Ferdinand von Mueller

Letter not found. The text given here is from Australian medical journal, 15 March 1888, p. 141. It is from a letter to the Editor by James Rudall, dated 12 March 1888.

Tabulated below the letter are the donations received from M and 7 other persons; M was one of four who donated two guineas each, the others donated one guinea.

It is possible that M gave his donation directly to Rudall, rather than via a letter, or in response to a directly mailed copy of the letter that Rudall sent on 25 February to the medical journals: certainly the subscriptions listed must have been received by Rudall before the appeal to the profession was made in the same issue of the journal, page 129. The appeal was substantially similar, although less detailed, than the following letter published in the Australasian medical gazette, March 1888, p. 147:

DEAR SIR, — Steps are being taken to celebrate the seventieth birthday of an eminent man of science, well known to all of us, by repute at least, both in the field of biology and ophthalmology—Professor F. C. Donders, of Utrecht. It is contemplated to connect his name in a permanent way with the spot where be has lived and worked for more than forty years, by the creation of a fund, devoted to a scientific purpose, and which shall be known as the "Donders' Memorial Fund." Should you desire, as I trust you will, to place your name on the subscription list, which has been sent here from the Netherlands, and must be speedily returned, may I ask that you will at once transmit to me the amount you intend to subscribe, as there is but little time to conclude the matter. as far as concerns the medical profession in Australia.

I am, &c.,

JAMES T. RUDALL, F.R.C.S.

The same 8 names were reported as donors in Australasian medical gazette, May 1888, p. 200.