SIR JOSEPH HOOKER LAISTKESTER. 599 



His constant association, from boyhood onwards, with his father 

 in the garden and herbarium created by the latter in Glasgow after 

 his appointment as professor, made botany a part of his very exist- 

 ence. At the same time the aptitude for it must have been born in 

 him. It was not inherited by his elder brother, William, who, having 

 the same opportunities, showed no liking for the subject, and, 

 though more vivacious than his younger brother, displayed no 

 scientific bent. From this point of view it is interesting to note 

 that not one of Joseph Hooker's six sons has been attracted by 

 botany or by scientific research. Sir William Hooker, a man of 

 distinction in science and of influence in the official world, was able 

 to communicate to his son his own tastes and ambitions, and to secure 

 for him that early official employment which started him on his 

 career as an investigator and established him for life in the great 

 center of botanical science created by Sir William. 



The intimate association of father and son, and the complete 

 devotion of the younger man to the development of the elder's 

 cherished projects, find a parallel in the life work of Alexander 

 Agassiz, who realized, on a magnificent scale, the plans for a great 

 museum and institution of zoological research at Cambridge, 

 Massachusetts, designed by his father Louis Agassiz, but only in part 

 carried into execution. Alexander Agassiz, as a young man, delib- 

 erately set to work as a mining engineer in order to procure that 

 pecuniary independence which he decided to be necessary in the 

 United States for one who wished to become a great zoologist. Be- 

 fore he was 30 years of age a copper mine in Michigan made him a 

 millionaire and stood to him in the place of the official income and 

 vast state supported apparatus which awaited Joseph Hooker at 

 Kew. Both men became great leaders in their science, and, in 

 greatly developing and completing their fathers' work, left splendid 

 monuments of their heritage and their devotion. It is interesting 

 to note that the sons of Alexander Agassiz, like those of Joseph 

 Hooker, though always on terms of affectionate intimacy with their 

 father, have not become " men of science." 



Hooker frequently acted in younger days, as examiner in botany 

 for various boards and universities. He was a member of the senate 

 of the University of London. Some valuable records of his views 

 on education, which deserve special consideration at this critical 

 moment, are to be found in these volumes. His views are of especial 

 value because he was, above all things, a practical man, seeing his 

 aim clearly and bringing his trained judgment and vast experience 

 of men to bear on the means to be pursued in order to attain it. He 

 was also absolutely frank and fearless in the expression of his con- 

 clusions. We quote below ("Life," vol. ii, p. 329) a letter of his 



