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It is very pleasing to me, dear Dr Hocken, that you think so well of the small volume on "select extratropic plants".1 To medical practitioners it is of some use also, as it contains the fairly admisable medicinal plants. Perhaps it will be also a pleasant souvenir of the Congress.2 The Editor of your local paper might perhaps like to have a look on the book.
I trust, when the Austral Assoc for the Advancement of Science will hold its meeting in NZ.,3 I shall have the pleasure of seeing your grand country, - with alps arising almost from the brink of the ocean Sir Joseph Hooker through his visit of NZ during Sir James Ross's antarctic Expedition became the author of the NZ flora;4 leaving myself in continental Australia such a wide field of research, I never could spare the time for travelling beyond it; indeed I have since 1847, when I came to Australia, never crossed the equator again!
Would there be any chance of inducing any one for a small payment to collect algs (seaweeds) of all sorts on your coast, fresh picked up after a storm and merely dried on boards crisply.5
Regardfully your
Ferd. von Mueller.
Please cite as “FVM-89-02-01,” 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