From:
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker
To:
Asa Gray
Date:
18 April 1884
Source of text:
Asa Gray Correspondence 105, Archives of the Gray Herbarium
Summary:
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Contributor:
Hooker Project
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JDH informs Asa Gray what it cost to send a copy of GENERA [PLANTARUM] to Bessey [Herbarium], Nebraska. He would welcome more orders to cover the costs of reprinting. Affairs of [George] Bentham [GB] are not yet settled, 'Miss W.' should deal with her Uncle's 'intentions' incl. debts to Societies. JDH will miss GB & his help with ICONES [PLANTARUM]. He mentions a caster belonging to Sir Samuel [Bentham]. JDH cannot travel with Gray but he may be able to visit him in Boston after retiring. JDH is always too busy to get away, [William Thiselton] Dyer does a great deal but cannot take over all Hooker's work & has fallen behind with the 1883 report. Synonyms make nomenclature for the BOTANICAL MAGAZINE increasingly hard. Mentions the ongoing 'McGilvray affair' & the deterioration of his sister Maria McGilvray. [Henry Ashburton] Newman & Margaret [Greene Newman nee McGilvray] have gone to California to start an agricultural school, Bessy & Tom [F. McGilvray] may go too, Tom is currently in Canada. JDH's sister Bessy [Elizabeth Evans Lombe nee Hooker] is still ill & her husband [Thomas Robert Evans] Lombe worries for her. Willy [William Henslow Hooker] has failed to pass for surgeon. Symonds is at 'The Camp' [in Sunningdale]. JDH's wife [Hyacinth Hooker] named their new baby Richard, JDH thinks the child has inherited his long head & compares him to a Chinook [Chenook] Indian. Joey [Joseph Symonds Hooker] follows the baby around like a puppy. Mentions [Everard Ferdinand] Im Thurn ascending Roraima, [Sir Henry Hamilton] Johnston's Kilimanjaro collections, & a portrait of Gray. Discusses his work on Indian Polygona, referring to Meissner's work, Amblygonon & Persicaria. GB has left JDH the copyright of his BRITISH FLORA, JDH has concerns about producing a new edition. Gray may meet Morris at New Orleans. Reports that his uncle Dawson Turner, a charitable eccentric, has died of Erysipilas. His Aunt Ellen of Chester is the only one left from that branch of the family.
[This letter is incomplete and bears no signature, but is written in the hand of Joseph Dalton Hooker.] JDH has received a letter from Asa Gray about his travels with his wife [Jane Loring Gray]. He hopes California will be good for the Gray's health, he & his wife Hyacinth Hooker hope to visit the Gray's in America in the autumn. Hyacinth is recovering well from childbirth & the baby [Richard Symonds Hooker] is healthy apart from the after effects of vaccination. Gray's account of Mexico & Cypresses made JDH jealous. JDH discusses arrangements he is making over the estate of the deceased George Bentham, including personal possessions such as the correspondence of Jeremy & Sir Samuel Bentham, some unopened. JDH is working on THE FLORA OF BRITISH INDIA part twelve covering Anacardiaceae. He has completed Aristolochiaceae & is now doing the difficult genus of Piperaceae, in which many of Miquel & De Candolle's species must be assigned as 'unknowable'. He notes that Polygonum was a hard task & that P. virginianum grows in the Himalayas. William Thiselton-Dyer is managing the garden work so JDH deals with the arboretum as well as the scientific work. Nobody has been appointed to the Glasgow Chair [of Botany]. He explains some controversy over the fact McNab was initially appointed by Government before Balfour had even resigned, at the expense of other candidates such as Bower & Ward. JDH thinks the botnaical results of the Kilimanjaro Expedition are disappointing he hopes for better from Everard im Thurn's ascent of Roraima. JDH reports that his sister Maria McGIlvray has recovered from illness. MR Newman has opened a farming school in San Francisco.
