Letter 1012

Preston writes that Sloane was unanimously accepted into the Royal College of Physicians. A diploma will arrive soon. The College had almost dwindled away after Balfour’s death, but things have changed. Now they plan on buying land in the City and having regular meetings. Preston asks about Sir Robert Sibbald’s ‘discours upon the root Chara’ and botany more generally. Preston was a physician and botanist who established a lengthy correspondence with Sloane, exchanging plants, seeds, books and information. His main interest was in botany, and was well-known by his contemporaries for his botanical knowledge (Anita Guerrini, Preston, Charles (16601711), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47084, accessed 1 June 2011]).