The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: Melbourne Royal Botanic Garden, ¶ 26 September 1866. ¶ ¶ I hesitated, noble Sir, to approach you in the midst of the horror of the war. ¶ Your mind must have been troubled enough, having watched fro...

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Martiusiana, II, A, 2, Handschriften-Abteilung, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich. 66.09.26

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Preferred Citation:

Ferdinand von Mueller to Carl von Martius, 1866-09-26. R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora, J.H. Voigt and Monika Wells (eds), Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, <https://vmcp.rbg.vic.gov.au/id/66-09-26>, accessed May 9, 2025

Melbourne, im königlichen botanischen Garten

am 26. Sept. 1866.

Ich zagte, edler Herr, Ihnen inmitten der Schrecken des Krieges zu nahen. Ihr Gemüth muss bekümmert genug gewesen sein, die Trauerbilder der Jüngstzeit aus der Nähe gesehen zu haben; — Sie mit Ihrem tiefen Gefühl müssen die Leiden Deutschlands mit mehr denn gewöhnlichem Schmerze empfunden haben. Lassen Sie uns hoffen dass die Macht der tiefeingreifenden Verhängnisse einen neuen Geist heraufbeschwören, der die Zukunft Deutschlands freundlicher u segensreicher gestalten wird. Für eine Einigung Deutschlands schwärmte ich nie, selbst nicht in den Jahren jugendlicher Begeisterung. Ich sehe nur Heil in einem grossen Süden u einem gleichmächtigen Nord-Staat, jener mit seinen Alpen, seinen eignen Volksstimmen, seinen besonderen Flussgebieten, seinen Religionsformen, seinen Handelshäfen am adriatischen und mittländischen Meere; das Nordreich mit seinem baltischen Meere u der Nordsee, seinen religiösen Ansichten, seinem eigenthümlichen Volke, seiner Elbe und anderen Flussgebieten. Mögen die neuen grossen Reiche in verbrüderter Einigung erstarken! u sie so der hohen Entwicklung, welcher die deutsche Nation so fähig ist, mit erneuten verjüngten Muthe entgegenführen! — —

Doch lassen Sie mich nun zu den friedlichen Fluren der Wissenschaft zurückkehren auf denen wir die Blumen der Freude pflücken. Quatrefages neues Werk über die Metamorphosen der belebten Wesen ist mir jüngsthin aus den Blättern der Critik theilweis bekannt geworden. Ich bewundere den prächtigen auch mir befreundeten Mann; Wenn aber die Beurtheilung seines Werkes ihm Gerechtigkeit widerfahren lässt, so schmerzt es mich den grossen französischen vielseitigen Gelehrten eine so wenig hohe Ansicht von der göttlichen Lebenskraft entwickeln zu sehen. Ich füge eine theilweise Abschrift des Briefes bei, den ich jetzt gleichzeitig an de Quatrefages sende. —

Ich weiss nicht, ob ich Ihnen meine Idee mittheilte, dass sich Hydrophobia vielleicht ähnlich wie manche durch Schlangenbiss herbeigeführte Krankheitsformen behandeln liesse, ich meine durch die extensive Eingebung von Alcohol. Zwar ist es mir wohl bekannt, dass die Natur des Schlangengiftes u seine Wirkung so weit entfernt sei von dem Gift der Hydrophobia u. dem Entwicklungsprocesse dieser furchtbaren u oft [so latenten] Krankheit. Indessen stimmen die Symptome in mehrern Punkten überein u. da man bisher kein Mittel kennt um die Unglücklichen zu retten, so wäre in den ersten Stadien der Krankheit wohl die Anwendung des Alcohols versuchswerth. Vielleicht hat aber die nicht genug zu schätzende Methode der hypodermischen Injectionen auch hier für neue Heilprocesse Hülfe geboten.

