JDH writes about the very bad health of [John] Smith, Curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, whose doctors, Paget & Walshe, say he has a heart condition. Attacks of the illness often render Smith completely immobile, he has palpitations & severe pain. JDH goes on to give his own medical opinion that Smith has worsening heart disease but for Smith's state of mind it would be better not to have it officially diagnosed. JDH has not seen much of the British Association for the Advancement of Science [48th meeting, Dublin, Ireland]. However, he has sent Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer[WTTD] [William] Spottiswoode's address & [William Henry] Flower's paper on the Linnaean classification of mammals. JDH did not hear [Thomas Henry] Huxley's address as he spent the day with [Alexander] Moore, the Gardener at Glasnevin; where JDH admired the collection of tree ferns & the conifers. JDH has met Suringar & the man WTTD corresponds with about Sinapis glauca. [Alexander] Dickson, [John Hutton?] Balfour & [James] Britten all refused botanical visitors. JDH will take Flower's place at the Botany & Zoology section. Tickets to lectures at the Royal Dublin Society wer sold out to townspeople before any of the delegates arrived. The geologists' section has been quarrelling & 'set upon [William] Pengelly'. An afternoon given by the Lord Lieutenant, John Spencer-Churchill, at Vice Regal Lodge was ruined by bad weather. [John] Sadler has not turned up. JDH criticises the House of Commons office for printing the [Annual RBG Kew?] Report from an uncorrected copy. JDH has asked his son Charles Paget Hooker to visit his Aunt, & will probably send him to Edinburgh. JDH intends to go next to Killarney.
Transcript
got off without colds however. Sadler*16 has not turned up.
What a curious proceeding of the H[ouse] of C[ommons] to reprint the Report from the uncorrected copy -- The blunders of the office are most provoking.
I asked Charlie*17 if he would not go & see his Aunt, but I did not press it. I shall probably send him to Edinburgh.
We go probably on Tuesday to Killarney.
With much love to Harriet*18 | I am affectionately yours | JDHooker [signature]
The Bilton Hotel
Aug[ust] 16/[18]78
My dear Dyer*1
Thank you for your letter which arrived just after I had posted mine to you.
I assure you that you cannot take a more gloomy view of Smith[']s*2 case than I do. How often have I not said that he keeps me in a chronic state of uneasyness[sic]. I have long known that he may die suddenly at any time -- This attack is the worst but one he ever had that one was some 10 years ago, when he lay I think for a day & night on the floor first & sofa downstairs &
could not be moved. He then had paroxysm after paroxysm of agony. I had Paget*3, Walshe*4 & another physician (I forget who) to examine him most carefully, & they were unanimous about his heart being greatly enlarged & they said it would surely eventually kill him. Since that time he has had many attacks, usually of violent palpitation & half syncope without pain at all (or much cares). His pulse too is, in my opinion, that of dilatation of the ventricles. Angina pectoris is,
as far as my reference goes, always symptomatic of disease of the heart & not of one disease only. My opinion is that the dilatation makes steady progress--as evidenced by the more frequent attacks of palpitations & other cardiac disturbance.
I have never urged him to be again examined because I feel such that the result would be so unfavorable & that it would greatly alarm him & do no possible good.
Next to his sudden death, I dread a lingering dropsy[?] with years of inability to do anything but drag about after his work.
This is about all I can say I have never lost an opportunity of gathering up all the information I could get for him as to his
symptoms.
So much of what is to both of us I am sure, a much-distressing subject.
I have not seen very much of the Association [British Association for the Advancement of Science] -- I sent you Spottiswoode's*5 address. Flower*6 promised me his on the Linnaeus[?] classification of Mammals. -- which he highly lauded considering the material, it was thought very well of[.] Huxley*7 gave only a verbal address today. I did not hear it as I spent most of the day with[sic] [at] Glasnevin with Moore*8 & shall go again for another day.
I find no falling off in his Garden (since 1864) but quite the contrary -- it is quite admirable the collection of Tree Ferns is surprisingly fine & the conifers have grown amazingly since I last saw them. Suringar*9 is here & the
man who you corresponded with about Sinapis*10 glauca Roxb. a remarkedly intelligent & pleasant fellow who will come to Kew. Dickson*11 & Balfour*12 & Britten*13 refused Botanical visitors.
I am to take Flower's place at the Bot[any] & zool[og]y section on Monday for all day.
There was a hideous crush at the investiture[?] at the R[oyal] D[ublin] S[ociety][?] last night & the towns people have frustrated the visitors in grabbing all the lecturers tickets before our arrival. The Geologists have been quarrelling I hear & set upon Pengelly*14 who left the section.
The Lord Lieutenant*15 & Lady gave an afternoon yesterday at the V[ice] R[egal] Lodge but the rain T[hunder?] & L[ightning?] damaged it. I've
got off without colds however. Sadler*16 has not turned up.
What a curious proceeding of the H[ouse] of C[ommons] to reprint the Report from the uncorrected copy -- The blunders of the office are most provoking.
I asked Charlie*17 if he would not go & see his Aunt, but I did not press it. I shall probably send him to Edinburgh.
We go probably on Tuesday to Killarney.
With much love to Harriet*18 | I am affectionately yours | JDHooker [signature]
1. 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.
2. Possibly John Smith (1821--1888). Curator or 'head gardener' of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 1864--1886. His predecessor as Curator was also named John Smith.
3. Sir James Paget (1814--1899). English surgeon and pathologist, considered one of the founders of scientific medical pathology.
4. Walter Hayle Walshe (1812--1892). Irish physician, pioneer in the study of cancer.
5. William H. Spottiswoode (1825--1883). Mathematician and physicist, President of Royal Society, 1878--1883
6. William Henry Flower (1831--1899). English comparative anatomist and surgeon; succeeded Richard Owen as Director of the Natural History Museum
7. Thomas Henry Huxley (1825--1895). English biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
8. Probably Alexander Moore (c.1855--1884). Gardener at Glasnevin and later at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
9. W.F.R. Suringar, Professor of Botany and Director of the Botanic Garden, Leiden
10. Hooker avoided writing on the reverse side of the embossed letterhead resulting in a blank space in the midst of the next three lines of text on the page
11. Alexander Dickson (1836--1887). Scottish morphological botanist and botanical artist
12. John Hutton Balfour (1808--1884). Scottish botanist, Professor of Botany at University of Glasgow and Edinburgh University, Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
13. James Britten (1846--1924). English Botanist.
14. William Pengelly (1812--1894). British geologist and early archaeologist.
15. John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough (1822--1883). British statesman and nobleman, paternal grandfather of Sir Winston Churchill, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1876 to 1880
16. John Sadler (1837--1882). Curator of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
17. Charles Paget Hooker (1855--1933). Joseph Hooker's third child, second son, with his first wife Frances. Charles, often called Charlie, became a medical doctor with a practice at Cirencester in Gloucestershire.
18. Harriet Anne Thiselton--Dyer née Hooker (1854--1945). Oldest child of Joseph Hooker and his first wife Frances. Botanical illustrator and wife of William Turner Thiselton--Dyer. Her husband was Assistant Director of RBG Kew (1875--1885) and later Director (1885--1905), succeeding her father.
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