8th July [188]61
Dear Baron Mueller,
Amidst your very arduous labours it is very kind of you to find time to write me such a long letter.2
In response to your very kind letter I would say that my health is better now than it has been for the last 18 months & I have often heard it said that often one becomes much stronger after an attack of typhoid fever.
I have written to Mr Bauerlen3 (between whom & myself there has been much pleasant intercourse, and of whom I entertain a very high opinion), and I am not only going to endeavour to obtain his services for the collection of astringent substances, but I shall recommend to the Trustees that he be commissioned to procure other substances of economic value, such as gums and resins, substances used by the aboriginals for food and other vegetable products, too numerous to mention, which ought to find a place in our collections. And while I am on this subject I should like to say that I hope the day is not very far distant when I shall be able to welcome you to Sydney, especially as I desire very much to show you our fine "Vegetable Products" section, which now contains several thousands of very fine specimens. I have been engaged for some months in making sectional catalogues, but the work progresses slowly, as I have so many other demands on my time. As the father of economic Australian Botany (leaving aside for the moment your vast labours in purely scientific Botany), I am sure you would like to see what progress in technology we in Sydney are making.
I thank you very much for your kind offer of assistance to me in my tan-experiments, and I shall certainly not publish them until I have had an opportunity of consulting you.4 This kind of work is particularly pleasurable to me, for I was for over 3 years the principal assistant to Professor Barff M.A. (Cantab.) (Professor of Chemistry [at] the Royal Academy of Arts, Professor of New College, Kensington, and Assistant-Professor at University College, London).
Your "Select Plants"5 & "Eucalyptographia" are very familiar works to me & they are not only in the Museum library, but in my private library.
Dr Woolls is also helping me by supplying me with material.
You will observe, from the little schedule overleaf that I am very particular as to the season of collection & the actual date of experiment (which are both noted), in order that the tests of others may be strictly comparable with mine.
None of my experiments have been begun except on the produce of species of whose identity I have no doubt. I am thoroughly alive to the fact that any doubt as to species would render my work valueless.
Yours truly,
J. H. Maiden.
The Baron Ferd. von Mueller K.C.M.G., F.R.S.
&c &c &c
Melbourne
N. S. W. Tans & astringents
Botanical name
Vernacular name
Whence obtained
Part of plant
Further particulars incl
1. diam of stem from ground
2. part from which specn is taken
Date of Collection
Date of test
Percentage of tan [extractive]
Percentage of tannin6
I am not confining myself absolutely to those plants which yield tannin in sufficient abundance to enable them to be used by tanners, for I believe that records of the percentage of tannin in other plants which contain it in less quantity will be of some scientific interest.
J. H. M.
Very many thanks for Wattle bark report7 & for the descriptions of the species of Eugenia.8
J. H. M.
Please cite as “FVM-86-07-08,” 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 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/86-07-08