Ich bin beschäftigt die für eine Bearbeitung der Flora Australiens unseres Freundes Bentham vorzubereiten. Die Zahl derselben ist seit R Br. prodromus erschien, um das doppelte gestiegen u wir haben die Verbreitungsgrade der Arten besser kennen gelernt. Der 3te Band, den Bentham vor Jahreschluss beendigen wird, ist wohl der wichtigste des Werkes, da er die Myrtaceen umfasste, u neben viel Anderm auch die sämtlichen bringen wird. Allein ein halbes hundert der Eucalypten tragen Namen, die ich gab, u da es unsere hauptsächlichsten Bäume der Ebenen sowohl als Berge sind darf ich wohl stolz darauf sein fast jeder Quadratmeile des grossen Continentes Merkmale aufgeprägt zu sehen die eine spätere Zeit an mein bescheidenes Wirken hier stets erinnern werden. Dasselbe erhöhende Gefühl muss Sie, edler Mann, durchwehen, wenn Sie Ihren Blick auf Brasilien u auf alle Palmenländer der Erde werfen.

Sie wünschten dass ich Ihnen die Reihe der Gattungen nenne, welche ich aufstellte. Ich habe diesem Wunsch — denke ich — durch Übersendung meines vorjährigen Rapportes entsprochen, will aber die Ordnungen hier angeben, zu welchen jene Gattungen gehören. Solche Genera, welche eine spätere erweiterte Kenntnis der Arten als Subgenera aufstellte, sind ausgeschlossen. , ( ) — ( ) — , & ( ) — (nach R. Br's Andeutung — Pittosporeae) — ( ) — & (Capparideae) — ( ) — ( ) — , & ( ) — , , , , ( ) — ( ) — & ( ) — (Phytolacceae) — ( ) — (Celastrineae) — , , ( ) — , (Saxifrageae) — ( ) — ( ) — , , (mit 5-15 Pistillen), ( ) — , , , ( ) — ( ) — ( , ich denke ein seltenes Genus) — & ( ) — ( ) — , , , , , Lucknothalamus, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ( , zum Theil mit Unrecht seitdem eingezogen) — ( ) — (Epacrideae) — ( ) — , , , ( ) — , , ( ) — , ( ) — ( ) — & ( ) — ( ) — , , , ( ) — ( ) — (Juncagineae) — ( ) — , , ( ) ( ) ( ), ( )

Sehr viele ausseraustralische Gattungen habe ich hier zuerst als repräsentirt [verzeichnet]

illegible — margin cut off.

ist das einzige genus, das dem Territorium der Colonie Victoria eigenthümlich ist.

The remaining text, beginning with the extract in French and continued in German on the same sheet, is filed as a separate document in the MSS collection, but is given here because of the earlier mention of the extract.

Extrait.

La nombre de l'Avril du Medico-Chirurgical Review contient une notice sur votre ouvrage sur les métamorphoses des hommes & des animaux — — — Quoique je ne connais les opinions spécialement exposée dans cet ouvre, que par le revue deja nommée, je ne puis pas m'abstenir de vous parlez de la gratification, que je sentais en apprenent ces doctrines, parce que je trouve que presque toutes vos opinions sont en accordance avec les miennes. Pourtant je me permet d'offrir quelque remarques sur une des explanations, que vos donnez.

L'electricité; la chaleur et les affinitées chemicales ne sont pas (dans mon opinion) engagés dans la production du "vortex vitale", mais seulement les agents dans lesquelle la vitalité se montre. Le pouvoir vitale, je crois, est une inspiration directe de la divinité, — pas plus dans l'attainnte ou le pouvoir des nos investigations mortelles, que le divinité elle même, qui a crée l'universe. — Ici (commue Newton a remarqué) la connaisance humaine cesse! L'éctricité, la chaleur et les actions chemicals sont les mêmes dans les corps animées et inanimées, les mêmes dans les choses organiques et anorganiques. La vie, j'admet avec vous, est moulée dans les formes specifiques et permanentes , mais (comme j'ai exponé dans l'introduction à mon petit ouvrage sur la vegetation des isles de Chatham) la divinité seule a donnée et commande ces êtres en les dotants avec vitalité, et leurs inné adherance à des limitations specifiques et fermes d'une generation à l'autre n'est pas seulement une pouvoir specifique, mais une loi eternelle et inexplicable du pouvoir gouvernant de la divinité elle même!

