Document information
Physical location:
ML MSS.139/12, pp. 197-9, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney. 76.07.22Preferred Citation:
Ferdinand von Mueller to William Branwhite Clarke, 1876-07-22. 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//letters/1870-9/1876/76-07-22-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026
1
MS black-edged; M's brother-in-law, Eduard Wehl, died on 11 February 1876.
The transcription given in Moyal (2003), pp. 1124-5, differs from that given here.
The purported extract given in Grainger (1982), pp. 247-8, bears little resemblance
to the actual text of the letter.
Let me gratulate you, rev. and dear friend, to the happy choice, which the Council
of the RS.
has made, in including you among the 15 select for this year. The honor is all the
greater, as you are, I think, the
first
, who since nearly a centurys foundation of N. S Wales will represent that great Colony
in the Society, in which Sir Isaac Newton once presided.
2
Royal Society of London. Clarke had been included on that year's list of candidates
to be elected as members of the Society; he was formally elected on 1 June 1876 (see
Home (2003)).
3
M's statement is not quite accurate. Phillip Parker King, born on Norfolk Island in
1791, became an officer in the Royal Navy and an eminent hydrographer. He was elected
FRS in 1824, and subsequently lived in NSW from 1830 until his death in 1856.
The honor ought to have been much earlier conferred on you, but in your overextreme
modesty you never sought it til late in life. May you live still many years as an
ornament of science among us.
Can you kindly tell me, whether the
plate
of the new veget fossil you discovered, did ever appear under Mr Wilkinsons care.
4
Rhytidocaryon wilkinsoni
;
s
ee
M to W. Clarke, 10 April 1875, and
B77.12.01, p.
12
and plate
1
, fig
s
.
1, 2 and 3.
Regardfully
Ferd. von Mueller