MUSEUM
QK
기
​H65

1817
SCIENTIA
ARTES
LIBRARY VERITAS
OF THE
| UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
DUS
TUEBOR
SI QUERIS-PENINSULAM AMENAM
CIRCUMSPICE
S XENES.WS.COS: 3 VUOS.
THE GIFT OF
The Family of
Samuel A. Jones



AN
I D E A
I
E
OF
А.
BOTANICAL GARDEN,
In ENGLAND:
WITH
LECTURES on the SCIENCE.
Without Expence to the PUBLIC, or to
the S T U DEN T S.
By Dr. J. HILL,
Afferat ipſe licet facras Epidaurius Herbas.
68
L O N D ON:
Printed for R. BALDWIN, at the Roſe in Pater-nofter.
Row. MDCCLVIII.
[Price Six-pence.]

Museums
Q K
71
H65
ANTOI
al
He alt to
OR
020
IT
Museum Lib. Berharian
Sist of the family of
hamuel A. Jeres

To His GRACE the
Duke of DEVONSHIRE.
My LORDS
I
T would be idle to ſeek an apo-
logy for addreſſing to your Grace,
a propoſal intended for the
advantage of the kingdom: nor
ſhould I dare to offer this to your
protection, were it the raſh product
of a haſty thought; or my fingle
and unſupported opinion.
What I now lay before the public,
I have had the honour to propoſe,
firſt, more privately, to ſome of the
greateſt and wiſeft perſons in the
B
king-

DE DI CA TI O N.
kingdom: your Grace is fenfible of
one inſtance of this truth; and they
have been pleaſed to ſeal the opinion
of its utility, by their approbation.
It is by the favour of your Grace
alone, the deſign can be brought into
practiſe : And he muſt have heard
little of that rank in which you ſhine,
who does not eſteem it a happineſs to
the kingdom, that the power is in
your Grace's hands.
I have the honour to be,
With the greateſt reſpect,
My Lord,
SED TO
Your Grace's пород
You
Moſt obedient, and
2010 Moſt Humble ſervant,
J.-HILL.

(( 3 )
merlo
ID
E
A
OF
A
BOTANICAL GARDEN.
T
HE uſe of botany to medicine, is
as evident as it is great: a conſider-
able part of our remedies are ob-
tained from plants ; and we can never be ſe-
cure of their advantages, unleſs theſe are per-
fectly known.
The antients were too negligent in this re-
ſpect, and we feel enough of the misfortune
to ſet us on our guard. Their philoſophers,
while attentive to the general laws of vegeta
tion, neglected the diſtinctions of particular
plants: and their phyſicians, wholly employed
in the cure of diſeaſes, left to others the de-
ſcription of their remedies : THEOPHRAS-
TUS is an inſtance of the firſt, and HIPPO-
CRATES of the other.
The opinions of the Sage are in many in-
ſtances, from this cauſe, unintelligible to us ;
and the cures of the phyſician uſeleſs. We
have great reaſon to lament this ; for in ſeve-
ral
B 2

( 4 )
err.
ral caſes, we know of no effective remedies in
their place. The Hellebore, of thoſe ages
is unknown, and madneſs, with us, too often
proves
incurable: even of later times, when
it was ſuppoſed, the ATROPA could cure can-
cers; thoſe who thought they made the tryal,
uſed in its place a SOLANUM.
Our lofs of the Greek plants is perhaps ir-
reparable ; but miſtakes in thoſe of later date,
may be avoided by proper knowledge in the
ſcience. Botany teaches to diſtinguiſh plants
from one another, by certain and unvariable
characters : and he, who has been once ſo
inſtructed, cannot They merit no
reproach, who at preſent want this know-
ledge; for there have been no teachers : This
a great defect in the Engliſh medical edu-
cation; and this the preſent propoſal attempts
to ſupply
Nor is the uſe of Botany limited to one
article: beſide medicine, the uſeful arts, and
commerce may owe to it the greateſt obliga-
tions. We have at home, Dyes and Drugs,
neglected or unknown, which rival many
that are brought in at an expence : Our foil
and climate are capable of producing others;
and there are plants, which would cover with
uſeful verdure, all the waſte land of the king-
don. The want of botanical knowledge,
robs our country of theſe advantages : and be-
fide theſe, it offers many more. 'Tis not, as
they

