Has written to Henry Holland in strongest terms. Will be surprised and disappointed if he does not accede to JDH’s request.
Showing 81–100 of 669 items
Has written to Henry Holland in strongest terms. Will be surprised and disappointed if he does not accede to JDH’s request.
CD agitated by JDH’s letter. Forgot to say that he heard Henry Holland was going to Turin. Beseeches JDH not to resign. No one could possibly replace him.
JDH has no intention of resigning. Thinks W. E. Gladstone would rather see Ayrton turned out than himself. Gladstone knows JDH has friends who would be troublesome. Only moral and political cowardice of Cabinet keeps Ayrton in office.
Lyell is much altered since autumn.
Has CD read Charles Martins’ paper on the glacial origin of the tourbières of the Jura [Arch. Sci. Phys. & Nat. 42 (1871): 286–308]?
John Scott has an admirable series on horticulture in Bengal ["Notes on horticulture in Bengal", J. Agric. & Hortic. Soc. India 2 (1871) pt 1: 241–96; 3 (1872) pt 1: 1–82].
No summary available.
Details of the JDH–Ayrton–Gladstone imbroglio.
Henry Holland is taking an active part in helping JDH in the Ayrton affair.
JDH suggests [Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone] Grant Duff become a Fellow of the Linnean Society. Asks after Grant Duff's continental tour with his wife. Complains that the Ayrton controversy is deteriorating further, JDH has brought it to the attention of Prime minister Gladstone & predicts it will end with the dismissal of himself or [Acton Smee] Ayrton.
CD is considering repeating experiments on melastomads in which different pollen sizes produced differing seedling sizes.
Responds to JDH’s query on differences in pollen within the same species.
No summary available.
JDH informs Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff that he is sending Cosmo Melville a report on the pamphlet relating to an injured poppy crop. JDH thinks the pamphlet is unfairly harsh toward Bihar Opium agents & should not have been published by the Government. He believes his report is to be sent to India so asks Grant Duff to read over it & get it approved by 'his Grace'.
Will be in London until 21st. Would rejoice if JDH could come to lunch during their stay.
Cannot come to lunch to meet Sir Henry Holland. Holland may have seen Robert Lowe [Lord Sherbrooke] already. Will CD let him know his views?
H. Holland keeps strongly to the opinion that Kew be under the Treasury, and will recommend this to Lowe.
Philosophical Club dinner.
Lyell contradicts W. B. Carpenter on current in Straits of Gibraltar.
James Orton’s report on fossil shells found by L. Agassiz 2000 miles up the Amazon. Their identification disposes of the glacial hypothesis.
No news yet from Gladstone on Ayrton affair.
Gladstone’s private secretary [West] has written that the Government plans to alter JDH’s position with regard to the First Commissioner of Works [Ayrton].
Huxley is not better after his Brighton trip.
[Letter incomplete. This letter bears no salutation or date & begins mid sentence. The date & recipient of the letter have been surmised from adjacent letters in the series.] JDH writes of a speech given about the work of his father, Sir William Jackson Hooker. At this event JDH's health was given by Colvile, JDH in turn toasted Airys, of whom he has a low opinion. Mentions that he had previously been unaware of 'Park's obliquities'. Provides Asa Gray with references for Agarista from Don & De Candolle. Mentions Gray's feelings about his students passing & compares them to his lingering memories of his sea travels, including an apocryphal story about a retired boatswain. Penstemon palmeri is not featured in the BOTANICAL MAGAZINE. Backhouse is selfish about sharing the material Gray sends him. JDH is glad Gray will use Hillebrands seeds. JDH has finished part two of THE FLORA OF BRITISH INDIA with Amantiaceae[?] & Geraniaceae. He lists which orders different botanists will work on for part three. Bennett will do Sernambaceae[?], Ochna, Bursaria; Hiern Meliaceae; JDH Chaetost[oma] & Sabiaceae; Masters Olaceae, Thiselton-Dyer Anacard[iaceae] & Baker Leguminosae. He is also working on the GENERA PLANTARUM, for which George Bentham is doing the Mimoseae.
No summary available.
JDH writes to Thiselton-Dyer regarding Norman Lockyer & Alexander MacMillan, respectively editor & Scottish publisher of NATURE; to which JDH has lent his name. Lockyer has not sent JDH a copy of William Carruthers' letter, JDH considers Carruthers' intellect muddled by a 'fear of extinction'. JDH is going to the funeral of an old friend, Archibald Smith of Jordanhill, in Kensal Green the following day. JDH invites Thiselton-Dyer to dine with him & his cousin Francis 'Frank' Palgrave.
Heartily glad about the news of the Ayrton affair development.
Huxley looks very unwell from too much miscellaneous work; CD wishes he could be made a Director General for transference of British Museum and for other scientific work, as JDH suggests.
William [Hooker] is in first division of matriculation list of London University.
Other family news.
No news on Ayrton affair. Ayrton has taken staff appointments out of JDH’s hands.
Asks whether CD knows about Zizania aquatica – can hardly believe it is an annual.