Melbourne, im bot. Garten
5/2/68
Ich sende Ihnen, verehrter Herr Professor, wieder ein paar Zeitungs-Auszüge, die Ihnen für Ihre "Mittheilungen" willkommen sein möchten, namentlich die kurze Notiz über Capt. Cadells bedeutende Resultate.
Prinz Alfred besuchte meinen Garten, in welchem er zwei junge Tannen (Abies Alberti von Californien u. Saxono-Gothaea conspicua von Patagonien) pflanzte.
In Ihren Mittheilungen habe ich keinen Bericht über die letzte Reise MacIntyre's von Coopers Creek nach dem Flinders Flusse gesehen. Vielleicht ist mir die Nummer nicht zugänglich geworden, da ich das deutsche Vereinslocal während meiner längeren Krankheit nicht besuchen konnte. Ich schnitt aus der Ag. Zeitung die Spalten aus, welche den vollständigen Bericht mit genauen astronomischen Beobachtungen gaben u sandte Ihnen denselben zur Zeit.
McIntyres Reise ist die einzige, welche in dieser Richtung, wirklich sehr genaue astronomische Data lieferte. Es wäre schade, wenn dieser schöne Beitrag zur Geographie in Zeitungsspalten eines politischen Tagsblattes begraben blieben.
Wiederholt haben Sie mich gütig durch Übersendung von Ihren oder durch Sie erschienenen Aufsätzen erfreut wofür ich herzlich danke. Jüngst habe ich eine Anzahl Baumfarne nach Deutschland gesandt u meinen Agenten gebeten einen derselben an den herzogl. Garten in Gotha zu senden. Würden dort auch Sämereien austral. Gewächse willkommen sein.
Stets der Ihre
Ferd Mueller
Melbourne Botanic Garden,
5 February 1868.
I am sending you again a few newspaper cuttings, esteemed Professor, that might be welcome for your Mittheilungen,1 especially the brief notice on Captain Cadell's significant results.2
Prince Alfred3 visited my Gardens, where he planted two young conifers (Abies albertii from California and Saxono-Gothaea4conspicua from Patagonia).
I have not seen a report on MacIntyre's5 last journey from Coopers Creek to the Flinders River in your Mittheilungen. Perhaps the number was not accessible to me, as I was unable to visit the German Club's rooms during my longish illness. I cut the paragraphs out of the Ag. newspaper and sent them to you; they gave a complete report with exact astronomical observations.6
McIntyre's journey is the only one in this direction to provide very precise astronomical data. It would be a pity, if this splendid contribution to geography were to remain buried in the newspaper columns of a political daily paper.
I thank you sincerely, that you have repeatedly given me pleasure by kindly sending me your essays or those published by you. I have recently sent a number of tree ferns to Germany and asked my agent7 to send one of them to the Ducal Gardens in Gotha. Would seeds of Australian plants also be welcome there?
Always yours
Ferd. Mueller.
Abies albertii
Saxono-Gothaea conspicua
Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes' geographischer Anstalt, edited by Petermann.
The telegram sent by Francis Cadell from Bowen on his return from his sea-borne exploration of northern Australia was widely reported in the press; see, for example, Argus, 10 January 1868, p. 5.
Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.
Saxe-Gothaea?
Duncan McIntyre.
See Age, 23 November 1866, p. 5 and subsequent issues. As M indicates, McIntyre’s journal, as published there, includes a number of astronomically-determined positions. Petermann had already published in November 1867 an account of McIntyre's journey, based on what the Age had published and almost certainly prepared from the copy of this that M sent him, but focusing on specifically geographical matters including the astronomically-determined data; see Petermann (1867) and the associated map, McIntyre's reise in Central-Australien, 1865 & 1866 (see National Library of Australia's digitized copy http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232431714). M to A. Petermann, 29 February 1868 (in this edition as 68-02-29a) reports the receipt of the paper and map.
O. W. Sonder. See also M to A. Petermann, October 1867 (in this edition as 67-10-00), and M to J. Lange, 14 August 1868 (in this edition as 68-08-14a).
MS annotated by Petermann 'Erh. 1. April 1868' [Received 1 April 1868]. For a published version of this letter, see Voigt (1996), p. 87.
Please cite as “FVM-68-02-05a,” 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