Ferdinand von Mueller

1

Undated fragment, dated approximately on the basis that Haast's letter to McCoy to which M refers may have been the letter of 14 April 1864 now in the archives of Museum Victoria. McCoy did not respond to this letter until 18 June, when he informed Haast that the fossils were being packed up for return.

Ich habe den Brief an McCoy abgesandt; er verdiente es vollkommen dass Sie ihn zurecht setzen. Ich bedaure nur tief, dass ich den unglücklichen Anlass gegeben, ihm die Fossilien einzuhändigen. Damals aber war mir seine Wortbrüchigkeit nicht so bekannt wie jetzt. Er hat auch sein Versprechen in Bezug auf die Austauschung der beide Meteorite nicht erfüllt u Sir Henry Barkly namentlich u auch selbst in endlose Schwierigkeiten versetzt Prof Maskelyn hat in seinem letzten Brief mit der grössten Erbitterung sich über McCoy ausgesprochen u seit dieser Geschichte weiche ich dem Letzteren Ihm stets aus. Is

2

Es?

war mir leider unter den Umständen nicht möglich ihn persönlich noch zu überreden die Specimen an Sie zu senden, doch der Brief ist bestimmt genug u abgegeben sogleich u wenn es nicht hilft, würde ich Ihren Provincial Secretair an unsern Chief Secr. deshalb schreiben lassen — Maskelyn in der Meteorit Sache droht das ganze vor die R. S. von London zu bringen u Sir Henry Barkly sagt "I wash my hands of it altogether because I am placed in a false position. It will throw discredit on all concerned, & nothing has given me more real pain since I came into the colony! Und diesem Herrn haben Sie einen Ihrer edlen Ströme gewidmet. —

Der Chief Secretary hier ist der Chef des Museum Departements.

I have posted the letter to McCoy; he completely deserved that you straightened him out. I only regret deeply that I was the unfortunate cause by handing the fossils over to him.

3

See M to J. Haast, 26 November 1860; also M to J. Haast, 29 July 1862 (in this edition as 62-07-29b) and M to J. Haast, 1 November 1862.

But at that time his breach of faith was not so well known to me as now. He also did not keep his promise in regard to the exchange of the two meteorites either, and Sir Henry Barkly in particular and even he himself was placed in endless difficulties.

4

See Lucas et al. (1994).

Professor Maskelyn spoke with the greatest bitterness about McCoy in his last letter,

5

N. Maskelyne to M, 8 January 1864.

and since this affair I always avoid the latter. Under these circumstances it was unfortunately not possible for me personally to talk him into sending the specimens to you, but I am sure the letter will suffice and passed on immediately, but if it does not work, I should get your Provincial Secretary to write to our Chief Secretary about it. — In the meteorite affair Maskelyn threatens to bring the whole matter before the R. S.

6

Royal Society.

of London, and Sir Henry Barkly says 'I wash my hands of it altogether because I am placed in a false position. It will throw discredit on all concerned, & nothing has given me more real pain since I came into the colony!' And that is the man to whom you dedicated one of your noble streams.

7

The McCoy River, a branch of the Clyde River, NZ.

The Chief Secretary here is the head of the Museum Department.