Did cats and dogs become pets because they are scrupulous in the discharge of their faeces? He has a pet parakeet whose behaviour supports this view.

JDH writes to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer about his time in Paris. He [& his wife Hyacinth Hooker] could not stay at the Hotel de Famille & have been forced to take rooms at an inferior establishment; Hotel l'Amiral. They have been to the Exhibition [Third Paris World's Fair] where JDH admired the Japanese edibles such as Pteris aquilina in syrup, also a collection of bamboos, the Englsih glass & French artificial flowers but he got bored with the amount of porcelain on show. They have also been to Cluny, a prize giving at the Palais d'Industrie & briefly to an overcrowded ball at the 'Ministre of Agriculture & Commerce'. JDH will go to a speech by the exhibition jurors & to see the Prince at the British Embassy. JDH has met with William Munro & together they will go to the Jardin de Plantes to visit Joseph Decaisne. JDH & Hyacinth dine daily with Mr & Mrs Ragnel, Hyacinth's aunt. Due to rain they will not attend the ball at Versailles. JDH approves of the improvements being made in Paris but finds the city very noisy, smelly & poorly designed for pedestrians. The Palais Royal does not have the quality shops it used to, good jewellery especially is now to be found further West. JDH is worrying about his [Royal Society] Address, he asks WTTD to help him by preparing a list of significant scientific developments. In a post script JDH ads that the Duval Bouillons are: 'so full one cannot get near them'.