JDH has received Asa Gray's letter from St Louis & is glad to hear he & his wife are healthier than in Mexico. JDH suggests he should go to Vancouver with the Grays. JDH reports on how things are at 'The Camp' [in Sunningdale]: the Symmonds are staying there, the Hawthorn & birch foliage is beautiful but the oak, ash & chestnut trees are coming into leaf late due to a cold spring. JDH is currently living at Kew & working on the Indian Flora, THE BOTANICAL MAGAZINE & various committees. JDH refused the Presidency of the Royal Geographical Society & the Marquis of Lorne now has the post. Discusses management of the Linnean Society incl. lack of a Botanical Officer: [John] Lubbock is doing a bad job as President, [William] Thiselton-Dyer would be the best man for the job but does not want it, nor does JDH. Discusses Huxley's health & retirement. Frankland also to retire. Tells Gray what his children are doing: Charles Paget Hooker has given up his Cottishall [medical] practice & is engaged to a niece of [Thomas Robert Evans] Lombe's, Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker [BHHH] is done at the copper mine, Harriet Thiselton-Dyer nee Hooker's health is improved, according to [Antoine Francis] Marmontel Grace Ellen Hooker excels in music at the Conservatorie de Paris, Reginald Hawthorn Hooker is doing a Bachelor of Sciences, Joseph Symonds Hooker & Richard Symonds Hooker progress. JDH has finished Indian Polygona & is working on Myristica. Discusses a letter from [Mountstuart Elphinstone] Grant Duff re. a supposed love affair between BHHH & one of the Klustines. Mentions that Bentham's sister was engaged to a Klustine & [George] Bentham [GB] himself jilted a Mademoiselle Dax for Laura Carr who in turn married a Mr Rolfe instead & later Lord Cranworth. JDH has inherited GB's autobiography & mass of Bentham family correspondence, he has been employing Miss Wallich to sort it but is not impressed with her. JDH mentions the health of his sisters: [Elizabeth] Lombe & Maria [McGilvray].
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JDH mentions Mimuli, Pringle's plants, Certes, & Gay's plants, as exchanged with Asa Gray. John Ball is in Italy, he is looking old. Wright is dead as so many of their friends now are. Sends birthday wishes to Gray's wife Jane. JDH sympathises with Gray over the tedium of revising works, he is bored with revisions for GENERA PLANTARUM. He wishes Gray had had more time to spend on FLORA BOREALI AMERICANA. Mentions the price of the HMS 'Challenger' works & the part written by William Botting Hemsley. Discusses organisation of the RBG Kew herbarium, especially intercalation of accessions & mounting of specimens. [Jules Emile] Planchon, [Henri Ernest] Baillon, [Heinrich Gustav Adolf] Engler & Ludwig Adolph Timotheus Radlkolfe have all been at RBG, Kew together. Mentions the marriage of his son Charles Paget Hooker, at Morton Hall, the home of a Mr Berneys. Mention they both like to fish so have gone to Scotland for a fishing honeymoon. Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker has gone to Australia to visit Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland & New Zealand. Paying for his sons has put JDH in debt. He is working on Laurineae [Lauraceae] for the FLORA BRITISH INDIA & thinks they need to be arranged differently: there are two genera in Beilschmideliae [Beilschmiedia] & Cyanodaphne is not a good genus. He has completed work on the Cinnamomums. Reginald Hawthorn Hooker has done well in his 'Bachelores Sciences' degree at the Sorbonne & will be tutored by La Touche in preparation for matriculation at the University of London. Grace Ellen Hooker prefers to return to Paris than become a governess. Harriet Anne Thiselton-Dyer née Hooker is feeling better & Joseph Symonds Hooker & Richards Symonds Hooke are well. Mentions the illness of a Mrs Rothey[?]. Has a copy of Sustermans' 'Head of Galileo' for sale, painted by Miss Horner's protégée.
