The correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller: Halle, 21 December 1885 ¶ Highly esteemed Doctor, ¶ ¶ At the same time as these lines I am also sending an offprint of my introduction to the first volume of the ¶ Länderkunde der fünf Erdteile ¶ t...

Document information

Physical location:

A39 Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Vic. Branch) papers, Mitchell Library, Sydney. 85.12.21

Preferred Citation:

Alfred Kirchhoff to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1885-12-21. 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/85-12-21>, accessed September 10, 2025

Halle, den 21. Dez. 85

Hochgeehrter Herr Doctor!

Gleichzeitig mit diesen Zeilen lasse ich einen Sonderabdruck meiner Einleitung zum 1. Band der "Länderkunde der fünf Erdteile" an Ihre Adresse abgehen.

Sie mögen aus meiner Widmung entnehmen, dass das gross angelegte Werk, dem Sie ein so hervorragendes Interesse entgegengebracht haben, nun wirklich ins Leben getreten ist. Und ich wage nur von neuem zu bitten, dass Sie Ihre höchst willkommene Unterstüzung der Bearbeitung von Australien auch fernerhin fortsetzen wollen. Dankbar habe ich noch letzhin eine neue Gabe von Ihnen zu verzeichnen, nämlich das inhaltreiche Werk über Australiens Fauna von Macleay.

Ist denn nun die Kontroverse über den höchsten Berg des australischen Festlandes entschieden? Darf man demnach den Mount Kosciuszko als solchen str[ei]chen?

editorial addition. — Word obscured by binding. All square brackets in the following text have this meaning.

Noch in einer anderen Beziehung möchte ich um Ihren gütigen Rat bitten. Unser hiesiger Verein für Erdkund[e,] der die Ehre geniesst Sie unter sein[e] Mitglieder zu zählen, hat bisher vergeblich versucht ein Schriften-Austausch verhältnis mit der australischen ge[ogr.] Gesellschaft anzubahnen. Wir wissen allerdings kaum, ob der Hauptsitz dieser Gesellschaft in Melbourne oder in Sidney sich befindet, und wer die Präsidentenwürde zur Zeit inne hat. Wenn Sie mich darüber unterrichten wollten, so würden Sie aufs neue zu Dank verbinden

Ihren

hochachtungsvoll ergebenen

Alfr. Kirchhoff.

Halle, 21 December 1885

Highly esteemed Doctor,

At the same time as these lines I am also sending an offprint of my introduction to the first volume of the Länderkunde der fünf Erdteile

i.e. vols 2 and following of Kirchhoff (1886-1907) (vol. 1 being devoted to general questions of astronomical and physical geography, geology and biology). This offprint is at MEL, inscribed by Kirchhoff: 'Herrn Baron Dr. Ferd. von Mueller dankbar und hochachtungsvoll zugesandt vom verf.' [Sent to Baron Dr Ferd. von Mueller with gratitude and respect by the author.]

to your address.

You may see from my dedication that this grand-scale work, in which you have shown such splendid interest, has finally been brought to birth. And I venture again to beg you, that you will continue your most welcome support in the treatment of Australia. Further I gratefully acknowledge another recent gift from you, the significant work on Australia's Fauna by Macleay.

A preprint of Macleay (1886). The paper had been read across successive meetings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 14 April and 12 May 1885; there is a copy of the separately paginated print in the Ferguson Collection, National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-422192929 .

Has the controversy over which is Australia's highest mountain been decided by now?

The controversy was whether Mt Kosciusko or Mt Townsend was the higher.

Accordingly, should one strike out Mount Kosciuszko as such?

I would also like to ask your kind advice in another matter. Our local geographical Society, which has the honour to count you among its members,

M was elected a corresponding member of the Verein für Erdkunde at Halle on 14 April 1880.

has tried, so far unsuccessfully, to start a literary exchange with the geographical society of Australia. Admittedly, we hardly know whether the headquarters of this society are in Melbourne or in Sydney, or who is the current President.

The Royal Geographical Society of Australasia had a federal structure, with largely autonomous branches in the various colonies, the largest of which were in Sydney and Melbourne. The president of the NSW branch was by convention president of the Society as a whole; Sir Edward Strickland occupied this position at this time.

If you could advise me on this, you would once again place me under an obligation of gratitude.

Your respectfully devoted

Alfr. Kirchhoff