Ferdinand von Mueller

1

MS black-edged.

Botanic Garden of Melbourne, 24. Oct. 1865

Accept, dear Dr Hooker, the assurance of my deep sympathy in your affliction, and rest convinced that I profoundly participate in the grief which the loss of such a father as yours has brought over your house.

2

William Hooker died on 12 August 1865.

His letter by the mail before last was as usual plastic, beaming with hope, full of youthful scientific ardour. Indeed I cannot yet realize the idea, that I shall see no lines from his beloved hand any more. I above most others shall feel the loss most keenly, because an almost paternal kindness & an affectionate solicitude characterized Sir Wiliams numerous letters and all his actions to me. I entertained from the liveliness of his actions the hope that he would still for years be our guiding star, and that he would leave us not otherwise than a centenarian. I trust his transit to a better world was that of serene tranquillity, to which the consciousness will have contributed of having left widely his footprints on the sand of time & the consolation of seeing his glorious labours continued by an illustrious son & a promising nepos.

Your adored fathers death has thrown me in such an abyss of sadness, that I would vainly strive to write on what must at this moment appear subjects insignificant to the loss the botanical world has sustained. Sir William will be a marvellous example of what one man in science may achieve. He will rank with the few select remarkable sages, such as Humboldt, Linné, Cuvier.