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JDH thanks Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer for sending him views of his old home West Park. He reports that Brian [William Hooker, his grandson] has left The Camp despite hearing that 'the India appointment' has been filled. JDH shies away from writing his memoirs but will overcome his aversion & do so at WTTD's suggestion, Lady Hooker already writes down passages of her early life. Dick [Richard Symonds Hooker] has just met a friend of WTTD's, Mr Muirhead, whilst playing a role in a pastoral play. JDH is working on Malayan Balsams but finds they are so succulent & with such minute anthers that they are difficult to work with. Laurence Austine Waddell has presented JDH with a copy of his book 'LHASA AND ITS MYSTERIES - WITH A RECORD OF THE BRITISH TIBETAN EXPEDITION OF 1903-1904'. JDH admires the work & the photographs in it, he wishes there has been a naturalist with the expedition & thinks WTTD should mention the lack to the Indian Government.

JDH writes to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] that he is sorry for [Otto] Stapf's 'intentions' [to apply for a job in the botany department of the Natural History Museum, London] and JDH hopes that he will not be successful. Comments that [Alfred] Rendle is a good systematic botanist and has been on the [Natural History] Museum staff for 17 years so it is only fair that he gets the job. Thanks WTTD for telling him about Brian [Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker - his fifth child] and agrees with every word. JDH says that he has put Brian on an 'existence allowance' to help with clothing for him, his wife and children. School bills are also sent to JDH & he pays to keep & educate Frances. Says he would be surprised if Brian gets any employment though his wife may find something for him. JDH reports that he is off to Sidmouth the next day. Says that [Captain Robert] Scott has sent him the 2 volumes of his book [presumably THE VOYAGE OF THE DISCOVERY].

JDH informs Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] that they had an enjoyable stay in Sidmouth but sadly returned to a detailed account from [William] Farlow] of Miss Gray's illness, which appears to be a paralytic seizure of head and limbs. She may recover. Farlow has suffered a succession of misfortunes: a 7 year old niece operated on for appendicitis; death of a nephew; a friend lost his eye and another fell from a balcony. JDH writes that he returned to find a copy of [Alfred] Wallace's MY LIFE with an enclosed letter which WTTD might like to see [enclosure is not present]. JDH writes that he has not seen [Edward] Clodd's citation of [Henry] Bate's work but he must get it. Notes that he must find time to read [Robert Hugh] Mill's SIEGE OF THE ANTARCTIC. JDH says that WTTD must tell him if he wants to see either of the above books. JDH notes that he encloses a book catalogue of which no. 264 might be worth WTTD's attentions [enclosure is not present]. Offers WTTD a copy of FRUTICETUM VILMORINIANUM for the RBG Kew library. JDH asks how [Otto] Stapf's application to the Botany Department of the British Museum [of Natural History] is proceeding. Says that Stapf has not approached JDH and JDH would not encourage Stapf if he did. JDH believes that other assistants in the department such as [Alfred Barton] Rendle and Baker are suitable to fill the vacancy. JDH reports that he has bad eczema on one leg. Asks what [David] Prain's prospects are.

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JDH sends Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] belated Christmas & new year wishes. He thanks WTTD for sending him a photo of a favourite spot in the Rhododendron Dell, now hanging on the wall at The Camp. JDH is relieved that David Prain has been appointed as the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. JDH is studying the Balsams of 'the archipelago', a subject neglected by Dutch botanists. He comments on their relative abundance in Sumatra, Java, the [Malay?] Peninsula & the Philippines. JDH reports that his wife Hyacinth Hooker is ill, suffering with Rheumatism, & later in the month he will take her to Bath.

JDH responds to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer's [WTTD] account of the death of Mary Barnard, [Noel?] Barnards daughter, she died of acute diabetes. JDH is disturbed to hear that his own daughter, WTTD's wife Harriet, has a malarious fever & approves of their plan to take her to Sidmouth to recuperate. JDH mentions the Thiselton-Dyer's new home. JDH visited the new Director of RBG Kew, David Prain, & his wife. JDH found Prain is working too hard & the Department [of Agriculture & Fisheries] is asking him to do too much outside his Kew duties. JDH also went to the RBG Kew herbarium to work on Balsams, where he found out Brandis is ill. [Dietrich] Brandis is working on the anatomy of bamboo leaves. [Eduard] Strasburger has also visited Kew where he & JDH spoke about old German botanists, & Marsileas in the Berlin Gardens. Notes that it is curious, WTTD, his son George & Bentham have ended up living on a street called Lindley [John Lindley having been a prominent orchidologist who worked at Kew]. Lady Hyacinth Hooker has gout in her knee. JDH offers to send WTTD copies of the Records of the Botanical Survey of India. Something JDH wrote for the Gazetteer has finally been printed. JDH's son Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker has secured a billet at Melbourne but JDH does not know if it is in the mining business. [William Robert] Guilfoyle was helping Brian to find work. Brian's daughter Frances has been sent to the Clemen[?] sisters.