JDH instructs Asa Gray to keep 'the Berardia of ii.474' & that 'Baillon has prepared Debarara for the other' in BULL[ETIN MENSUEL DE LA]. SOC[IÉTÉ]. LIN[ÉENNE]. PARIS No 35. JDH is worried at his slow progress with THE FLORA OF BRITISH INDIA. He is working on Machilus & Phoebe, he has completed Cinnamomum & reduced it to 23 Indian species. JDH has decided to retire as Director of RBG Kew whilst he is still young enough to enjoy his retirement. He gives some other justifications: JDH has been doing only scientific work whilst William Thiselton-Dyer [WTD], his Assistant Director, deals with the official RBG Kew duties but this cannot continue. The structure of RBG Kew will be reorganised on the departure of the Curator John Smith & JDH & WTD disagree on how it should be done, the Board [of Trustees] will decide. WTD would like JDH to stay on as Director as he does not want the expense of keeping up the Director's house himself. JDH suggests that the Director's house might be turned into an office. Once retired JDH would travel from The Camp, in Sunningdale, to work in the RBG Kew herbarium. His son 'Willy' [William Henslow Hooker] would get a small house in Kew where JDH could sometimes stay. Retirement has financial pros & cons but above all JDH would be free & able to work on publications. His wife Hyacinth Hooker approves his retirement plan. They now prefer living at The Camp where the Symonds will soon join them. JDH's plan to retire is still not public & is shared with Gray in confidence though he would be glad of his opinion in a private letter. In a post script JDH adds that Mrs Rothry has been ill with an ovarian problem.
JDH writes to Asa Gray about moving house, to The Camp in Sunningdale, & making arrangements from William Thiselton-Dyer to take over from him as Director of RBG Kew. JDH is also busy working on Indian Laurels, sending George Bentham's flora to press, serving on the Council of the Royal & Geographical Societies & preparing the BOTANICAL MAGAZINE. JDH has received many letters of condolence & congratulation on his retirement incl. a note from Lord Iddesleigh which said that RBG Kew is to Hooker what St Paul's is to Wren. The Secretaries of the Colonies & India have written to the Treasury lamenting the loss of JDH & advocating a good pension for him. JDH has some regrets about severing his official ties with these public offices but fears that he will be roped into Treasury committees. JDH intends to withdraw from London Society. He has taken a house for his son 'Willy' [William Henslow Hooker] in Kew & William Thiselton-Dyer & his wife Harriet will take over the Director's house, JDH & his wife Hyacinth will be frequent visitors to both. There are no suitable candidates for the job of Assistant Director, the son of Daniel Oliver the Keeper of the Herbarium is a good prospect but his father is not keen for him to take the position. A knowledgeable secretary will be appointed instead, perhaps [Henry Nicholas] Ridley of the British Museum, who was trained in natural history by Lankaster. Updates Gray on the Hooker family: Hyacinth is well but tired from nursing the baby, Charles Paget Hooker is happy at Cirencester, Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker has got a job at Melbourne Australia, JDH is prepping Reginald Hawthorn Hooker for Cambridge, Joseph Symonds Hooker is a studious child & good reader, the baby [Richard Symonds Hooker] is lively & still has a long head, Harriet Thiselton-Dyer is in Eastbourne & Grace Ellen Hooker in Paris. JDH is still sorting out the estate of the late George Bentham, RBG Kew will get a significant legacy.
JDH apologises for not writing to Asa Gray sooner, he has been answering enquiries about the future of RBG Kew. He congratulates Gray on receiving a silver presentation vase. JDH mentions the heavy snow. William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] has been appointed Director of RBG Kew & [Daniel] Morris Assistant Director. WTTD & Harriet are wary of moving into the Director's House. John Smith will retire in Mar when he turns 60. JDH discusses his pension. JDH has set up his son 'Willy' [William Henslow Hooker] in a house in Kew. Charles Paget Hooker is at Cirencester & Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker has got a job at silver mine in New South Wales on the Murrumbidgee River. Reginald Hawthorn Hooker is preparing for Cambridge with Mr La Touche. Joseph Symonds Hooker is proving to be a good reader & Richard Symonds Hooker is developing as all babies do. JDH's father in law Reverend William Samuel Symonds' health is uncertain, Mrs Rothry is getting better. JDH is settled at The Camp, he works productively there & in the RBG Kew herbarium & is relieved to be Director no more. JDH discusses his work on the FLORA OF BRITHSH INDIA, specifically Litsaea or 'Tetranthera', Persea & a genus near Eudiandra. He has also been working on George Bentham's flora & proofs of GENERA PLANTARUM. He is still on the councils of the Royal Society & the Royal Geographic Society. Mentions an RGS lecture given by Bryce on commerce & trade, & an upcoming one by Morris. Gives his opinion on teaching geography & declares that teaching any subject is fruitless if people do not wish to learn. He wonders what has happened to the alternative botany once taught in Glasgow & Edinburgh. Discusses [Richard] Owen using [William Ewart] Gladstone & the Bishop of Oxford as mouthpieces support the the mosaic narrative over evolution & Darwinism. JDH also recalls Owen's comments on his essay in FLORA AUSTRALIA. JDH reviews Gray's obituary of Louis Agassiz. JDH is disappointed by De candolle's obituary of Boissier.