( 5 )
o
they have thought, who did not underſtand
it, a frivolous employment for the idle, or an
uſeleſs amuſement for the ingenious; but in
theſe higher lights, becomes a ſource of health
and of proſperity ; and is worthy the attention
of a patriot.
In this view other nations look upon the
ſcience : and from the regard they ſhew, they
reap its beſt advantages. Their royal gardens are
the ſchools of knowledge : or the public infti-
tute, and ſupport others for that purpoſe. 'Tis
not a time to load this kingdom with additional
expence; nor is that intended : for we may
have all the advantages without the charge.
France and Holland have long called over
our young phyſicians to their courſes of bota-
ny. Who does not know the pride and plea-
ſure wherewith BOERHAAVE was followed in
the Leyden Garden ; not by the ſtudents only,
but the nobility of our country ? and how
much of the uſeful knowledge of Europe is
now derived from HALLER !
I don't know that our country yet has men
equal to theſe : but even the means are want-
ing; the opportunities; and the encourage-
ments : if thoſe we have were employed,
their ſucceſſors would improve upon their
labours. Botany has not been yet regarded
in England as a ſcience of utility; and thoſe
who ſtudied it, have perhaps owed the neg-
lect

( 6 )
lect that has been ſhewn them, to their omit-
ting to explain its merits.
Where the ſcience has been more known,
we fee thoſe who have diſtinguiſhed themſelves
in it, honoured and rewarded. We read the
nameof Haller, with high additions ; and Lin-
næus, (for whoſe merit no diſtinction could
be too great,) is principal phyſician to his fo-
vereign; and has been lately dignified with an
order.
The regard to this ſtudy, and to its pro-
feſſors, has ſpread over Europe ; and even
beyond thoſe limits. Italy abounds with acade-
mic gardens; the ſpirit of improvement
has proceeded throughout Germany; and
Ruſſia is eminently diſtinguiſhed by it: not
only cultivating the ſcience at home, but offer-
ing rewards and honours to the ſubjects of all
nations who ſhall produce improvements. The
Berlin garden flouriſhes even in the midſt of
war; and the ſovereign is almoſt as much a
philoſopher as an heroe. Spain has invited
Linnæus, with a great appointment; and
France has fought in England for much
humbler talents, not employed at home.
Among ourſelves, an attention to other
ſtudies, rather than a neglect of this, has
prevented our ſharing thoſe honours. Botany
indeed has drooped , and medicine, and the
other dependant arts, have been interrupted
in their courſe, from this occaſion : but tho'
public

(7)
public inftitutions have been wanting, pri-
vate regard is largely beſtowed upon it: the
Duke of Argyl, who is himſelf a diſtinguiſhed
botaniſt, has ſhewn his protection to all who
have followed the fame path : the Lord Bute
has no leſs honourably diſtinguiſhed himſelf:
and Lord Northumberland wipes from the eyes
of ſcience, the tears which ſo long fell for the
Duke of Richmond.
Under ſuch patronage, what may not be
expected here ? but as theſe great perfons
join knowledge with their regard to the
ftudy, what is expected muft in fome de-
gree be merited. A plan muſt be propoſed,
before it can be patronized ; and no ſupport
can be expected, unleſs it appear practicable
and uſeful.
In general, this is anſwered eaſily. Our cli-
mate will ſupport the needful plants; and the
knowledge they may be employed to convey,
will anſwer the greateſt purpoſes. The ſcience
of nature is to be ſtudied, not in books, but in
her immediate productions, and one leſſon
there, even from a moderately qualified in-
ſtructor, will be worth many years of tedious
reading. This will be firmly eſtabliſhed in
the memory, becauſe the preſent object will
imprint it ſtrongly on the imagination : and
it muſt be true, for the proofs are placed
before our ſenſes.
The knowledge of plants is uſeful ; becauſe
miſchiefs too fatal to be named, riſe daily from
the

