THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN AT CHELSEA.

146 that he was now the Apothecaries’ landlord, and him they consulted in their trouble. Being a, just as well 1722 a deed was signed by which Sloane undertook in as a learned man, he heard their complaint, and in consideration of a yearly rent of £5 to convey ther Physic Garden to the Company for ever, together with its stoves, green-houses and barge-houses, to enable the Society to support the charge thereof, " for the manifestation of the power, wisdom, and glory of God in the works of creation and to show how useful plants may be distinguished from those that are hurtful." So matters went on until the year 1R93, when the motor disturbances which are found in other varieties Apothecaries’ Company reluctantly decided that they of phlebitis. As regards the diagnosis, apart from the could no longer bear the expense of keeping up the exceptional cases in which the phlebitis is unilateral, garden. Neither the Royal Society nor the Royal there is little chance of the oedema being mistaken College of Physicians of London would accept the for that due to cardiac or renal disease or mechanical reversion of the garden, so the Apothecaries handed causes. But when pain is the principal feature and it over to the Charity Commissioners. By Sir Hans the other symptoms are in abeyance, the phlebitis may Sloane’s will the garden reverted to his heirs so be mistaken for peripheral neuritis or arthritis. When soon as it should cease to be used for scientific once the diagnosis of phlebitis is established its purposes, so there was every prospect of the site In this crisis Lord Meath, nature must be determined, and such causes as being used for building. chlorosis, rheumatism, gout, gonorrhoea, typhoid, and the Director of Kew Gardens (Sir W. Thiselton especially syphilis must be excluded. The immediate Dyer), and others urged upon the Treasury that prognosis of early phlebitis is favourable, especially the garden was of importance to all students of On the other botany, and eventually a committee was appointed as there is no likelihood of embolism. hand, the remote prognosis is often very grave and to superintend its management, the members of are appointed by or represent the London should always be guarded. In about one-third of the cases acute generalised tuberculosis ensues at Parochial Charities, the Treasury, the London County any time from a few months to two years from the Council, the Royal College of Physicians, and other Income for upkeep comes from the London In about the same appearance of the phlebitis. the Royal College of Physicians, London proportion of cases in place of an acute generalised Dr. Drewitt’s pages tuberculosis there is a marked aggravation of the University, and other bodies. initial lesions and a more or less rapidly fatal issue teem with information about the history of the takes place. It is only in a few instances that the garden, its curators, its distinguished visitors, its trees pulmonary lesions remain stationary. The treatment and plants, and the " herborising " excursions which does not differ from that of other forms of phlebitis. the demonstrator and the apprentices of the ApotheIn spite of the rarity of embolism it is advisable to caries’ Company carried out. These, continued until immobilise the limb until the acute symptoms have the" fifties" of the last century, and an amusing subsided, and in view of the likelihood of acute tuber- account of them will be found in one of Albert Smith’s now forgotten novels. culosis appropriate measures should be adopted.

always of slight extent unless the femoral is involved, when it is more pronounced and persistent. In the neighbourhood of the oedematous area, and usually above it, the thrombosed segment of the vein can be felt. The rise of temperature is usually slight and transient and is not accompanied by shiverlng or constitutional disturbance except in phlebitis of the deep veins, when a temperature of 104° F. may be registered..Early tuberculous phlebitis is further characterised by absence of a collateral circulation, very slight impairment of function, and absence of cutaneous sensory changes or of trophic or vaso-

which

bodies.

Charities,

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THE APOTHECARIES’ GARDEN AT CHELSEA. THERE is a passage in the Agricola where Tacitus adjures his father-in-law with that " organ voice " Si quis which he possessed in common with Milton ; piorum manibus locus, si, ut sapientibus placet, non cum corpore extinguuntur niagnae animæ, placide quiescas...." The spirits of bygone apothecaries, of Sir Thomas More, of Sir Hans Sloane, of Linnaeus, and many another botanist and physician might well be gladdened by a recently published account of the apothecaries’ garden at Chelsea by Dr. F. Dawt,rey "

The Physic Garden at Chelsea is now far as anything may be safe in these days of unrest, from the builder and the kinema company monger, and we may reasonably hope will remain as an oasis in the desert of houses and a place where students of nature may study. For the detailed history of the garden we must refer readers to Dr. Drewit,t’s book, but briefly it began its existence in 1673 when the Apothecaries’ Company which had separated from the Grocers’ by order of James 1. 1617, feeling the need of a garden where they could cultivate rare plants, and sow seeds now coming in from foreign lands " leased three acres of land from Charles Cheyne, afterwards Lord Cheyne, for £5per annum, in the then riverside village of Chelsea. From the first there were difficulties in finding money for the upkeep, and although early in the eighteenth century Lord Cheyne had offered the Company the freehold for £400, this was a sum far beyond their In 1713 the Company were hard pressed, means. but by the sale of some South Sea Stock " with advantage," and by a tax on masters and apprentices, they managed to keep the garden going. But in 1712 Sir Hans Sloane had bought the Manor of Chelsea, so

Drewitt.l

safe, in

so

THE BLOOD AND CANCER RESEARCH. THE problems of cancer, so fascinating in their complexity, obstinately .resist the attack of the research worker to the extent that it is a matter for wonder that men can be found willing to devote their lives to them. The chances of reaping a just reward for prolonged conscientious and often exceedingly arduous work are indeed remote ; more often the end attained is only the blocking of a further avenue of research for subsequent investigators. Yet there is consolation in the fact that though the secrets of malignant growth are revealed so grudgingly, inroads into this field of knowledge are surely, if slowly, being made. Some recent work by J. B. Murphy and E. Sturn on the conditions of growth of heteropla,stic tumour tissue in brain substance, seems to show that such growth is possible only because foreign body reaction changes do not take place around the grafts, as they do when inoculation is performed subcutaneously. Lymphocytes appear to take a very active part in the destruction of this foreign tissue. Growth is also prevented, if a portion of the animal’s spleen be introduced into the brain with the alien tumour tissue. Previous researches bv J. B. Murphy,2 had established two other facts : (1) that foreign tumours can be carried through several generations in irradiated animals ; and (2) that adult animals deprived of a large portion of lymphoid tissue are also deprived of their ability to destroy tissue. The profound changes in the leucocytes foreign found in X ray workers and their susceptibility to disease are well known, whilst rnassive deep radiation for the cure of cancer is on its trial. It is interesting to speculate in view of the violent constitutional reactions which take place, and the pronounced changes which occur in the blood as a result of exposure of the body to X rays, whether the

in own

"

1 The Romance of the Apothecaries’ Garden at Chelsea. F. Dawtrey Drewitt, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P. Lond.

By

malignant

1 Journal of the American Medical Association, 1922. lxxix., 2159. 2 Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1914, xix., 513.