JDH acknowledges Sir William Thiselton-Dyers congratulations on his 'Swedish award' [Commemorative Gold Medal presented by the Regia Academia Scientiarum Suecica, Uppsala for the Linnean Bicentenary]. Some correspondence from Sir Edward Grey transmitted with the medal may be published in the BULLETIN OF MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW. JDH goes on to mention those who will be attending his birthday celebration: a deputation from the B.S. [Botanical Society of London?], his granddaughter Frances Harriet Thiselton-Dyer, Harrinay[?], his children Grace Ellen Hooker & William Henslow Hooker & his cousin; botanical artist Matilda Smith. Hopefully RBG Kew Director David Prain will also attend. They will miss Harriet Thiselton-Dyer's company. JDH fears his wife Lady Hyacinth Hooker may be too unwell for the gathering as she suffers with gout. JDH has heard from George King that he is still unwell & going from Wales to stay with his friend [David Douglas] Cunningham in Torquay. JDH reports that Sir Richard Strachey has 'come down in the world' & been forced to sell his house in Lancaster Gate & retire to Hampstead, JDH is very sad for his old, infirm friend.

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JDH communicates his approval of Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer's article in NATURE. He considers the 'most remarkable instance of a changed form' to be the cut-leaved bramble [blackberry] which he has observed in his own garden. He also thinks it would be interesting to study variation & mutation in Japanese Maples. JDH is suffering with bad eczema but continuing his work dissecting & sketching Balsams. He observes that they are numerous & very location specific with no species overlap between India, China & Tibet. JDH has borrowed some Balsam specimens from Leveille at Les Man herbarium, they are all different from those in the Kew & Paris herbariums but are hard to work with having been badly dries.

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JDH is sending to Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] the introductory essay and proof sheet to the Chinese Impatiens of the Paris Herbarium. Says he always regretted the verbose descriptions of the Cape and Tropical African floras. JDH believes that it is more desirable for the descriptions to be similar to those of the British India flora. He says he had forgotten about his description of the Burdwan coal flora from his Himalayan Journals. JDH is amused at WTTD's idea that he is the father of Godwan land [Gondwanaland; an ancient supercontinent that according to study of plate tectonics incorporated present-day South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica. WTTD may have credited JDH with the title due to his early study of plant distribution, from which he inferred that land masses change over time]. JDH can only remember discussing Indian and Mediterranean genera in Africa in his Marocco[sic] [Morroco] book [JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN MAROCCO AND THE GREAT ATLAS]. Has observed bees as main pollinating agents of Himalayan and American Balsams in his garden. [Issac Henry] Burkill has been observing the pollinating actions of insects in India but not relating to Balsams.

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JDH compliments Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer for his article on [William Botting] Hemsley. JDH finds that he is unable to satisfactorily fulfil WTTD's request to write down his memories of Robert Brown as Brown was always a very reticent friend. Hooker particularly recalls failing to persuade Brown into conversation about the latter's time on [Captain Mathew] Flinders voyage, even though JDH knew the place in Risdon, Tasmania where Brown had lived at that time. JDH does go on to recount his friendship with Brown from their first meeting in the 1830s in Glasgow. He recalls Brown taking 30 years to provide a requested specimen of Eriophorum alpinum from the bog of Forfar & gifting JDH with a copy of his work PRODROMUS FLORAE NOVAE HOLLANDIAE ET INSULAE VAN DIEMEN, asking JDH to fill some of Joseph Banks' jars with orchids for preservation in an experimental liquid, & always putting off helping JDH identify Tasmanian plants from the HMS 'Erebus' voyage. Brown was also notoriously reluctant to share herbarium specimens, for example when a set of Tierra Del Fuego plants was requested through Captain [Philip Parker] King. Brown unsuccessfully requested that [Sir John] Barrow fund the publication of the botany & zoology of the Erebus' voyage to Antarctica. It was [John] McClelland who secured the money from [Sir Robert] Peel. Brown gave no aid in the struggle to secure maintenance for RBG Kew & threatened to quarrel over Sir William Jackson Hooker's 'candidature' [for Director of RBG Kew?]. Brown was upset by the reformations to the Linnean Society & its move to Burlington House from Soho Square, where it had been holding Brown's unexamined collections. JDH asks if Lismacea has flourished. He reports he has had bad eczema on his back.