A^ioberrS,;m"}  London  Botanic  Gardens.  459 
university  lectures  are  delivered  in  the  lecture-hall.  Since  its  reor- 
ganization, however,  the  garden  has  also  been  used  for  purposes  of 
research,  notably  by  Mr.  Francis  Darwin  and  by  Sir  William 
Ramsay. 
The  Royal  Botanic  Society's  Gardens  in  Regent's  Park  have  had 
but  a  short  history,  and,  after  what  has  been  said  in  connection  with 
the  Chelsea  Garden,  it  can  be  summarized  in  a  few  lines.  The 
cultivation  of  medicinal  and  other  economic  plants  has  always  been 
fostered  by  the  Royal  Botanic  Society,  and,  in  consequence  of  this, 
teachers  in  the  medical  schools  soon  found  it  advantageous  to  make 
use  of  its  gardens  for  the  instruction  of  their  pupils ;  for  many  years 
the  late  Professor  Bentley  delivered  lectures  in  the  gardens  at  7. 30 
o'clock  on  certain  mornings  to  the  students  of  the  Pharmaceutical 
Society's  School.  The  distribution  of  cut  specimens  of  plants  to 
medical  schools  and  other  educational  institutions  (sometimes  to  the 
extent  of  60,000  specimens  per  annum)  was  an  innovation  which 
helped  to  extend  the  sphere  of  usefulness  of  the  Regent's  Park 
Gardens,  and  these  still  remain  the  principal  source  of  supply  for 
fresh  botanical  specimens  to  the  majority  of  the  medical  schools  in 
London.  One  of  the  earliest  features  introduced  by  the  Society 
into  its  gardens  was  an  exhibition  ground  where  exhibitions  of  plants 
and  flowers  were  held  periodically;  of  later  years  some  of  these 
displays  have  been  developed  into  very  instructive  exhibits  of  botan- 
ical work  done  in  .schools.  The  museum,  erected  in  185 1,  was 
originally  furnished  with  specimens  for  educational  purposes  solely; 
the  collections  have  since  been  considerably  extended,  more  espe- 
cially by  the  addition  of  economic  products  derived  from  the  vege- 
table kingdom,  but  the  educational  element  still  preponderates  in 
the  collections,  which  are  hardly  of  sufficient  extent  to  be  used  for 
purposes  of  reference  as  at  Kew.  In  1897  a  practical  gardening 
school  was  established  by  the  Society.  In  connection  with  this,  a 
portion  of  the  gardens  has  been  specially  set  aside  for  horticultural 
work,  and  a  laboratory,  which  is  also  used  as  a  lecture-room,  has 
been  erected.  The  Royal  Botanic  Society's  Gardens  are  also  utilized 
as  a  pleasure-ground  by  its  Fellows  and  others,  but  the  consideration 
of  this  factor  hardly  comes  within  our  province. 
[  To  be  continued.} 
