Transcript
plants and has selected the set which should be retained at Kew and which will serve as the basis of any publications upon the botanical results of the voyage which may afterwards be decided upon.
The question now arises as to what should be
*1a Private
ROYAL GARDENS KEW
Octbr.7.[18]76
Dear Captn Evans*1
We have as you know from time to time received, apparently on the authority of Sir Wyville Thomson*2, the various botanical collections made during the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger*3[.]
Prof. Oliver*4 has now arranged the whole of the flowering
plants and has selected the set which should be retained at Kew and which will serve as the basis of any publications upon the botanical results of the voyage which may afterwards be decided upon.
The question now arises as to what should be
done with the duplicates which are all made up into sets ready for distribution.
Preliminary notices of the collections have appeared in the Journals of the Linnean Society*5.
The second set should go the British Museum*6. But having regard to the unpleasant nature of
former correspondence with that Institution I am concerned to receive official instructions from the Admiralty empowering me to retain the first set at Kew, present the second on behalf of the government to the British Museum, the third to Edinburgh & the remainder which will be but small to those foreign establishments to which we are most indebted.
The*7 collections of cryptogamic*8 plants to be dealt with in the same way when ready[.]
Ever*9 sincerely yours | Jos D Hooker
Captn Evans F.R.S.
1a. This letter does not appear to be written in the hand of Joseph Hooker, or to bear a signature in his hand. It is however signed under his name & was presumably written amanuensis.
1. Sir Frederick John Owen Evans (1815--1885). Officer of the Royal Navy, serving as Hydrographer. Compiled the magnetical instructions for the observers on board HMS 'Challenger'.
2. Sir Charles Wyville Thomson (1830--1885), Scottish natural historian and marine zoologist. Served as chief scientist on HMS "Challenger" expedition. He revolutionised oceanography. Secretary to the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh and in 1850 he received the natural history chair at Edinburgh University 1870.
3. HMS 'Challenger' was the survey vessel that carried the Challenger Expedition from 1872--1876.
4. Daniel Oliver (1830--1916). Botanist. In 1858 he was invited to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to classify and elaborate the herbarium and library, working for a pittance he supplemented his income by becoming Professor of Botany at University College, London, (1861--1888). Official Librarian of the herbarium at Kew from 1860--1890 and keeper of the herbarium from 1864--1890.
5. The Linnean Society of London is the world's oldest active biological society. Founded in 1788, the Society takes its name from the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707--1778) whose botanical, zoological and library collections have been in its keeping since 1829. As it moves into its third century the Society continues to play a central role in the documentation of the world's flora and fauna -- as Linnaeus himself did -- recognising the continuing importance of such work to biodiversity conservation.
6. The British Museum was established in 1753 by Act of Parliament made after Sir Hans Sloane (1660--1753) bequeathed his collection of 71,000 objects to the nation. It was the first national public museum in the world, granting free admission to al studious and curious persons.
7. The text which forms this sentence is written vertically up the right margin of this page.
8. A Cryptogam is a plant that reproduces spores without flowers or seeds, the best know of which are algae, lichens, mosses and ferns.
9. The signature and text that follows is written vertically in the top left hand margin of page 1.
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