24 MARCH 1923, Page 20

The Romance of the Apothecaries' Garden at Chelsea. By

F. Dawtrey Drewitt. {Chapman and Dodd. 7s. 6d. net.) From the establishment of their garden in 1673, the Apothe- caries' Society bravely struggled to maintain it, in spite of severe financial difficulties, until at last, in 1893, they handed over their old trust to the Charity Commissioners. Mr. Drewitt has told the story of the birth and growth of the society and their garden in an outline that makes a pleasant hour's reading, lit by narrow windows that give us glimpses of little history and of little men. There is a peculiar delight in this meeting with the lesser men of the past. They become more easily human than the great, whose names have so often been dried to emptiness in our school histories. It takes much reading to humanize a king, but old doctors and old gardeners quickly come to life in Mr. Drewitt's slight and charming book.