No summary available.

Reports on the 1870 BAAS meeting at Liverpool. Huxley’s address was over the heads of the laymen.

Tyndall’s was eloquent to listen to, disappointing to read.

George Rolleston’s "Rococo" address [Nature 2 (1870): 423–7, 442–6].

Murchison.

Lyell.

Has done an immense lot of work.

Regrets CD has not kept the simple title "Origin of man" [for Descent].

No summary available.

Bentham has translated Miquel’s Sumatran supplement to his Flora van Nederlandsch Indie. It should be published. What does CD think is best vehicle? Nature is wretched and too ephemeral. What about Popular Science Review?

JDH compliments Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] on his paper on 'Spontaneous Generation & Evolution' & hopes that it is a prelude to further research into the chemistry of vegetation as JDH believes there is no better man to do it. JDH is currently reading John Tyndall's paper 'On the Actions of Rays of High Refrangibility upon Gaseous Matter' in PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON & he is struck by Tyndall's remarks on the decomposition of carbonic acid, by solar rays, in the leaves of plants. JDH says that he had thought about this independently & believes it would make a good research subject. Has heard that Dr P[ercival] Wright it going to Algeria for the winter. JDH hopes that he has left the key to the [Trinity College] Herbarium for them.

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JDH thanks Asa Gray for sending him some apples. He & Mr Smith compare the variety sent, the 'Northern Spy', to English apples including the 'Ribstone Pippen' & the 'Nonsuch'. Discusses his work on the Rubiaceae family including the genera: Psychotria, Cephaelis, Nonateleiae[?], Rudgea ,Palicourea, Chasalia & Grumilea. Next he will work on Borreroids, including Hedyotoids. George Bentham is working on Compositae, currently struggling with Gnaphalia. JDH's wife, Frances Hooker, has finished translating Decaisne & Maout & Hooker himself did some work on the introduction. [John Gilbert] Baker is working on Monocots. [Thomas] Thomson is neglecting his work on the FLORA INDICA & there are problems with the printing & the length. JDH intends to take over editorship & organize it into a shorter manual with the different orders contributed by expert authors. JDH's mother, Lady Maria Hooker, is ill in Torquay but recovering. JDH thanks Gray for Cytinus, Apodanthes, a paper on Galax & his attention to Rubiaceae. JDH must put off his trip to California, he worries he is getting too old but takes comfort that Sir H. Holland just went over the Blue mountains of Jamaica aged over 80. Murchison has Hemiplegia & has resigned himself to death, his likely successor as President of the Geographical Society is Sir H. Rawlinson. Letter appears incomplete & is unsigned but is written in the hand of Joseph Dalton Hooker.

JDH asks if William Thiselton-Dyer would be willing to contribute descriptions of orders, genera & species for a proposed flora of India & outlines the terms of employment.

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JDH writes that he is pleased William Thiselton-Dyer is starting work on the Asclepiadoideae [for FLORA CAPENSIS]. The herbarium of Robert Wight will be at Thiselton-Dyer's disposal. William Henry Harvey is a model of how to approach complex systematic work. JDH approves of Thiselton-Dyer's plan to have an educational museum in the [botany] department [of Royal College of Science for Ireland]. Discusses sending Welwitschia specimens for the museum, 2 live specimens have already been sent from RBG Kew to Glasnevin [National Botanic Gardens, Ireland]. JDH will send Thiselton-Dyer Asclepiad flowers as they bloom at RBG Kew & a copy of Benjamin Delessert's ICONES SELECTAE PLANTARUM QUAS IN SYSTEMATE UNIVERSALI with figures by Joseph Decaisne. JDH adds he has not heard from India House about a flora of India, he is concerned about 'the neuralgia' & would like Salix specimens from Dr Moore for Kew's new 'Salicetum'.

Describes plans for travel in Morocco with George Maw and John Ball.

Has not yet read Descent.

JDH informs his wife Frances Hooker, that he is on a steamer from Tangiers to Mogadore [Essaouira] & will send this letter by means of a passing vessel going in the opposite direction to Marseille. The boat they are on is good one but the sea is rough & he & his companion [George] Maw are suffering with sea sickness & lack of appetite but [John] Ball is unaffected. JDH send his regards to all at Pendock, & expresses an intention to write to the 'President of the Wanderers' there [Reverend William Samuel Symonds] if he can remember how to spell his surname. They lay off the coast near Rabat earlier in the day but were unable to communicate with the town. There is a Frenchman on board trying to cure his sea sickness by holding lemon-halves on his temples. Sir. J. Hay has informed them that everything is ready for their trip but JDH is anxious to get to Mogadore & make plans, he thinks the trip may take longer than previously predicted. Mr White the consul at Tangier was a pupil of JDH's Uncle, Reverend William Jacobson, at Oxford University & send his regards along with the gift of cup made from Fez earthenware. JDH has met with a Mr Cardwell, a nephew of the War Minister [Edward Cardwell], who is travelling aimlessly. JDH gives some instruction for Mr [John] Smith regarding care of bulbs. [Edward] Crump is a good man, also currently sea sick.

Answers CD’s questions.

Reception of Descent. Evolution accepted everywhere; descent of man accepted calmly.

Morocco plans.

Fears for Huxley, who is overworked.

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No summary available.

