Document information

Physical location:

MS papers 37, folder 98, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. M67.04.19

Preferred Citation:

Joseph Hooker to Julius Haast, 1867-04-19 [M67.04.19]. 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/mentions/selected/M67-04-19-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

1
Only that part of Hooker’s letter that relates to M is given here.
Do you hear much from Mueller I wish I could calm that poor fellow, he is mad after distinctions, decorations, honors & rewards, & seems almost to work for nothing else. It is such a pity so good man & one who has done such an enormous deal as he has for Science — to spoil all by this insatiable greed of personal distinction. I am sure that F.RS is enough now to satisfy any reasonable mans scientific ambition — I am so warm an admirer of Mueller, that I should be glad if you have the opportunity, of pointing out indirectly , how unworthy of science, is this love & parade of titles which with us real workers are all of them of little account & some (as Foreign Orders) contemptible — it is doing him great mischief in the eyes of scientific men here — & I can see is embittering his own life.
2
Notwithstanding the views expreesed here, Hooker elsewhere declared himself very willing to support M's being awarded a British knighthood; see Hooker to H. Barkly, 9 October 1865 (in this edition as M65-10-09)..