*1
Hotel des Londres, Paris
Thursday night*1a
My dear Father [Sir William Jackson Hooker]
I am very glad to receive your letter t*1b now which I have anxiously wanted before starting [for] Belgium & Holland which I take on my way home[.] I have seen such fine things lately from Blume*2 & [es]pecially from Siebold*3 that my regret is not so great at ing sight of Germany as it was a week ago. Since writing st I have been at the Jardin almost every day, whose [mss damaged,1 word illeg.] collections rather appear to increase than diminish in magnitude, they are so vast, in extent, though it must be confessed that the waste of space & proportion of paper are enormous[.] The Botanists here have not ared being kind to me & I sent on 3 weeks of being lionized ever at all exploited. I am quite aware that this is owing my bearing your name, but so far out of sight as you [are], it was very unexpected. Were it not that the style of [mss damaged, 1 word illeg.] (or rather killing oneself) here is very prejudicial, I should wish you to come here one spring, but I am sure you would be made ill, as I have been & only recovered by dint sticking to Seine water & letting via ordinaire alone, this as a fortnight ago & my poisoner was M[onsieur] Gay*4, who eternally complained of the badness of his dinner & made Webb*5 & I [mss damaged, 1 word illeg.] & especially drink more than we liked by dint of a similar pressing to what you underwent in Ireland. The poor man evidentially thought us great guests, & that we were too proud for his table perhaps. Every one here talks of you as of an old friend & I am sure that as far as plants are concerned [mss damaged, 1 word illeg.] of mine will prove a most profitable visit for the

Museum have much to give & only want a little stimulus in receiving: I have looked over the Abyssinian things, & they are excellent & somewhat differing from Schimpers, also the Senegal things of Perotelet[?] & Goudot[']s*6 Madagascar, amongst all them there are good duplicates for distribution, amongst the ferns of these countries I saw nothing very remarkable[,] their best are Blumes' Java ones are Siebold's Japan Coniferae are superexcellent[sic]. -- They want Scotish[sic] plants very badly & have none of the Fl[ora] Bor[eali] Am[ericana] things -- of V[an] D[emen's] L[and] plants they are getting good things from the Cape Verreaux who is now there. I have also seen many Botanists -- spent a day with Gaudichaud*7 who is remarkably kind & when he meets me asks me to dine with him without ceremony & that sort of thing. He gave me a long letter about his sap & cambium case, his materials &c are beautiful but he may not have made the best use of them. He has published on the Pandameae in the Bay of the Bonite & cut the order up into several made genera & species in the most extraordinary manner & altogether incurred great censure here; he has I cannot tell how many species of Phytelephas characterized by the form of the nut the only part of the genus he has seen. Mirbel*8a is very old & failing, he is surprised you have not thanked him for his essay on the Date Palm, which is a beautifully illustrated but rather illegible paper: he is preparing his grand work on the Anatomy of the Monocotyledonous stem & showed me the drawings & for it which are very beautiful but folio & dreadfully cumbersome. He also showed me many other physiological drawings beautifully done & desired Brown's*8 discovery of the plurality of Embryo's of Cycadeae &c, he declared that it was not in the Prodr[omus]. but could not find his copy for me to show it him, & it was well he did not, for I afterwards forgot

under what order Brown had noticed it so particularly, besides under Cycadeae, & at last found it under Scitamineae, & told him of it, he said Brown had "inaccuarie[?] humem[?]" against him, which I assured him was not the case & that he ought not to say so, as I had often heard Mr Brown talk of him, but never with any ill feeling whatever: the poor man is old & touchy I suppose. Chili Gay is very polite but will give nothing until he has published, he wants to go to England to study your herbarium, I advised him to take you a set to name there. I had a long talk with [1 word crossed through, illeg.] M[onsieur] Barnaoud*9 [Barnéoud], who has just written on Plantago & who is though a Botanist of 2 years standing to describe make a flora of Chili!! I do not think him at all competent & his recent essay on Plantago is a very poor affair indeed. Jurim[?] is a very nice fellow indeed, he has given me a live plant of the Stapelia one of only two little ones he possesses, he also sent me 2 most magnificent specimens of that beautiful Hepatica the Descicea[?], these things (& the essay on the same) were quite unasked for & came with a most handsome letter: but indeed there are 20 persons here who have thus rendered me hommage, Montague*10 has given me the Botany Cryptogams of Cuba, a very beautiful work & a great catch, as Richard*11 will send you the Phenog[?]. but I must beg him the Icones filic[um] of which he has from you the first few numbers, Decaisne*12 has given me his essay on Arabian plants, a most beautifully illustrated paper & all the hitherto published plates of the Freg[ate] of the Venus. The more I see the more I am surprized with the learning & sagacity of Decaisne, he is a most superior man, his knowledge of species is equally great, he would be the man to go over your Lubiae[?] to some purpose, & he draws most beautifully. I hope that he will be able to come to England this year. On my return I must make up something for Comte Jaubert*13, he has been so exceedingly kind & so has his Lady[,] he has given up two whole days to taking me sight seeing &

a first rate guide he makes, for he knows everything [of] Botany, he is said to be a great & able Politician, & looks it, is further a perfect encyclopaedia of History, [1 word illeg.] letters, music, poetry, painting, in short nothing comes amiss to him but as I said before Botany & that he certainly makes a very poor hand of though very fond of it indeed. His conduct to me anything but bears out his character of meanness. I believe he does not purchase because unnamed things are useless to him. From here I go to Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp, Rotland[?] or Lyden[sic] Haarlem & the Haag from whence I shall start for England, I must arrange for the Haag steamer & Haarlem organ. Please write to Lyden to the care of Bl[ume] perhaps you would be as good as [to] write [to] Blume to say that I unexpectedly go to Holland[,] thank him if at all you have received anything from him, perhaps you can spare him a copy of the Gen[era] Fil[icum], I think there are 4 remaining. Siebold [&] he are on dreadful terms, I must manage between them, Decaisne knows them all & give me letters & who tells me every thing I need attend to on the route[.] Richard has given me letters to Brussels, I shall not stop any where above a few hours except at Lyden. Hambron*14 is in very bad [1 word illeg.] I want to see him but Decaisne & Jussieu*15 say he is boiling with rage at us & that I must not go or there will be a row. I find the[?] that critique was well received here by those whose opinion [be] best worth having. At the Jardin he is detested & the critiques considered quite fair as his work is a disgrace to France, indeed I think it is well to scold bad books as that gives a character to the Journal & the latter is very well thought of here, especially the review part.
I wish Gay would give some of his European plants, but he [makes] a point of giving nothing away, he sends a letter for you & Planchon kind regards to the latter. I send his & Brown's book to Berlin by Humboldt*16. Many thanks &c &c to Brown for all his goodness. If you are looking out things for Leman, you had better put a set aside for Paris of certain but perhaps you will wait till I return. We are busy trying to get an agent here for Leman, a bookseller all agree[?] is best. It should be some one who will take charge of all books & parcels*17
*1[illeg. mss damaged] a regular monthly magazine. If Leman would undertake some part of a book department & 4 or 5 others would agree to take the Annales through him it would be [muc]h more easy & profitable too, as ensuring a monthly parcel. Love to all. Ever your most affectionate son | Jos D Hooker[signature]