(8)
the want of it: this is the intereſt of every man,
for the health and life of every one are con-
cerned in it; and, though we have not yet
employed them, we have all the neceſſary ad-
vantages. The whole is in our power, without
trouble or expence: and a very few years may
eſtabliſh this country as an example to others
in that ſcience it has ſo long neglected.
The Paris garden enjoys no natural ad.
vantages not to be found in that at Kenſing-
ton: but ours has many, and thoſe very great,
in which the French ground is deficient.
"Twould be eaſy to eſtabliſh this as a rival,
and ſoon to render it fuperior : and there
would be no injury to the place.
No mangling or disfiguring of parts are ne-
ceffary: for a botanic garden may have all
the advantages of thoſe formed only for plea-
ſure; and from the variety of objects, certainly
will have more.
This ſummer-retreat would be more agree-
able to his majeſty while he is there; and
in the royal abſence a ſchool of botany. A
weekly lecture might be given on ſaturdays,
the King on that day, uſually dining at
Richmond. The reſidence of the profeffor
being on the ſpot, everything would be
kept in order ; and for the time wherein
the garden itſelf is ſacred to the royal retire-
ment, the neceſſary plants might be raiſed
5
ز
a
on

(9)
on duplicate beds in ſome ſmall ſpot annexed
to the ground. A little more than an acre
would be ſufficient for this purpoſe ; and it
would be glorious to paſs from that plain
ſchool, in his majeſty's abſence, to the vaſt
plan of illuſtration.
This is a plain propoſal for a botanical garden
in England. The ground is ready; and the
plants are eaſily obtained. The lectures might
be free to all the world : and there need be
no charge laid upon the public for its fup-
port. The price which is regularly allowed
for keeping his majeſty's garden of Kenſing-
ton in order, is ſufficient to admit this flight
encreaſe of expence; and he, who has the
honour of that employment, would have ſtill
ſufficient profits.
This is not a raſh or inconſiderate affertion.
The ſum that is paid is known; the profit on
that price is eaſily calculated ; and he who
ſhould engage to furniſh out of it, ſtoves, and
all the other expenſive articles in gardening ;
and to keep up a ſucceſſion of the plants
raiſed in every other part of Europe, would
leave ſtill as much profit to himſelf as an
honeſt man ſhould defire.
The medicinal plants are not diſguftful to
the fight; nor would a mixture of the more
common, (where that might be required) a-
mong the uſual favourites of the eye, be any
с
diſad
3
a

( 10 )
diſadvantage. Nature offers no deformity;
and variety is a great ſource of beauty.
No ſhrub or plant, eſteemed at preſent, need
be removed from the gardens when laid out for
this purpoſe : all that is required, would be a
peculiar manner of placing them; and they
are ſo many, and ſo various in forin, that a
little taſte would render this a great ad-
vantage.
TO ſtudy botany, is to conſider plants in
the light of icience : and the true knowledge
of the particulars, depends on certain general
principles. Theſe are the foundation of the
various methods; and the firſt advance toward
knowledge, is to underſtand them.com
The ſexual ſyſtem will naturally claim the
firſt regard: becauſe it is the beſt; and becauſe it
is now univerfally received. The entrance
upon the ſtudy ſhould be from the elements of
this method; and the garden might be planted
according to its diviſions. The claſſes effabliſh-
ed by others, worthy of notice, ſhould alſo
have their place; and a part of the garden after
theſe, ſhould be allotted for proſecuting that
greateſt of all purpoſes, a natural method.
The fexual ſyſtem depends on a few parts,
which are common to all perfect flowers :
with theſe, the ſtudent ſhould be firſt made ac-
quainted; and afterwards with thoſe arrange-
ments of them which form the ſeveral claffes.
و
Theſe