JDH writes to his wife Frances Hooker nee Henslow about his recent travels in Morocco. He describes the celebrations of the last day of Passover, which he spent with a Jewish family in Tetuan. He describes the journey by mule across flat plains from Tetuan to Ceuta & notes that the vegetation included Tamarix Africana, mulberry & Juniperus phoenicea. He describes the view approaching Ceuta, the agriculture around the Spanish town, the people he observed including Riffians, & the character of the fortified town. They stayed at the Fonda Italiana then went by Felucca to Algericas where they botanised in the hills & observed the differences in vegetation with the opposite coast. The Algericas vegetation included cork oak trees festooned with the fern Davalia canariensis, undergrowth of bracken, brambles, Genista, Ulex, Cistus & heaths as in Morocco. Algerica plants not found in Morocco were Rhododendron ponticum, Erica ciliaris & Sibthorpia europeana [europaea], several grasses & a Helianthemum. The flora was more advanced than in the Marrakech area, the habitat being drier, & the scenery prettier. They travelled on to Gibraltar, where presently stuck waiting for a boat to Tangiers, all their luggage having gone ahead to Tangier. Whilst waiting visited the Governor of Gibraltar, Sir William Williams of Kars, who had been informed of their travels by the Secretary of War, Mr Cardwell. The Governor's house is a new building on the site of an old convent with some fine trees: Norfolk Island Pine, Date Palm & Dracaena draco or 'Dragon's blood tree'. In the hills the vegetation included: Cerastium gibraltaricum, Linaria tristis, Phytolacca trees. They stayed at Fonda Españole near to the offices of the hospitable Mr Cowell. Under date Apr 18 he continues; they arrived late at Tangier & had to pay to have the gates opened. They met with [George] Maw who had travelled South & found the beautiful Iris Sir John Hay Drummond Hay made them aware of.

JDH describes to Sir John Hay Drummond Hay the struggle his party has had with the authorities, to get suitable housing in Marocco [Marrakech]. He gives a detailed timeline of events from their reception in the city by a Mr Hunot, formerly of Messrs. Perry & Co. of Liverpool, to their finally getting assigned the house previously occupied by [Moses] Montifiore the following day. He gives the date they took up their quarters as 5 Aug but this should read 5 May. The initial date of the letter on page 1 has been corrected, in pencil, from 4 Aug to 4 May. The Montifiore house was only secured for JDH by the intervention of the Viceroy after Ben Daoud tried to make them stay in houses that were too small or dirty, against the instructions of the Sultan. They spent the night camping near the great mosque, under the protection of soldiers supplied by the more hospitable El Grauoi.

JDH informs his wife Frances that he has arrived in Marocco [Marrakesh] after a 4 day journey from Mogadore [Essaouira]. He, John Ball & George Maw, are not good horsemen. The Argan forest they rode through was hilly with evergreen trees full of flowers & olive like fruit. They rode through a fertile hilly region then a vast stony plain. They saw Artemisia & Salicornia. Zizyphus & Withania frutescens. Springs from underground streams create oasis where some barley fields grow & straw & mud villages develop around them. JDH describes the wildlife. They saw the tower of the great mosque in Marocco from 20 miles away. They saw Atriplex, Zizyphus, Salicornia & Lycium barbarum, & Oleander. Irrigation wells mark subterranean streams but more of the city cannot be seen until it is reached, apart from some date palm groves & a few other mosque towers. Palm tree stems are used for lintels & rafters in mud houses, the leaves used for sweeping. It takes 3 hours to ride around the city walls which have figs, olives, poplars & palms & Celtis growing over them. JDH describes the tile-covered mosques. Inside of the city is mainly ruinous. JDH describes the population as poor, diseased & lame. JDH has been granted an audience with the Governor, El Graoui [El Glaoui], whom the Sultan has ordered to help JDH. JDH describes El Graoui & his palace. They are staying in Sir Moses Montefiore's on-time house, which has a garden with fruit trees. He lists the principal authorities as the Viceroy; El Graoui & Ben Daud, Governor of the City proper. JDH describes the Atlas mountains as lofty but not very rugged. The Sultan is opposed to Europeans, so the access that JDH has been given is unique. He describes the extent of the Sultan's authority & the government. The Sultan will not have the mountains worked for their copper, iron, lead etc. The party are well, although Edward Crump is variable in his work. JDH invites Daniel Oliver to share his letter with General Council.

JDH sends belated birthday wishes to his mother, Lady Maria Hooker. He complains that the officials in Morocco are causing delays so the party's main excursion to the Atlas mountains has only just been organised. The trip will be facilitated by El Graoui, Governor of the Atlas Province, by order of the Sultan. The Sultan has guaranteed them supplies & safe passage, which is able to do in the third of his country that he actually has control over. JDH will spend two or three weeks in the Atlas with the mountain people before returning home to England via Mogadore [Essaouira]. He plans to ingratiate himself to the mountain people with gifts of knives, music boxes & other sundries. The sultan & his ministers are doing their best to 'improve' Morocco by making it more accessible & utilising their natural resources, such as copper, lead, iron, antimony & saltpetre. JDH describes the climate & local people as agreeable & has a good opinion of the local Governors but criticises the corrupt way that the Government is run & the squabbles between chiefs. JDH was received by Sir John Hay Drummond Hay at Tangier, he briefly describes the family; Lady Hay is related to Mr Carstensen [Cazytensen] the V[ice] Consul of Mogadore. JDH is pleased with his traveling companions, John Ball & George Maw. He explains that he could not miss the chance to go to the unexplored regions of the Greater Atlas mountains, especially when it took such diplomatic efforts to persuade the Sultan to give his permission. Hay had to tell the Sultana that JDH was the Queen of England's 'Hakeem & gardener' & that to refuse his request would offend her. JDH explains that they have travelled by mule & camels with additional animals to carry the baggage, and with an escort of black soldiers.