Ich habe Ihnen mancherlei zu senden, habe aber keine Rast dafür gefunden es sorgsam auszulesen u zusammen zu packen. Die enormen Arbeiten von dieser Anstalt, die nach Kew wohl die grösste der Art unter der brittischen Krone ist, haben mir wenig Zeit frei gelassen u diese ist wieder mit Arbeiten für die intercolonielle Ausstellung absorbirt gewesen. Ein junger Chemiker hier hat unter meiner Aufsicht die Procente von Theer, Alcohol, Essigsäure, Ölen u sw. unserer Waldhölzer bestimmt für die Ausstellung u wir sind nun dabei die Gerbestoffe unserer Rinden zu bestimmen, u die Tauglichkeit der weit verbreiteten einheimischen Faserpflanzen für Papierverarbeitung zu prüfen. Es kommt doch darauf an, dem arbeitenden Theil der Bevölkerung die Erwerbsquellen der Natur aufzudecken.

Ich habe neuerdings eine einfache Methode etwas eigenthümlicher Art zur Versendung von lebenden Pflanzen angewandt. Sie besteht darin, anstatt des Glasdachs Leinwand über die Kisten zu spannen, diesen während der Reise nicht zu lüften aber durch leichtes Benetzen mit Wasser feucht zu halten. So erfreuen sich die Pflanzen hinlänglichen Lichts; — das feuchte Leinen giebt ihnen alle die Nässe die sie bedürfen, u die so direct aufgesogen wird aus dem feuchten Dache u ein Überschuss entweicht. Die Kisten sind ausserordentlich billig u ich presse Moos zwischen die Töpfe der hineingestellten Pflanzen. Es ist selbstverständlich nöthig, dass solche Sendungen Passagieren anvertraut werden müssen u aus dem Bereich des Seewassers zu stellen sind. Pflanzen, die in abgeschlossener Feuchtigkeit der Ward's Kisten leicht absterben, wie manche Sämlinge oder Stecklinge unserer australischen Bäume u Sträucher, können auf diese Art sicher versandt werden. Der Process der Absorption u Evaporation ist dadurch auch ein mehr natürlicher. Ich bemühe mich terrestrische Orchideen, die wir hier in grosser Fülle u Schönheit haben, in die Gärten Europas zu bringen u es gelingt mir leicht die Übersendung zu bewirken, wenn die Stengel abgestorben sind, indem ich die Knollen in leicht befeuchteter Erde in dichten Kisten versende. Ich denke der Austausch dieser lieblichen Gewächse sollte allgemein angeregt werden. Die Knollen unserer grossblumigen Arten eignen sich ebenfalls für solche Versendungen.

Mit ehrfurchtsvoller Zuneigung bleibe ich, edler Herr, stets der Ihre

Ferd. Mueller.

Könnten sich nicht Repräsentanten der Länder Europas finden um vereint eine Flora Europaea zu schreiben? Ich habe jüngsthin 200 Farnbäume (Alsophila Australis & ) aus dem Gebirge in meinen Lustwald im Garten versetzt, Stämme die 50-100 Jahre alt waren, u es ist mir auch vollkommen mit alten hocherwachsenen Xanthorrhoeen gelungen. Ich will versuchen die letztern in Europa einzuführen. — hat lebend Edinburgh erreicht u da sie sich leicht aus Stecklingen unter Glas ziehen lässt möchte Herr Pro. Balfour geneigt sein eine Pflanze abzugeben. Hier in Australien mangelt es noch sehr an einer ausgedehnten Sammlung der Arten von & . Ich sehe sehnsuchtvoll nach Nachrichten vom Nordpol aus. Welche Erfolge wohl die Expedition haben wird.

Melbourne Royal Botanic Garden,

The Melbourne Botanic Garden was not granted a Royal Charter until 1958.

26 September 1866.

I hesitated, noble Sir, to approach you in the midst of the horror of the war.

The war between Prussia and Austria that resulted in Austria being excluded from German affairs. Bavaria had allied itself with Austria and, as a result, was invaded by a Prussian army. Unknown to M, by the time he was writing, Austria had capitulated and the war was over.