(II
)
Theſe parts are only two; the filament and
ſtyle: The ſtyle riſing from the rudiment of
the fruit; and the filaments ſtanding round it,
crowned with their antheræ.
The entrance into the garden ſhould there-
fore be among beds furniſhed with plants
in which theſe parts are moſt conſpicuous.
The hexandria in general, ſhew them di-
ſtinctly ; and from among the number of that
claſs, tulips and lilies, with various ſpecies of the
narciflus, hyacinth, and amaryllis, might be ſe-
lected for that purpoſe. Some of theſe would
be in flower at all times throughout the ſea-
ſon of botany; and in one or other of them, all
thoſe effential parts would be plainly ſeen and
underſtood.
A bed of more variety might be added to
theſe, with plants of that and of other claſſes :
the eye might thus have at once before it,
the variations, and diſtinct appearances of
thoſe effential parts: and all the time the beds,
containing theſe true rudiments of knowledge,
would appear to a common obſerver, as
planted in the uſual way with flowers.
It would be ſo throughout the eye of ſcience
:
only would perceive it a garden of botany;
to others, it would have no aſpect of particu-
larity.
From theſe beds, in which the form and
nature cf the claſſical parts of plants were
ſhewn, the courſe ſhould be purſued under the
C 2
care

( 12 )
carefnl lecturer, throughout the garden ; and
the eye, that was entertained therein with a
vaſt variety of ſhrubs and plants, ſhould ſee
none but in the path of ſcience.
As the firſt beds thus ſhewed the parts on
which the new ſyſtem has been eſtabliſhed,
the reſt of this great compaſs ſhould be ſo di-
vided, as to place them again before the eye,
in the diſtinct claſſes of that method. This
would be eaſy, and the fund of knowledge
would be vaít, The claſſes are but twenty-
four, and the number of plants is more than
twelve thouſand.
The general ground on each ſide of this
courſe, being divided into twenty-four parts ;
each portion, thus devoted to one claſs, would
contain a multitude of ſpecies. Theſe might
be ſo ſelected, as to introduce and lead the
ſtudent, as it were, by the hand, from the
moſt plain and eaſy, to the more difficult
objects. Thoſe ſhould be placed firſt, in which
the claſſical parts were large, diftinct, and
plain ; and in ſucceſſion after theſe, ſuch as
held them more obſcurely. The ſcope of
ground allotted to each claſs would be ſuf-
ficient to contain a vaſt variety of examples ;
and the ſtudy being thus proſecuted under a
careful guide ; and its leffons read in the very
book of nature, he who had gone through
the claſs, would for the future know, not
only that all theſe, but all other plants with
like characters, belonged to it.
Thus
a

( 13 )
Thus might he trace nature in her various
appearances, and reconcile her to herſelf in all:
and having followed the ſame courſe through
each ſucceeding claſs, he would have gained
the ſcience.
This regard having been ſhewn to the re-
ceived fyftem, an appropriated part of the
ground might be uſefully devoted to a planta-
tion, after the leſs artful, but perhaps more
natural method of our countryman Mr. Ray ;
and ſeparate borders allotted to explain thoſe of
Tournefort, and of whoſoever elſe have been
inventers of ſyſtems. There is none of theſe
but has its merit ; none but explains in a pecu-
liar manner ſome part of the ſcience : and he
will moſt perfectly underſtand the beſt, who
has taken a tranſient view of all.
Laſt, there ſhould be allotted a large
ſpot, leſs in view than the reſt, though
oftener trod by the profeſſor's careful ſtep, for
proſecuting that greateſt of all improvements
a truly natural method ; in which the fami-
lies eſtabliſhed by nature ſhould never be di-
vided ; her characters explained, and the
gradations ſhewn, by which ſhe paſſes from
one claſs, and even from one genus, to another.
This is the great deſideratum in the ſtudy of
plants ; this would compleat the ſcience :
and there is not the difficulty that may per-
haps be imagined in atchieving it.
To theſe parts might be added quarters,
appropriated to the four great regions of the
earth,
a

