[The one good thing about my dismissal from the Museum1 has been to realize how universally and how highly I am respected by zoologists and botanists. My 70th birthday would have passed unnoticed without that dismissal; instead, from the ends of the earth it brought me congratulations that were as much condemnations of the Brazilian Government: Australia (Baron Ferdinand von Müller); Siam (Director Haase of the Siamese Museum) ... Even in San Francisco in California a newspaper cutting was sent me with my picture (taken from Die GartenlaubeI) and an article entitled "A german naturalist, a government's ingratitude".]
F. Müller lost his post as 'Travelling Naturalist' to the National Museum in Rio de Janerio in 1890, a post he had held since 1876, when he refused to comply with the decision that all Travelling Naturalists would need to move to Rio de Janerio from their home bases (see West (2003), pp. 249-55).
Letter not found. The text given here is from West (2003), p. 275, a translated extract from a letter from F. Müller to E. Ule, 12 May 1895. M's letter is dated to March 1892 as the most likely date to send congratulations on Müller's birthday, 31 March 1892.
Please cite as “FVM-92-03-00d,” 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