[[1]]
The Camp,
Sunningdale.
Feb[ruar]y 13 /[18]87
Dear [Asa] Gray *1
It is indeed good news that you & Mrs Gray will, we may hope, visit us again. We have no
plans for the summer & none shall be made that would interfere with our having as much
of you both as we can, though whether that will extend to a trip on the Continent much
depends on Pluto *2.
I have some small hopes that the P[rime]. M[inister]. may put me in the same position as
Huxley *3, Owen *4, Airy *5, Arnold *6 & heaps of other men with scientific services -- i.e. give
me a pension on what is called the "Civil list". These all have £300--£400 "scientific causa"
so to speak; & some have had it for years -- both Pay & ordinary Pension. Peel *7 (or
Melbourne *8), invented this way of rewarding merit & distinguished services to Art,
Literature, & Science -- Brown *9, Faraday *10, Wheatstone *11 & many others have had it. It
is not a charity, but of the
[[2]] nature of the Army & Navy "Good Service Pension" that do not interfere with holding either
Pay or ordinary Pension. Lord Iddesleigh *12 at Lubbock's *13 request asked L[or]d Salisbury *14 to
put me on the list, & he has promised "to consider my claims with those of others, whenthe
time comes." -- If I do not get this I have[?] to economise. We can live comfortably as we
are, but have very little margin.
As to Manchester -- if I get an invitation for self & wife, we might be tempted to go; but I
have no taste for such ceremonious science, & shun it. I get more & more like my father in
that respect. I went to the Linnean the other night for the first time for several years to hear
& speak on Aitchison's *15 excellent paper on the Afghan flora. -- & felt utterly out of place -not an old familiar face to be seen. & the portraits on the wall gazed at me with melancholy
in their eyes. I felt as if amongst the departed. & they bidding me to follow -- Macleay *16,
Wallich *17, Boott *18, Brown *19, Brewster[?], Lambert *20, Bentham *21, Busk *22, Darwin *23,
& last but not least, my father *24!
As to the nomenclature & citations paper, I should like well to join you. but I hardly
[[3]] know what you are driving at -- what seems to me to be now most wanted, is an
indication of the cases & directions in which an author may use his judgement as to the
name he may adopt. We must talk it over. In this India Flora I am often in straits & have, if I
am to follow common sense, been obliged to offend the Candolean canon. Oh -- Confound
A.D.C *25, he has, by editing Mueller's *26 Euphorbs been the greatest sinner of all: & it riles
me to see him, after the mischief he has deliberately put his hand & improvisation[?] to, set
himself up as a Law--giver to others.
I am still at Euphorbs, & not half through -- the Perak ones have given me a deal of
trouble, & the species of some huge genera, as Baccaurea defy determination & description
without ♀ ♂ & fruit; & the latter are usually either bulky or fleshy or both.
I am now at Glochidion, of which Mueller's sections are impracticable & his resulting grouping
of species utterly unnatural. I am dissecting hard, but do not yet see my way amongst
them. Much of his work is very good even here -- on the whole his views of "a species" are
excellent, but he potters too much on varieties that are
[[4]] mere individuals. Baillon's *27 blunders are innumerable.
At last Bentham's Brit[ish]. Flora is out. I told Reeve *28 3[?] months ago to send you a copy
-- he did not then answer, & I have sent him a reminder. I hope you get the new Edition of
the Primer.
I have really no news, my whole time is now given up to Indian Flora & Bot[anical].
Mag[azine]. Thanks for notes on Nymphaea flava I never dreamt of looking at Watson's *29
Supplement, I did at the book.
We had Agassiz *30 here for a night, & did enjoy him & a talk over Harvard & Cambridge. -I took him to dine at Bottings.
C[harles]. B[aron]. Clarke *31 is working hard at Cyperaceae[.] I saw Mr Foster the other
day about DL.L.D. at Cambridge & it will be arranged he assured me. I shall hunt up
Oxford too. -- I had not heard of Brian's *32 marriage engagement when I wrote telling you
of his appointment[,] the news came to me immediately after. Harriet got both together. Joey
*33 is a big boy & a great pleasure to me; so intelligent, trim, & loveable. As to Dicky *34 (the
"judicious!["]) he is a regular imp the quickest most observing, reasoning & reamark<able>
child of 2 I ever came across. -- He mimics every body & actually plays practical jokes -does mischief for [word crossed out, illeg.] fun. He remembers things that occurred a year
ago.
[[5]] *35 e.g. he asked today for a girl who was staying with us & was very fond of him this time last
year, & of whom he had seen or heard nothing since. & no one even suggested the name
before him. I do not quite like it, but don't say so. In Tibet he would be bound to be made
Grand Lama.
In aff[ection] Y[ou]rs | Jos[eph] D. Hooker [signature]
ENDNOTES
1. Gray, Asa (1810--1888). American botanist.
2. Meaning 'wealth'.
3. Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825--1895). Biologist.
4. Owen, Sir Richard (1804--1892). Biologist, anatomist and palaeontologist.
5. Airy, Sir George Biddell (1801--1892). Mathematician and astronomer.
6. Arnold, Matthew (1822--1888). Poet.
7. Peel, Sir Robert (1788--1850). Statesman.
8. Lamb, William, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (1779--1848). Statesman.
9. Brown, Robert (1773-1858). Botanist.
10. Faraday, Michael (1791--1867). Scientist.
11. Possibly Wheatstone, Sir Charles (1802--1875). Scientist and inventor.
12. Northcote, Stafford Henry, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh (1818--1887). Politician.
13. Lubbock, Sir John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury (1834--1913). Banker, politician and
scientist.
14. Gascoyne-Cecil, Robert Arthur Talbot, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830--1903).
Statesman.
15. Aitchison, James Edward Tierney (1836--1898). Surgeon and botanist.
16. Macleay, Alexander (1767--1848).
17. Wallich, Nathaniel (1786--1854). Botanist.
18. Boott, Francis Boott (1792--1863). Physician and botanist.
19. Brown, Robert (1773--1858). Botanist.
20. Lambert, Aylmer Bourke (1761--1842). Botanist.
21. Bentham, George (1800--1884). Botanist.
22. Busk, George (1807--1886). Naval surgeon, zoologist and palaeontologist.
23. Darwin, Charles (1809--1882). Naturalist.
24. Hooker, Sir William Joseph (1785--1865). Botanist. FIrst Director of the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew and Father of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker.
25. De Candolle, Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyrame (1806--1893). French-Swiss botanist.
26. Possibly Argoviensis, Johannes Mueller (1828--1896). Swiss botanist and
lichenologist.
27. Baillon, Henri Ernest (1827--1895). French botanist and physician.
28. Reeve, Lovell Augustus (1814--1865). Conchologist and publisher.
29. Watson, William (1858--1925). Botanist and horticulturalist.
30. Agassiz, Alexander Emanuel (1835--1910). American naturalist.
31. Clarke, Charles Baron (1832--1906). Naturalist.
32. Hooker, Brian Harvey Hodgson (1860--1932). Joseph Hooker's son. Married Sophia
Hayes Evans--Lombe in 1888.
33. Hooker, Joseph Symonds (1877--1940). Joseph Hooker's son.
34. Hooker, Richard Symonds (1885--1950). Joseph Hooker's son.
35. The text which runs from here until the end of the letter is written vertically up the left
margin of page 1.
Please note that work on this transcript is ongoing. Users are advised to study electronic
image(s) of this document where possible.