To William Hooker 1    24 March 1862

Melbourne bot & zool Garden

24/3/62

Dear Sir William.

The "Bombay" after a very protracted voyage brought me the concluding number of the Bot. Mag. for 1861, in which you placed with your unestimable kindness anew your patronage to me on record in so affectionate distinguished and permanent manner.2 Under any circumstances a dedication is a token of honor of everlasting value. But in an instance like the one, which you have chosen, in condescending to dedicate to me the volume of a work, inscribed to so many truly great men, and conducted through so many years, I feel more deeply still the new proof of your fostering care. But may I state then that whilst I profoundly feel that I owe your tribute much more to your kindness than to my labours, I should not even have progressed as far as I did, had it not been for your guidance, for your notable example and for your never ceasing interest in my work. May we trust, that providence will retain you in uninterrupted health yet for many a year and that we may owe still to you many an other volume of the Bot Magazine.

I deplore, that I have not been a deserving contributor to your Bot. Mag. The will was better than the success. One of our gardeners3 goes home next month & to his especial care I intend to entrust an other case of plants, by which some acceptable material sooner or later may be furnished to the Bot. Mag.4 Our clippers, rounding Cape Horn, offer not the best line for the transmission of Conservatory plants.

I received recently the plants, gathered by J. Macd. Stuart in his expedition of 1861. It contains some singular forms; amongst them a second species of Denisonia Newcastlia, 2 new blueflowering Goodeniae and a few other new plants, which I now describe for the 3. vol of the fragmenta.5 Sir Rich. Macdonnell will early return.6 In him Botany looses here a great patron not less than Geography. How important it would be if the services of so energetic and estimable a man were transferred to a country which would offer a wide field for geographical researches. By the latter natural history in all its branches is certain to profit.7

After having been tossed about by much extra labour I gradually gain time now for regular botanical work, so that I hope to do much this winter.

By the time this letter reaches you, our articles for the exhibition8 will have arrived. I hope you will be pleased with them.

Ever, dear Sir William, with the best wishes for your happiness & health

your attached

& humble

Ferd. Mueller.

Denisonia

Goodeniae

Newcastlia

1
MS black edged; M's sister Bertha died on 7 September 1861.
2
The dedication in the 1861 volume of Curtis's botanical magazine (series 3, volume 17) is: 'To | Dr Frederick Mueller, PH et M.D., | Fellow of the Royal Society of London | etc. etc. etc., | The enlightened and energetic Government Botanist at Victoria, | Australia, | Director of the Government Botanic Garden of Melbourne, | who has advanced our knowledge of the Botany of all Australia | in so eminent a degree, by his writings and by his travels, | especially in the Australian Alps, | as to justify the respective Governors of | that vast territory in promoting the publication of a | "Flora Australica," | The present Volume is Dedicated, | with the sentiments of the highest regard and affection, by | The Author. | Royal Gardens, Kew, | December 31, 1861.
3
Not identified.
4
Curtis's botanical magazine carried illustrations of plants drawn from life, and thus grown in Great Britain, with an illustration accompanied by a page of letterpress.
5
B62.04.01, in which M described Newcastlia spodiotricha (p. 21), Goodenia vilmoriniae and G. ramelii (pp. 19-20). A second species of Denisonia was never described (APNI).
6
MacDonnell left SA on 4 March 1862 after serving since 8 June 1855 as Governor (DNB).
7
MacDonnell served in Novia Scotia from 1862 until 1865, then in Hong Kong until he retired from public service in 1872 (DNB).
8
London International Exhibition, 1862.ß

Please cite as “FVM-62-03-24b,” 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 25 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/62-03-24b