Mauritius
5th Jany 1865
My Dear Sir William
[Discusses issues to do with the botany of Mauritius and the management of the Gardens]
…
I suppose our friend Dr Mueller has sent you his little books on the Chatham Island Plants1 & on Australian Mosses.2 He seems still very much dispirited and put out, and complaining that Mr Bentham writes to him as if he were the veriest tyro in the Science. There is probably no small amount of morbid sensitiveness in all this, but if you had the opportunity of quietly giving a hint to the learned President of the Linnean Society,3 it might smooth matters. Mueller is fond of highsounding complimentary phrases and ponderous courtesy like most Germans, but he is a good creature at heart and I am sorry to find him so thoroughly dissatisfied with his share of the Flora of Australia.4
…
[Lady Barkly is looking forward to receiving Hooker’s work on Ferns.]
Please cite as “FVM-M65-01-05,” 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 10 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/vonmueller/letters/M65-01-05