To Joseph Hooker   7 October 1885

 

7/10/85

Your excellent son,1 dear Sir Joseph, was introduced by me to H. Exc. the Governor,2 also to some other influential people. My own idea is, that the young Gentleman should endeavour, to get as a Volunteer on some pastoral estate, best near some mining District, so that he can keep up his researches on mining resources as a byework.

In Australia the best road to fortune is in rearing sheep; far inland and on places with permanent water prosperity in pastoral pursuits is certain, while at best in mining affairs it is an uncertainty. One year is sufficient, to gain all the experience needed; it would cost almost nothing, and surely your son has some youthful friends in Britain with some few hundred £ each, to join him after the year on a new pastoral establishment of their own, where for some time they could do much of their work themselves.

Regardfully

your

Ferd. von Mueller.

 

I had a kind letter from Sir John Lubbock, in acknowledgement of Mrs Lewellens Eucalyptus-leaves.3 He sent her and also me copies of his important essay on leaves.4

I shall write soon to the President of the Linneans5 and Mrs L. whe[re] [I] [can] send more leaves6

 

Eucalyptus

1
Brian Hooker. See also M to J. Hooker, 2 October 1885.
2
Sir Henry Loch.
3
Letter not found. See G. Lewellen to M, 29 May 1885, and M to J. Hooker, 30 May 1885 and notes thereto.
4
Lubbock (1885a)?
5
Sir John Lubbock was President of the Linnean Society of London from 1881 to 1886 (Gage & Stearn [1988], p. 219).
6
The text treated as a postscript is on a separate undated sheet bound between this letter and f. 160.

Please cite as “FVM-85-10-07,” 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/85-10-07