Up the garden path: The plants of the Chelsea Physic Garden mark the journey from witchcraft to modern medical science

摘要

The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries were a canny lot. As with many of the trade guilds of the 1600s, their secretive society was not just for training and keeping up standards - it was about monopoly. This was a time when the knowledge of healing herbs and plants was transcending the superstition of the Dark Ages and becoming the "art" of medicine. The ancient guilds were battling over the rewards to be earned from the knowledge of nature and its miracles. In 1673, the Worshipful Society founded the Chelsea Physic Garden beside the River Thames, near the present Albert Bridge, for the propagation of herbs and the education of apprentices. Only the second "botanic" garden in England, it was close to river transport and the apothecaries' Blackfriars guild hall and known for its microclimate. Even olives and citrus grow here.