JDH has a cold. He writes to thank Asa Gray for the SYNOPTICAL FLORA SUPPLEMENT. JDH is glad Gray is working on Ranunculaceae again & hopes he will 'gallop through Thalamiflorae'. JDH is working on Laurineae, he discusses his classification of Litsaeaceae under a single genera: Lindera. If [George] Bentham [GB] had tried to understand Laurineae the GENERA PLANTARUM would not be complete, it requires the patient analysis JDH is better at. JDH assumed GB did the ones for [Robert] Schomburgk & [Richard] Spruce. The obscure, tropical arborescent Orders are hard work but Gray has his own difficulties with Compositae. JDH is printing Indian Polygonums. JDH comments on the absence of a willow in Gray's MANUAL OF THE BOTANY OF THE NORTHERN UNITED STATES which may already have been published in Anderson's Monograph in De Candolle Prodromus depending on what the correct relative dates of publication are. Also comments on [John Merle] Coulter's Rocky Mountain flora & the definition of an alpine plant. Discusses who should replace [John] Lubbock as President of the Linnean Society, JDH does not want the job himself, he thinks it should be William Thiselton-Dyer but will more likely be [William] Carruthers. D. Jackson's biographical notice of GB is unsatisfactory. JDH wrote to [Mary Louisa Wallon] encouraging her to spend some of the money she inherited from her uncle [GB] supporting the Linnean & Royal Societies. JDH lists some of the works in a botanical library that is being sold, it once belonged to his friend Mr Watson Taylor, an amateur botanical artist. He suggests St. Louis may buy them, JDH is considering a price of about £500 but will consult Wheldon. JDH asks if Sargent is right to call Gray one of the "immortal 8" of the French Academy.
JDH thanks Asa Gray for his letter of 29 Apr [1886]. JDH has finished Laurineae but is dissatisfied with the result, he does not think he improved on the earlier work of [Carl] Meissner. JDH's opinion of Nees von Esenbeck is raised. JDH is working on Euphorbias, of which [Pierre Edmond] Boissieu made too many species, he scoffs at Boissieu's presumption that there could be un-described plants of Heyne[?] in the Vienna & St Petersburg herbaria. JDH has not see O. M. Holmes though they were both at Princess Louise's & Holmes met with [Thomas Henry] Huxley at a public dinner. JDH is working on ICONES [PLANTARUM]. He misses [George] Bentham [GB] & is frustrated that his affairs are not settled. He works in GB's old room in the herbarium. JDH is impressed by Daniel Oliver's knowledge, particularly of Phaenogams. He discusses staff changes at RBG Kew: [Daniel] Morris is installed, [George] Nicholson replaced [John] Smith & [William] Watson is in charge if tropical cultivation as Assistant Curator. Mitford, Secretary of the Board of Works, has inherited his Uncle, Lord Redesdale's, property. He will probably be replaced by one of 'mad Gladstone's secretaries'. JDH is working on new editions of GB's [HANDBOOK OF THE BRITISH FLORA] & the Primer [BOTANY, 1876]. Mentions that specimens arrive from China & are dealt with by [William Botting] Hemsley, material from Africa is usually poor quality. [George] King promises to do the figures for the FLORA OF BRITISH INDIA but systematic botanist rarely live up to promises, except Baker. [William] Carruthers is President of Linnean Society, Jackson Botanical Secretary & [James] Murie Prime Minister. Offers Gray duplicates of Indian specimens, they are from collections by Wallich, Cuming & Lobb. [James Edward Tierney] Aitchison is working on his Turkmenistan & Afghanistan collections. JDH would like word of Mr Ashburnham Newman, now of San Francisco, who is married to his niece: Margaret McGilvray. JDH has received no pension yet.
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