Your mind must have been troubled enough, having watched from close proximity the sad pictures of the recent past. — You with your deep emotions must have felt the suffering of Germany with more than ordinary pain. Let us hope, that the force of the deeply intrusive disasters will conjure up a new spirit, which will shape Germany's future more friendly and beneficially. I was never in favour of a unification of Germany, not even during my years of youthful enthusiasm. I see safety only in a large southern and an equally powerful northern state, the first with its alps, the voice of its own people, its particular river systems, its religious forms, its trading harbours on the Adriatic and Mediterranean Sea; the northern state with its Baltic Sea and the North Sea, its religious views, its distinct people, its Elbe and other river systems. May the new great empires grow stronger in brotherly unity! — and thus advance with renewed and rejuvenated courage towards the great progress, of which the German nation is so capable!

But let me return now to the peaceful fields of science, where we gather flowers of joy. I have recently become acquainted in part with Quatrefages' new work on the metamorphoses of living things

Quatrefages de Bréau (1864).

through the pages of reviews. I admire the splendid man, who is also my friend. But if the review of his work does him justice, it pains me to see, that the great many-sided French scientist has developed such a low opinion of divine vital energy. I enclose a partial copy of the letter I am sending with this same mail to Quatrefages.

I do not recall if I have imparted to you my idea, that rabies could perhaps be treated similarly to many forms of illness caused by snake bite, I mean by the extensive administration of alcohol. It is, of course, well known to me, that the nature of snake poison and its effects are far removed from the poison of rabies and the course taken by this terrible and often so latent disease. However, the symptoms agree in several points, and as so far no remedy is known to save the unfortunates, it would be worth experimenting with alcohol in the early stages of the disease. Perhaps the method of hypodermic injections, which cannot be esteemed highly enough, could offer here, too, help for new curative methods.

I am busy preparing the for a work on the Flora of Australia by our friend Bentham. Their number has doubled since the publication of Robert Brown's Prodromus,

R. Brown (1810).

and we have gained a better knowledge of the distribution of the species. The third volume, to be completed by Bentham before the end of the year,

Bentham (1863-78), vol. 3.

is probably the most important one of the work, as it includes the , and among much else is to treat as well all the . About 50 eucalypts alone bear names that I gave them, and as they are the principal trees of our plains as well as of the mountains, I can be justly proud that nearly every square mile of the great continent has imprinted on it memorials that will always remind a later time of my humble labours here. The same exalting sentiments must flow through you, noble Sir, when you direct your glance at Brazil and at all the countries on earth, where palms are found.

You desired me to enumerate for you all the genera that I have erected. I think I have met that wish by sending you my report of the previous year,

B65.10.01, pp. 11-12.

but will add the orders here, to which those genera belong. I have excluded such genera, where a later more extensive knowledge has raised species to the rank of subgenera.

, ( ) — ( ) — , & ( ) — (according to R. Brown's indication — Pittosporeae) — ( ) — Emblingia & (Capparideae) — ( ) — ( ) — , & ( ) — , , , ( ) — ( ) — & ( ) — (Phytolacceae) — ( ) — (Celastrineae) — , , ( ) — (Saxifrageae) — ( ) — ( ) — , , (with 5-15 pistils), ( ) — , , ( ) — ( ) — ( , I believe a rare genus) — & ( ) — ( ) — , , , ,

Minuranthus? M listed a genus under this name (M. gnaphaloides) in his First systematic index of the plants of Victoria (B53.10.01), p. 14, but he never formally described it.

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ( , partly withdrawn unjustly since) — ( ) — (Epacrideae) — ( ) — , , , ( ) — , ( ) — ( ) — ( ) — & ( ) — ( ) — , , , ( ) — ( ) — (Juncagineae) — ( ) — , , ( ) ( ) — ( ), ( ).

I have been the first to record very many extra-Australian genera as being represented here.

is the only genus indigenous to the territory of the colony of Victoria.

Extract.

