Do you hear much from Mueller I wish I could calm that poor fellow, he is mad after distinctions, decorations, honors & rewards, & seems almost to work for nothing else. It is such a pity so good man & one who has done such an enormous deal as he has for Science — to spoil all by this insatiable greed of personal distinction. I am sure that F.RS is enough now to satisfy any reasonable mans scientific ambition — I am so warm an admirer of Mueller, that I should be glad if you have the opportunity, of pointing out indirectly, how unworthy of science, is this love & parade of titles which with us real workers are all of them of little account & some (as Foreign Orders) contemptible — it is doing him great mischief in the eyes of scientific men here — & I can see is embittering his own life.2
Please cite as “FVM-M67-04-19,” 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/M67-04-19