From:
Henry Brougham
To:
Mary Somerville
Date:
17 Mar 184?
Source of text:
MSB 13 / 401, Dep. c. 369, Bod, MS
Summary:
No summary available.
Contributor:
Brigitte Stenhouse
No summary available.
No summary available.
No summary available.
No summary available.
Sending a paper, compiled from his late father's notes, for an escapement for an astronomical clock. Would be pleased if JH would communicate it to the R.S.L.
Since he last wrote to his father, William Jackson Hooker, JDH has botanised at St Helena, most notable for cryptogams. JDH learnt about the island flora from Chief Justice Wilde & the Military Chaplain Mr Helps, who assisted Tournaut[?] of Dr Thomson's lab. JDH could not find Beatsonia or Mikania. He collected Commidendrum, Melanodendron & Lachanodes. Other noteworthy collections include Trimiris, Roellas & ferns. JDH dries his plant on HMS 'Erebus' by hanging them outside, some have suffered in extreme weather & the conditions of the tropics. His main collecting tools are a leather portfolio & vasculum. Using a microscope JDH draws marine animals, some of which are luminous; mostly Entomostraceous Crustacea, Pyrosoma & Sertulariae. Blainville's ACTINOLOGIE & Edwards' CRUSTACEA are his references for this work. Approaching the Cape of Good Hope JDH first saw floating seaweeds, a submarine forest with an ecosystem of fish, parasites, corals, shells, crustaceans, molluscs, worms, actinia [anemones] etc. He describes the main seaweed, a Laminaria. JDH & Captain Ross work on the marine specimens whilst McCormick is only interested in ornithology & geology so JDH is effectively the voyage naturalist. JDH describes the excitement of every new landfall. He discusses what he will include in his Antarctic Flora. Next the expedition goes to Crozet, Prince Edward Island, Kerguelen's Land, Islands of St. Paul & Amsterdam, New Zealand, then the ice of Antarctica. The artillery officer, Wilmot, will be staying at the Cape. His brother Augustine Wilmot is a medical student at Edinburgh, his father MP for Warwickshire. The HMS 'Terror's' artillery officer, Mr LeFroy, stayed at St Helena. JDH asks for some natural history books & about joining the Linnean Society. He discusses sending specimens home, all should go to the Admiralty. Suggests WJH could exchange plants with Wilde. JDH has received no letters at Simons Bay, the Cape. He will write to his sisters at Camden House.