[[1]]
Kew
Fe[bruar]y 16/[18]75
Dear old [Asa] Gray
I have really not much to say but it is long since I have written to you & I long to hear
from you-- I am more busy than ever, & it is well that I should be so, as my
responsibility seems to close in on me on every side. My chief anxiety is now
Harriet's health -- which is not good, & I am advised to send her to the S[outh] of
France for the East wind months--& shall seek an Escort for her next month; She
suffers from some derangements of the Tl canal which causes freqent frequent
[[2]] gripings & this deranges the general health. I expect to get my aunt Mrs D
Turner *1 (of Liverpool) to keep home for me: her son & daughter have both been my
guests for some time, the latter as companion for Harriet. They have no house. Poor
Turner himself is in confinement, but will probably be out soon (he twice tried his life)
& when he comes out we shall I hope send him on [a] long voyage to secure his
health. This is sad tale altogether. I have always felt greatly attached to my Aunt &
cousins & shall be glad to have them here.
I have long promised to take
[[3]] Harriet to Algiers in April on a visit to Col[onel] Playfair, whose wife will take care
of her if she cannot travel, whilst the Col[onel] & I will take a tour. This will be from
15th April to 27th May; the actual limits of the holiday I can then take. If all goes as
hoped I shall pick Harriet up on my way, at Marseilles, probably. She will probably
spend the previous month with friends at Cannes.
I have just made out that Elliottia is synonymous with Tripetaleia of Japan: so you
see I am still poking away at Gen[era]. Plant[arum]. I am at Sapotaceae a hideous
crew. The wretch Miguel has omitted nearly all Gardener's[sic] *2 Lauraceas[?] in
[[4]] the Flora Brasiliensis [word crossed out, illeg.] & has not half Spruces.
I suppose that you cannot send us good specimens of Shortia. I keep Schizocodon
distinct following Maximovicz *3, of whose work the more I see of it the more I admire
it. Of [Henri Ernest] Baillon's I can say the exact reverse. The way he cribs the
Gen[era]. Plant[arum]. matter & manipulates it according to his prepossessions &
fancies is simply grotesque -- & yet he adds clever observations here & there, but
nothing complete.
For a wonder I do not owe you a letter.
Y[ou]rs ever aff[ectionate]ly J D Hooker [signature]
ENDNOTES
1. Wife of Dawson William Turner (1815 -- 1885), Hooker's maternal uncle.
2. George Gardner (?1809 -- 1849), botanist.
3. Carl Johann Maximovicz/h (1827 -- 1891), botanist.
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