[In folge eines gestern von Dr. Müller erhaltenen Briefes sende ich Ihnen heute die Bearbeitung der zuletzt gesandten Laubmoose. Müller schreib mir, dass von einem Engländer neuseel. und neuholländische Laubmoose beschrieben wurden; damit nun nicht die Müller’schen die Autorität verlieren, sende ich sie lieber jetzt ab u lasse die Algen, die vielleicht noch 3 Wochen Arbeit erfordern, vorläufig zurück. Ich möchte Sie bitten, den Druck möglichst zu beschleunigen und nach Vollendung derselben mir wieder die gewöhnliche Anzahl von Abdrücken zukommen zu lassen.
…
Der neuholländische Dr. Müller hat sich sehr über die rasche Bearbeitung der Moose gefreut, er schreibt, dass er emsig nach Laubmoosen suchen werde. Nach seinem am 23. Sept geschriebenen Briefe wollte er nach ca 6 Wochen eine neue Reise in die Alpen unternehmen; sein Bericht über die letzte Reise war in Arbeit. Eine oder zwei Kisten mit Pflanzen sind wieder unterwegs; wegen des Abfalls u der Sämereien werde ich Ihren Wunsch berücksichtigen. Harvey war mehrere Tage bei ihm gewesen, sie haben schöne Algen zusammen gesammelt.
Ich glaube Ihnen immer noch 5 rT schul.]
[In consequence of a letter received yesterday from Dr Mueller, I am sending you today the treatment of the mosses last sent. Mueller wrote me that an Englishman would describe New Zealand and New Holland mosses. Now, so that Mueller’s ones do not lose their authority,1 I prefer to send them off and for the time being leave the algae, which will perhaps require another three weeks of work.2 I would like to ask you to hasten the printing as much as possible and after completion to have the usual number of reprints sent to me.
…
The New Holland Dr Mueller3 was very pleased about the rapid working up of the mosses. He writes that he will search diligently for mosses. According to his letter written on 23 Sept, he intends to undertake a new journey to the Alps after about 6 weeks;4 his report on the last journey5 was in progress. One or two boxes with plants are on their way again; I will take your wish into consideration on account of the waste and the seeds. Harvey6 had been with him for several days; they have collected beautiful algae together.]
The 'Englishman' is presumably the solicitor William Wilson (1799-1871) (see TL2) who described the mosses for J. D. Hooker's reports of the Botany of the Antarctic voyage, the New Zealand species in W. Wilson (1855) and the Australian in W. Wilson (1860). At least some of the species listed or described in Hampe (1852a) and Hampe (1856) were cited in Wilson (1860), e.g. on p. 186 and p. 190.
Sonder had previously been holding the account of the mosses until he finished his treatment of the algae (W. Sonder to D. von Schlechtendal, 10 September 1854 (a version of which was published in Tkach et al. (2022), Brief 23); Hampe (1856) is presumably the MS sent sooner than planned; the part in which it appeared was issued in February 1858 (TL2).
'New Holland' to distinguish M from Carl Müller who was assisting Hampe and was mentioned earlier in Sonder's letter to von Schlechtendal.
M left on his new expedition on 1 November (M to J. Foster, 31 October 1854).
B54.10.01.
For M's reports of interaction swith William Harvey over a period of less than two weeks, see for example, M to W. Hooker, 22 September 1854 (in this edition as 54-09-22a); for Harvey's view of M see his letters in Ducker (1988), for example, W. Harvey to W. Hooker, 15 September 1854 (pp. 137-8).
Extracts from W. Sonder to D. von Schlechtendal, 7 December 1854, a version of which was published in Tkach et al. (2022), Brief 24.
Please cite as “FVM-54-09-23a,” in Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, edited by R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora†, J.H. Voigt† and Monika Wells accessed on