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JDH has just returned from Loch Lomond & found 3 letters & enclosures from Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD]. In turn he is sending WTTD 2 India Office drafts & [James] Backhouse's letter complimenting RBG Kew. JDH feels that there is much more to be done at RBG Kew especially regarding the arboretum. JDH assumes that [Sir Richard] Strachey has returned to London from Aviemore. JDH mentions something that he & WTTD wrote about a Mr Talbot. JDH assumes that the Calcutta Botanic Garden is in a bad way given the conditions it exists in under Mudel[?], who JDH calls a 'jackanapes'. JDH has told [John Firminger] Duthie that he must listen to [George Henry Kendrick] Thwaites' opinion on the destination of the rubber plants Duthie takes out & that it will depend on the condition they arrive in. Some or all may be sent straight on to Assam via Calcutta [Kolkata]. JDH will back 'the Dipterocarp application'. He is anxious that WTTD come forward for the Royal Society despite the obstacle of Bentley. [George] Bentham has gone to the [British] Association [for the Advancement of Science] meeting. JDH reports that the weather in Scotland has been 'tolerable' for his & Lady Hyacinth Hooker's tour of the Clyde, Inverary & Loch Lomond & some of his 'old haunts'. JDH met the Miss Coles on the Loch Lomond Steamer. His wife Hyacinth is an excellent traveller, he describes her as 'a mountaineer'.

JDH & his wife, Hyacinth, intend to go to Skye with Mrs Lyell, Ruamond, Arthur, Mr [William Samuel?] Symonds & Miss Turner. JDH & Hyacinth will then go to Aviemore & afterwards to stay with the Grants, then home via the Colevile's near Dunfermline. JDH describes Professor Peter Guthrie Tait's lecture on force at the British Association meeting as extremely bad & an attack on John Tyndall, which has distressed Thomas Andrews, President of the Association, & Sir Charles Wyville Thomson. JDH thought Andrews' address poor, Alfred Russel Wallace's excellent, Evans' & Charles Merrifield's good but Alfred Newton's miserable. JDH hopes to report favourably on Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer's [WTTD] 'application' soon, there have been some procedural objections enumerated in a letter from Newton [letter not present]. JDH & George Bentham will attend the next Committee of Recommendations & act on WTTD's behalf.

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JDH reports to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] on the outcome of the recent meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Mentions sectional addresses by Prof. Thomas Andrews, Prof. Alfred Newton & Sir Charles Wyville Thomson. JDH reports Herbarium at Glasgow is a disgrace to Alexander Dickson, the curator. There is a lack of species and items are mislabelled e.g. horseradish as Asarum europaeum. Declares it was better in George Walker Arnott's time. JDH leaves for Oban and possibly Skye the next day. He hopes to visit the Grants at Aviemore. JDH is pleased that WTTD went to Yarmouth.

JDH informs Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] that the weather on Skye has been fine & he took the opportunity to explore more. Describes the island geography as being a bog with some remarkable rocks, a mountain & a lakelet. JDH describes the Quiraing, & vegetation he found there: Sileni acaulis, Arabis petraea, Oxyria & Antennaria. JDH says the Storr rock is similar but less remarkable & takes a long time to get there. Vegetation there consists of long grass, Eleocharis, Carex & heath-clumps. They took a different return journey to Portree. He also describes visiting Loch Arnish & Cuillin. JDH describes ascending a mountain & having stunning views of Rum & Eigg, Mull, Ben Cruachan & Argyle round to Sutherland. Gives vivid description of the valley & pitch black rocks. Describes the journey back to the hotel & the fact that Mrs [Hyacinth] Hooker walked & climbed most of it. JDH observed Miocene & Lias period beds between the lava beds. The area reminds him of the Cantal & Auvergne regions in France, as well as volcanic islands such as Auckland, Campbell & Kerguelen. Describes England & Scotland holding the key to the geology of Skye & the Hebrides much as New Zealand would to other southern isles: as JDH advised Sir James Hector. Wonders when his discovery of fossil wood in Kerguelen Island will be noted. Mrs Lyell with her children, Miss Lyell & Mr Symonds have been with them but have now left for Gair Loch [Gairloch] where JDH & Mrs Hooker will follow. JDH will be at Inverness the next day & will arrive at Aviemore on Saturday. He will then head to Stirling to visit his sister, an old college friend & Indian friend. Next stop will be Sir J Colville's near Dunfermline before heading home.

JDH has received letters forwarded by Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer. He is concerned by the letter from Henry Prestoe about the Trinidad Botanic Garden, JDH will talk to the Colonial Office & Secretary of State for Colonies; Henry Herbert. He also recommends that Prestoe get a statement of support for the Trinidad garden into the GARDENERS CHRONICLE & other English papers. Mentions a blunder about a Pelargonium on the part of Alfred Russel Wallace & [John] Morley. JDH thinks that the exhibition of 'Scientific Mind' damaged the reputation of the British Association for the Advancement of Science by including Spiritualism, he thinks it was a poor decision by [Augustus Henry] Lane Fox. Mentions the news that Hevea [rubber] plants are not doing well & says the issue must be addressed with Clements Markham, he suggests an official representation from RBG Kew by [Sir Richard] Strachey, whose scientific position is acknowledged by Lord Salisbury [Robert Gascoyne Cecil, Secretary of State for India]. JDH is not surprised that [George Henry Kendrick] Thwaites does not like his job [of establishing Cinchona nurseries in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka]. JDH mentions an affliction affecting the Darwin family. JDH regrets the death of [Francis] Sibson, his son William Henslow Hooker's mentor. Wonders if [John] Duthie got his letter. Describes the weather in Aviemore. Next JDH will go to Stirling, visit [Brian Houghton] Hodgson & to Ailey Cottage to see Mr Woodward. Letters should be addressed to JDH care of James Findlay, Gargunnock. JDH asks for Thiselton-Dyer's ideas on what he could say at his next Royal Society address, he would like to talk about fossil botany.