JDH reports to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer [WTTD] on the outcome of the recent meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Mentions sectional addresses by Prof. Thomas Andrews, Prof. Alfred Newton & Sir Charles Wyville Thomson. JDH reports Herbarium at Glasgow is a disgrace to Alexander Dickson, the curator. There is a lack of species and items are mislabelled e.g. horseradish as Asarum europaeum. Declares it was better in George Walker Arnott's time. JDH leaves for Oban and possibly Skye the next day. He hopes to visit the Grants at Aviemore. JDH is pleased that WTTD went to Yarmouth.
Transcript
Glasgow
Sept[ember] 12/[18]76
Dear Dyer*1
We passed the grant of £20 in Committee of Recommendations today.
The Association*2a has on the whole been a good but not a remarkable one -- & Section D has not been below the average. The sectional addresses have been I think better than usual.
I told you that Andrews'*2b was poor & Newton's*2c wretched.
S[e]ct[ion] A has been strong under Sir W.Thomson*3, whose activity of intellect & body seem to
Glasgow
Sept[ember] 12/[18]76
Dear Dyer*1
We passed the grant of £20 in Committee of Recommendations today.
The Association*2a has on the whole been a good but not a remarkable one -- & Section D has not been below the average. The sectional addresses have been I think better than usual.
I told you that Andrews'*2b was poor & Newton's*2c wretched.
S[e]ct[ion] A has been strong under Sir W.Thomson*3, whose activity of intellect & body seem to
me to be perfectly marvellous.
I have written to Mr Callander about Mr Duckey's application which must not be tolerated.
Duthie*4 does want 'Go' -- he should have seen the cases packed -- I am writing to him to that effect which will I hope brush him up.
I wish that you saw the Herbarium department here after which you would go down on your knees to that at Kew. It is incredible; & a disgrace to Dickson*5 -- it is conspicuously placarded as for the use
of students who may obtain the named specimens, on application to the Professor of Botany! A splendid palet[sic] of Horseradish is figuring as Asarum europaeum (I think it was) & so on all through. I doubt if there were 200 species in all.
In Arnotts*6 time this department was excellent.
Dickson smokes & makes a few petty observations here & there on what is wrong in detail but the inside[?] of the cap[?] & platter[?] are simply awfully bad, & inexcusable.
We leave tomorrow for Oban & perhaps Skye, but more likely
Glen Coe, Kingussie & so to the Grants. Address c/o Sir J.P. Grant KCB, The Doune, Aviemore, NB [North Britain, meaning Scotland]
I am glad that you had a run to Yarmouth; if you had never before seen it, the environment must have struck you as very singular.
Ever sincerely y[ou]rs|Jos.D.Hooker [signature]
1. Sir William Turner Sir William Thiselton-Dyer (1843--1928). British botanist and third Director of the Royal Botanic gardens, Kew (1885--1905). He succeeded Joseph Hooker in the role after serving as his Assistant Director for ten years. He also married Hooker's eldest daughter Harriet in 1877.
2a. Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Glasgow, 1876.
2b. Thomas Andrews (1813--1885). Chemist and physicist. Professor of Chemistry, Queens University, Belfast, President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1876.
2c. Prof Alfred Newton, (1829--1907). English zoologist and ornithologist, Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907.
3. Sir Charles Wyville Thomson (1830--1882) was a Scottish natural historian and marine zoologist.
4. John Firminger Duthie (1845--1922) English botanist and explorer.
5. Alexander Dickson (1836--1887). Scottish morphological botanist
and botanical artist. Professor of Botany, University of Glasgow; Regius Keeper of Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasgow.
6. George Walker Arnott (1799--1868). Scottish botanist, Regius Professor of Botany, University of Glasgow, 1845--1868. His collections formed part of the Glasgow University Herbarium.
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