  a  brief  descrip- 
tion of  their  salient  features.  These  excursions  invariably  took 
place  in  the  neighborhood  of  London,  and  were  of  one  day's  dura- 
tion. The  students  met  the  demonstrator  early  in  the  morning  at 
some  place  previously  decided  upon,  and  the  members  of  the  party, 
provided  with  their  collecting  boxes,  set  out  on  their  journey  through 
the  suburbs,  collecting  plants  on  the  way,  and  halting  for  breakfast 
at  some  inn.  The  business  of  the  day  then  began  in  earnest,  and 
the  students,  accompanied  by  the  demonstrator,  collected  specimens 
and  made  observations.  The  route  was  varied  on  different  occa- 
sions, the  party  sometimes  returning  to  the  breakfasting  place,  at 
other  times  proceeding  further  afield,  but  whatever  the  route  might 
be,  dinner  at  an  inn  was  always  provided  at  the  end  of  the  journey* 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  meal  the  demonstrator  described  the  pecu- 
liarities of  the  specimens  which  he  had  collected,  before  the  student 
audience,  laying  special  stress  on  the  therapeutical  properties  of 
such  plants  as  were  used  in  medicine.  Tea  then  followed  and  the 
gathering  dispersed  for  home,  the  students  usually  accomplishing 
the  return  journey  on  foot.  These  students'  herborizings  appear  to 
have  been  continued  uninterruptedly  until  1834,  but  they  were  abol- 
ished in  the  following  year,  owing  chiefly  to  the  ever-increasing 
extension  of  the  metropolitan  area  and  consequent  inaccessibility 
of  suitable  localities  for  field  work  in  botany. 
Coming  now  to  the  garden  itself,  we  find  ourselves  confronted 
with  a  mass  of  detail  which  renders  a  subdivision  of  the  subject- 
matter  desirable  in  order  to  give  some  continuity  to  the  account 
