Transcript
Bentham's*2 arrangement simplified & Stapf*3 approves it: & I am now floundering in attempts to follow suit with the Poaceae: -- but the mass of Supplementary Grasses is just 5 feet high -- all Gam[m]ie's[?] recent Sikkim ones amongst them, & a very fine set of Bengal ones, which King*4 had made for us, last rains, containing much that was wanted badly.
Both Mr & Mrs Huxl[e]y*5 are in bed the former has been so for a fortnight -- Bronchitis after Influenza. I am very anxious about them.
THE CAMP,
SUNNINGDALE
March 16/[18]95
My dear Dyer*1
I was concerned to hear at Herb[ariu]m today that you were "aegrotat". I hope it is not the "Dengue" after all. We keep well. -- ? by the use of Eucalypt Oil. Your long letter in Nature interested & instructed me. I had given up reading the literature of evolution & variation -- for to tell the truth -- my brain now suffers considerably from activity! -- & I keep all its activity for these awful grasses. I have re-formed the genara[sic] of Indian Paniceae & greatly
Bentham's*2 arrangement simplified & Stapf*3 approves it: & I am now floundering in attempts to follow suit with the Poaceae: -- but the mass of Supplementary Grasses is just 5 feet high -- all Gam[m]ie's[?] recent Sikkim ones amongst them, & a very fine set of Bengal ones, which King*4 had made for us, last rains, containing much that was wanted badly.
Both Mr & Mrs Huxl[e]y*5 are in bed the former has been so for a fortnight -- Bronchitis after Influenza. I am very anxious about them.
I am glad to see Henry*6 back at the Herbarium & have asked him out for a Sat[urday] or Monday.
I am ready to send Thomson's portrait to the Museum, -- shall I pack & send it, or would it be safer that you sent some one down?*7 to take it away which would endure less risk.
Love to Harriet*8
Ever aff[ectionately] y[ou]rs | JD Hooker [signature]
*9who will please let me know how you go on*10
1. Sir William Turner 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 previously held professorships at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, Royal College of Science for Ireland and the Royal Horticultural Society. He married Hooker's eldest daughter Harriet in 1877.
2. George Bentham (1800--1884). British botanist who donated his herbarium of more than 100,000 specimens to Kew. He spent 27 years with Joseph Hooker in research and examination of specimens for the work Genera Plantarum, an influential work on plant taxonomy which is the foundation of many modern systems of classification.
3. Otto Stapf (1857--1933). Austrian botanist and taxonomist, the son of Joseph Stapf, who worked in the Hallstatt salt-mines. He published the archaeological plant remains from the Late Bronze and Iron Age mines that had been uncovered by his father. Stapf moved to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1890. He was keeper of the Herbarium from 1909 to 1920 and became British citizen in 1905. He was awarded the Linnean Medal in 1927. In 1908 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
4. Sir George King (1840--1909). Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta and Cinchona cultivation in Bengal, 1871--1898. First Director of the Botanical Survey of India, 1890--1898. King was awarded the Linnean Medal in 1901. He was recognized for his work in the cultivation of Cinchona and for setting up a system for the inexpensive distribution of quinine throughout India through the postal system.
5. Thomas Henry Huxley (1825--1895). English biologist (comparative anatomist). His vigorous public support for Charles Darwin's evolutionary naturalism earned him the nickname "Darwin's Bulldog." His organisational efforts, public lectures and writing helped elevate the place of science in modern society.
6. Augustine Henry (1857--1930). Irish plantsman and doctor best known for sending extensive numbers of plant specimens to the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew from China, where he was working as an assistant medical officer and customs assistant in the 1880s. At that time the flora of China was not well known and there proved to be 25 new genera and 500 new specimens amongst Henry's specimens and many became well known garden plants. On his return to Europe Henry spent some time working on his own introductions at RBG, Kew.
7. Text in left margin in a different hand (probably that of John Reader Jackson, Keeper of the Kew museums) reads "Wednesday".
8. Harriet Anne Thiselton-Dyer née Hooker (1854--1945). Oldest child of Joseph Hooker and his first wife Frances Henslow. Harriet was a 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.
9. Line drawn from Harriet to this sentence indicating that this is aimed at Harriet.
10. Text on following page in the same hand as that in endnote 7 reads "Portrait of Dr Thomson r[e]ce[ive]d in good condition by Badderly 20/3/95 JRJ [John Reader Jackson".
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