458 
London  Botanic  Gardens. 
i  Am.  Jour  Pharm. 
1     October,  1905. 
to  note  that  a  synopsis  according  to  the  system  of  Jussieu  was  also 
added. 
This  important  phase  of  the  Society's  work  was  continued  until 
1853,  and,  between  the  years  1836-1853  the  ame  of  the  Chelsea 
Garden  was  at  its  zenith,  largely  owing  to  the  disinterestedness  and 
boundless  activity  of  that  great  man,  John  Lindley,  who  occupied 
the  post  of  Professor  of  Botany  and  Prcefectus  Horti  during  that 
period.  In  1853,  the  Society,  hampered  financially  by  the  expenses 
involved  in  this  work,  decided  to  relieve  the  strain  by  working  their 
garden  more  economically  in  the  future.  The  lectures  in  the  garden 
were  discontinued,  the  office  of  Prcefectus  Horti  was  abolished,  and 
the  cultivation  of  plants  requiring  artificial  heat  was  abandoned. 
The  annual  prizes  were,  nevertheless,  still  awarded,  and,  in  1 863, 
chiefly  through  the  efforts  of  one  of  the  Society's  members,  Nathaniel 
Bagshaw  Ward,  the  inventor  of  the  "  Wardian  Case,"  an  attempt 
was  made  to  restore  the  garden  to  a  semblance  of  its  former  stand, 
ing.  The  garden  still  continued  to  attract  a  number  of  medical 
students,  but  these  were  gradually  drawn  to  the  more  easily  accessi- 
ble Regent's  Park  Gardens.  In  1878  a  prize  competition,  open  to 
women  only,  was  instituted  by  the  Society  with  the  object  of  en- 
couraging the  study  of  botany  among  women  students.  Notwith- 
standing these  spasmodic  attempts  to  infuse  new  life  into  the  work 
of  the  garden,  its  importance  gradually  decreased  until  it  sank  into 
insignificance;  it  was  saved  from  oblivion  during  this  period,  how- 
ever, by  its  curator,  Thomas  Moore,  who  had  been  elected  to  the 
post  in  1848  on  the  recommendation  of  Lindley.  Thomas  Moore 
was  co  editor  of  the  "  Treasury  of  Botany"  with  Lindley,  and  it  is 
chiefly  to  his  labors  that  we  are  indebted  for  that  invaluable  dic- 
tionary of  the  vegetable  kingdom  ;  a  work  which  has  probably 
contributed,  in  a  greater  degree  than  anything  else,  to  make  the 
name  of  the  Chelsea  Garden  known  throughout  the  world.  In  1899 
the  Trustees  of  the  London  Parochial  Charities  were  appointed 
trustees  of  the  garden,  and  a  committee  of  management,  to  be  de- 
scribed later,  was  appointed  ;  new  plant  houses,  a  lecture-room  and 
laboratory,  etc.,  were  erected,  and,  in  1 902,  the  garden  was  formally 
re.opened.  The  role  of  the  garden  is  still  mainly  an  educational 
one;  specimens  of  living  plants  are  supplied  to  a  number  of  colleges 
and  schools,  the  laboratory  is  used  for  physiological  work  by  the 
students  of  the  Royal  College  of  Science,  and  advanced  courses  of 
