To James Francis1    10 July 1873

Melbourne, bot. Museum,

10/7/73.

To the honorable the Chief Secretary.

 

Sir

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your minute of the 5th,2 which reached me on the 8th inst., and beg respectfully to refer to my letter of the 18th of last month, in which I expressed already my intention to "furnish early my portion to the 7th and 8th volumes of the great work"3 (on Australian plants) "published by the President of the Linnean Society4 and myself" as on that lasting work all future research on the indigenous vegetation for the benefit of the Colonists and others must rest, and as I cannot be engaged with equal advantage on any other literary service. It is further my intention to bring out educational collections of native plants, as the most ready means for instruction, and as illustrative of the volumes above alluded to. From my letter of the 25 of last month5 it will be seen, that my health is much impaired, and as I am suffering much from recurrent bronchial catarrhs, lecturing of any kind will be impossible for me at present. I may add, that I am pervaded by such a high sense of professional honor as to render it sure, that the modest Salary (with allowance for House rent) voted by Parliament will not be spent on me without purpose. I am accustomed since an early orphanage to energetic and thoughtfully directed exertions; my time is far too valuable to be sacrificed in mere relaxation, and I must assure you, that my engagements will also henceforth not be unworthy of my scientific dignity in the world. Of this I trust to render tangible evidence by an official report at the end of the financial year to the satisfaction of yourself and Parliament, should I live till that period. It must however be kept in mind, that while large sums are voted for the Observatory and other scientific institutions, the whole vote for the working of my whole Department as that of Gov. Botanist is only now £300. - . -, but you may rest assured that the official responsibilities of my position will be met by me, so far as it will be possible within those narrow means. But as additional estimates are likely to be prepared, I hope that you will be pleased to augment the sum, placed for the maintenance of my Department at my Disposal, in order that the additional work, pointed out as desirable in my letter of the 23 June,6 may also be carried out.

I have the honor to be,

Sir, your obedient servant

Ferd. von Mueller.7

1
See also M to J. Francis, 18 June 1873.
2
See minute by J. Francis, 5 July 1873 on M to J. Francis, 25 June 1873.
3
i. e. Flora australiensis.
4
George Bentham.
5
See M to J. Francis, 25 June 1873, in which M states that he cannot travel or tolerate any agitation because of his health and asks to be left quietly to go on with his research work and writing.
6
See M to J. Francis, 23 June 1873, in which M states that it is desirable to continue the laboratory researches.
7
On 11 July 1873 Francis minuted: 'Inform Dr Mueller that no increase will be recommended to parliament'. See W. Odgers to M, 14 July 1873.

Please cite as “FVM-73-07-10,” 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 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/73-07-10