(14.)
earth, and deſtined for the reception ſeparately
of European, African, American, and Afiatic
plants. We have enough that bear the open
air from each of thoſe places, to fill them
and entering theſe, would be like viſiting thoſe
great diviſions of the earth in fucceflion.
Something like this has been propoſed,
by Sir William Temple, and in ſome degree
brought into execution at Goodwood. Here
it might be perfectly accompliſhed.
Theſe parts, and the reſt in a regular diſpo-
fition, would have no other appearance than
that of a ground well ſtored with elegancies ;
and the uſual form might obtain in all
the reft: graſs, and gravel, lawn and ſhade,
grotto and fountain, and whatever elſe is
valued in the conſtruction of a garden, would
hold its uninterrupted place ; and duplicates
of that great variety of elegant ſhrubs, brought
into the claſſical beds for the uſe of ſcience,
would naturally give a new grace to the or-
namental parts of the ground.
By this familiar method might a botanical
garden, and public lectures on the ſcience be
eſtabliſhed in England. The royal gardens
at Kenſington, are a happy place for it, be-
cauſe they have all the natural advantages that
could be wiſhed: no uſe of them would be
neceſſary for this purpoſe, but in the ab-
ſence of the king; the occaſional ſpot before
propoſed,
onto and
ago
1373
а
•

( 15 )
ފް
a
propoſed, anſwering the purpoſe at other times ;
and they would receive no change, but that of
being made more elegant, and more full of
ornament.
The diſtance from London is the
moſt commodious that could be wiſhed; out
of the reach of the ſmoak and foul air
of that place which poiſons plants; and
yet within the influence of its warmth,
from the continual and innumerable fires :
near enough for the convenience of thoſe
who ſhould come thither for the ſtudy:
fufficiently ſheltered for the more tender
plants; and happy in a variety of foil and ex-
poſure, which could ſcarce be equalled in any
other place.
The benefits of ſuch an inſtitution
would be more, and greater than are at firſt
imagined. The ſervice and advancement of
medicine is plain from it; nor are the advan-
tages of commerce frivolous.
'Tis not a
little to give pleaſure to the King, and
to do honour to our Country; and this with-
out expence or inconvenience: but befide
all this, there would be much more. It
would collect together the ſcattered few, who
in this unfavouring age, purſue the paths of
fcience: the academic grove would be in fome
degree revived, and men would ſtudy together
the works of the Creator in his great temple ;
the theatre of univerſal nature: under no in-
terruption

( 16 )
terruption beſides the notes of birds, and
whiſpering of winds : in ſhade and in retire-
ment. Knowledge would be encreaſed much
more, by ſuch free communication of their
thoughts, than by the labours of the ſtudy, or
the productions of their ſecluded hours: and
their example would raiſe a ſpirit of emulation;
while their free converſe, and the ready ſub-
jects, gave the method, and the means of im-
provement.
This has always been in the power of Eng-
land: for we have never wanted the means,
and perhaps rarely have been deſtitute of per-
fons of fufficient knowledge for a firſt inſtitu-
tion : but they have been overlooked. It may
be of advantage to us to be reminded; and the
preſent is the time : the place being now va-
cant, to which this uſeful duty may be moſt
naturally and conveniently annexed. The
method here propoſed, is not given as a
perfect plan: 'tis a ſhort and imperfect view
of what might be reaſonably expected, and
eafily obtained. The reſt would naturally
follow.
a
F I N 1 S.
Juſt publiſhed. By the fame Author,
The Sleep of Plants, and Cauſe of Motion in the
Senfitive Plant, explained.
The Second Edition. Price One Shilling.


HERBARIUM
DATE DUE

BOUND
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 06346 6851
jur 14 1954
UNIV. OF MICH.
LIBRARY