Botanic Museum
Melbourne, 12/2/74
Sir
I have the honor to acknowledge your communication, received this day,2 in which I am informed through the kindness of His Excellency the Governor, that the Commandeur Philippo Parlatore, the Director of the Botanic Garden of Florence, invites me to act as one of the jurors at the international Horticultural Exhibition in May next at Florence. In reply I beg respectfully to inform His Excellency and yourself, that however much I value the kind feelings, which prompted the Commandeur, with whom I was, as a former colleage of his, in frequent communication for many years, to pay me this great compliment, yet I shall be unable to accept this invitation, in as much as my literary engagements with the venerable President of the Linnean Society for the seventh volume of our large work3 are such as not to admit of my absence from here for any long period, otherwise the labors of Mr. Bentham at his highly advanced age would be retarded. I shall write therefore to the Commandeur to that effect by the next mail.4
As I am however most anxious that at least to a small extent this colony should take a share in this horticultural gathering of products from all parts of the globe, I would respectfully suggest that a modest sum, perhaps fifty pounds, may specially be provided and placed at my disposal for procuring yet timely within the next week or two some contributions for this Exhibition.5
It is unnecessary to remark that here my objects in ever sharing in the labors for industrial exhibitions was to promote the resources of this country, and I may instance that thus from my own first researches for the exhibition in Paris6 as far back as 1853, when I had the honor to be one of the Victorian commissioners, arose the industry concerning the volatile oils of Eucalypts, which has, like many other resources of the colony, first been pointed out by me, and which assumed commercial dimensions for export. Although no longer commanding the use of a laboratory nor other facilities for industrial and many other former researches, I would endeavour to the best of my means to see our colonial resources now also represented, at least to a small extent, in Florence, should the means asked for be granted.
I have the honor to be
Sir
Your obedient servant
Ferd. von Mueller.
The Honorable the Chief Secretary
Please cite as “FVM-74-02-12,” 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 19 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/74-02-12