The Physic Garden at Chelsea / W.S.C. Copeman.

  • Copeman, W. S. C. (William Sydney Charles), 1900-1970.
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Physic Garden at Chelsea / W.S.C. Copeman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    both of whom declined to accept responsibility. In 1893, however, the Charity Commissioners generously accepted responsibility to prevent it being built over, and it has since 1899 been financed for the benefit of scientific botany principally by the London Parochial Charities through a committee consisting of their representatives, together with those of the other interested bodies including the Royal College of Physicians and the Society of Apothecaries. Lord Cadogan also sits on this committee as the lineal descendant of Sir Hans Sloane. The garden, which was laid out on the present Bentham-Hooker system in 1902, now employs a curator and eight gardeners, and over 3000 students and others are admitted annually. Botanical specimens are pro¬ vided for many examining bodies, and seeds are exchanged with similar institutions all over the world. Much research work on plant physiology is carried out in the laboratories which adjoin the curator’s house, while Chadwick and other lectures are given annuallv in the garden or lecture-room. It is pleasing to find this quiet backwater of science continuing to serve the useful purpose for which it was founded more than three centuries ago, and it is to be hoped that it can be assured of the continued interest and support upon which its further survival depends. The Lancet Office, 7, Adam Street, Adelphi, London, W.C.2