278  London  Botanic  Gardens.  {^jf^im""* 
that  work  with  his  own ;  and  thus  enabled  him  to  dispel  a  multitude  of  doubts 
and  uncertainties,  in  which,  otherwise,  his  application  of  the  synonyma  might 
have  been  involved." 
Even  the  venerable  Philip  Miller  became  converted  to  the  Linnean 
doctrine,  and  the  process  of  conversion  is  made  apparent  in  the 
edition  of  1759  of  his  dictionary,  where  the  system  of  Linne  is  given 
a  place.  Miller,  however,  was  at  first  reluctant  to  abandon  the 
systems  of  Ray  and  Tournefort,  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed 
throughout  his  working  life,  but  he  was  ultimately  weaned  from 
them  completely,  and  we  find  him  publishing,  in  his  seventieth  year, 
a  "  Short  Introduction  to  the  Knowledge  of  the  Science  of  Botany, 
Explaining  the  Terms  of  Art  Made  Use  of  in  the  Linnaean  System  " 
(London,  1760).  In  the  eighth  edition  of  his  dictionary  (London, 
1768),  which  was  the  last  published  in  his  lifetime,  the  Linnean 
system  only  was  recognized,  but  the  alphabetical  arrangement  was 
still  preserved.  Once  adopted,  the  "  sexual  "  system  of  Linne  swept 
all  before  it,  and  for  a  period  of  sixty  years  the  Chelsea  Physic  Gar- 
den became  one  of  its  impregnable  strongholds.  William  Curtis, 
the  author  of  the  Flora  Londinensis  and  of  the  "  Botanical  Magazine," 
who  was  Demonstrator  of  Plants  from  1773  to  1777,  was  one  of  its 
most  able  exponents,  as  evidenced  by  his  educational  works  :  "  Lin- 
naeus's  System  of  Botany,  so  far  as  relates  to  his  Classes  and  Orders 
of  Plants  "  (London,  1777),  which  was  "  drawn  up  for  the  use  of  his 
pupils,"  and  "  Lectures  on  Botany  as  delivered  in  the  Botanic  Gar- 
den at  Lambeth,"  published  posthumously  in  1805.  Thomas 
Wheeler,  his  successor,  was  a  staunch  adherent  of  Linne  to  the  last 
and  a  fierce  antagonist  of  the  "  natural "  system  promulgated  by 
Jussieu  in  1789.  During  his  term  of  office  the  whole  of  the  collec- 
tions were  arranged  according  to  the  u  sexual  "  system,  but  the 
medicinal  plants  were  still  kept  apart  from  the  general  collection. 
The  first  attempt  to  introduce  the  natural  system  into  the  garden 
was  made  in  1821,  when  the  Demonstrator  was  requested  to  employ 
some  time  at  each  demonstration  "  in  explaining  to  the  Students  the 
systems  of  Botany,  both  Sexual  and  Natural,  as  taught  by  Linnaeus 
and  Jussieu."  When  the  scope  of  the  lectures  in  the  garden  was 
extended  in  1830,  it  was  again  specified  that  "  the  different  systems 
of  Botany,  both  natural  and  artificial,  particularly  those  of  Linnaeus 
and  Jussieu,"  should  form  a  part  of  the  course.  The  Catalogus 
Rationalis  Plantarum  Medicinalium,  in  horto  Societatis  Phar mac  entices 
