To Joseph Hooker   28 November 1884

28/11/84

 

To me here at the distance, dear Sir Joseph, but little was known of the social and domestic life of the “great Bentham”, so that I was deeply interested in the article thereon written by you for “Nature”1

His bequests are also significant, though I would have anticipated, that a larger amount would have come to yourself.2 The Linnean Society being comparatively wealthy, would not specially require the legacy made to it, and could honor best the memory of its late President by devoting the sum for creating a “Bentham-Medal for descriptive Botany”. It is the only one the great science societies of Britain which does not bestow medals.3

Regardfully your

Ferd. von Mueller

 

It would be well, if something became known of Bentham’s dietetic arrangements from a medical point of view, as this may have much to do with the long preservation of his great mental power. Chevreul4 never drank a glass of wine in his life! - Of course, a main-cause of vigorous longevity with unimpaired mental faculty must be a very strong and healthy constitution from the beginning.

 
1
Hooker (1884b).
2
Hooker was left Bentham’s ‘books and personalia’ in addition to £500. The Linnean Society was left £1,000. For a full list of bequests and the effects of the application of the statute of mortmain on the amount received by the Linnean Society, see Jackson (1906), pp. 258-9.
3
See Gage & Stearn (1988), p. 80 for the history of earlier unsuccessful attempts to establish a medal. A Linnean gold medal was established ‘at the society’s expense’ in 1888.
4
Chevreul pioneered gerontology in his 90s, and published his last article at the age of 102 (Moody [2006], p. 99).

Please cite as “FVM-84-11-28,” 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 9 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/84-11-28