The next two paragraphs are clearly an extract, presumably the one referred to above, of a letter from M to A. Quatrefages de Bréau (letter not found), prompted by the anonymous review of Quatrefages de Bréau (1864) that appeared in the Medico-chirurgical review, April 1866, pp. 321-4. (The Medical Society of Victoria subscribed to this journal.)

The April number of the Medico-Chirurgical Review contains a notice about your work on the metamorphoses of men and animals— — — Although I know the opinions particularly set out in this work only from the review already named, I cannot refrain from telling you of the gratification I felt in learning of these ideas, because I find almost all your views in accord with mine. Allow me, however, to offer some remarks on one of the explanations you give.

Electricity, heat and chemical affinities are not (in my opinion) involved in the production of the "vital vortex", but only the agents in which vitality reveals itself. The vital power, I believe, is a direct inspiration from divinity — no more within the reach or power of our mortal investigations than divinity itself that created the universe. — Here (as Newton remarked) human knowledge ends.

'As a blind man has no sense of colours, so have we no idea of the manner by which the all-wise God perceives and understands all things' (Newton (1729), vol. 2, p. 391).

Electricity, heat and chemical actions are the same in things organic and inorganic. Life, I allow you, is moulded into specific and permanent forms, but (as I have expounded in the introduction to my little work on the vegetation of the Chatham Islands)

B64.10.02.

divinity alone gave and commanded these beings by endowing them with vitality, and their innate adherence to specific and firm limitations from one generation to the next is not only a specific power but an eternal and inexplicable law of the governing power of divinity itself!

I have various things to send to you, but have not found yet the spare time to sort them out carefully and pack them up. The enormous labours of this institute, which, after Kew, is probably the largest of its kind under the British Crown, have left me little free time, and this again has been absorbed by work for the Intercolonial Exhibition.

Intercolonial Exhibition of Australasia, Melbourne, 1866-7.

A young chemist

Christian Hoffmann.

has, under my supervision, determined the percentages of tar, alcohol, acetic acid, oils, etc. of our forest timbers for the exhibition, and we are now engaged in determining the tannin contents of our barks, and to test the usefulness of the widely distributed indigenous fibre plants for the manufacture of paper. The purpose is, of course, to unfold for the labouring part of the population the sources for income found in nature.

I have lately used a simple but somewhat unusual method for transmitting living plants. It consists in stretching linen over the top of the cases in place of the glass covers, not to lift this during the voyage, but to keep it moist by lightly sprinkling it with water. Thus the plants enjoy adequate light; — the damp linen gives them the moisture they require, which can be absorbed directly from the damp cover, and any surplus evaporates. The cases are extremely cheap, and I push moss between the flower pots placed in the cases. It is, of course, necessary to entrust such transmissions to passengers and to place them out of the reach of sea water. Plants that easily die in the enclosed dampness of the Ward's cases, such as many seedlings or cuttings of our Australian trees and shrubs, can be transmitted safely by this method. The process of absorption and evaporation is also more natural this way. I am endeavouring to introduce terrestrial orchids, which we have here in great abundance and beauty, into the Gardens of Europe, and I succeed easily in their transmission when the tops have died off, by sending the tubers in slightly damp soil in tightly closed cases. I think the exchange of these lovely plants should be generally encouraged. The tubers of our large-flowering species are equally suitable for such transmissions.

With reverent affection I remain, noble Sir, always yours

Ferd. Mueller.

Could not representatives of the European countries be found to write conjointly a Flora Europaea? I have recently transplanted 200 tree ferns ( & ) from the mountain ranges into my pleasure forest in the Garden, trunks aged 50-100 years, and I have also succeeded completely with old tall-growing . I want to try and introduce the latter into Europe. — has reached Edinburgh alive, and as it can be easily propagated under glass from cuttings, Professor Balfour might feel inclined to part with a plant. Here in Australia we are still badly lacking an extensive collection of the and species. I am looking forward expectantly to news from the North Pole.

See M to A. Petermann, 27 July 1866, in this edition as 66-07-27b, where M refers to a fund Petermann had initiated for a German expedition to the North Pole.

I wonder what successes the expedition will have.