The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: The Camp. ¶ Sunningdale. ¶ March 4 /88 ¶ My dear Baron ¶ ¶ I thank you very heartily for your kind letter of congratulations of 4/1/88. ¶ Letter not found. ¶ ¶ The Copley Medal was an honor which I ...

Document information

Physical location:

RB MSS M3, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. 88.03.04

Preferred Citation:

Joseph Hooker to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1888-03-04. 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/88-03-04>, accessed May 10, 2025

MS black-edged.

The Camp.

Sunningdale.

March 4 /88

My dear Baron

I thank you very heartily for your kind letter of congratulations of 4/1/88.

Letter not found.

The Copley Medal was an honor which I can truly say I never contemplated being ever nominated for;

The Copley Medal is generally seen as the highest honour awarded by the Royal Society of London.

and in my old age I felt that I had been rewarded enough & to spare — I do hope your turn of the R. S. honors may not be delayed — I hope I need not say that your name has not escaped my recommendation

See M to P. Sclater, December 1887.

— but as you are aware, where all classes of Scientific men have to be considered, it is not easy to balance claims.

Thanks again for your notice of Brian.

Hooker's son.

I am sincerely sorry to see him going in for speculations in Gold mining in Queensland. His position under the Govt. is so honorable that he should be content with it. He is he informs me engaged to be married to a Melbourne lady.

Yes, the task of a Lamarckian key is enormously difficult.

M was struggling with the preparation of B88.11.02; see Lucas, Maroske, and Brown-May (2006), pp 46–50.

I have tried it myself — but when I have done so I have thrown affinity to the wind, finding it impossible to correlate artificial & natural characters.

I cannot encourage you to hope that your attempt will meet with the recognition that its labor & merit deserve — from the simple but lamentable fact that Systematic work is ignored in the present condition of Botany. The Flora of British India is ignored, & I am not aware of any comments on the many reforms introduced into the Natural Orders in the Gen. Plant. The Orders Coniferae , Coniferae

word repeated.

& Rubiaceae Melastomaceae &c are completely remodelled as are many others. For my own part I never look for recognition or acknowledgement of such labors.

We are still mourning A Gray's death;

Asa Gray died on 30 January 1888.

he & Mrs Gray spent last summer in Europe, & made a tour with us in Normandy, & he left this house for his home at the end of September in perfect health. I had known him intimately since 1858. You will find a notice of him by now in "Nature"

Hooker (1888).

—

I am in hopes that you may still get more New Guinea collections to describe. — they seem to come slowly in, & Forbes last expedition to have been a failure.

The 'last expedition' led by Henry Forbes was 1 October to 7 November 1887, but it was undertaken for the Commissioner for British New Guinea and was purely a geographical survey. It was fraught with difficulties but never inended to collect specimens; see Forbes (1888).

I am very sorry that you can give no better account of your health, & do hope that it will soon be restored — there is so much work still to be done —

With regard to Nablonium , no doubt you are right, & that Bauer's plants are all King's Island, which I had probably then regarded as appertaining to the S. Australian Flora.

The letter with M's comment has not been found. J. Hooker (1855–60), vol. 1, p. 190, states that the distribution of Nablonium calyceroides is 'South coast of Australia, Bauer' [i.e. Ferdinand Bauer]. M's comment to Hooker probably resulted from his preparing B89.12.03, in which (p. 140) he showed this species with a Tasmanian distribution.

Ever my dear Baron

Sincerely yr

Jos. D. Hooker

Coniferae

Melastomaceae

Nablonium

Rubiaceae