LIFE AND LETTERS OF SIR JOSEPH HOOKER 183 



advocated by Bentham and Hooker ; thus Owen's proposition was 

 rather of the nature of a defence. A similar transference to Kew 

 had been advised by Joseph Hooker in 1858 (see Life, i. 881) in 

 " the interests of botanical science " and a like proposal had been 

 made through the Board of Works, apparently at the instigation of 

 Kew, in 18(38 (see Journ. Bot. 1876, 108). Those (of whom the 

 writer is one) who can recall the period will remember that although 

 sj^mpathy was generally extended to Hooker for the treatment he had 

 received at the hands of an otficial who, as The Times put it, had an 

 *' unfortunate tendency to carry out what he thinks right in as un- 

 pleasant a manner as possible," it was felt by some that Hooker's 

 attitude had not always been marked by discretion. Mr. Huxley says 

 that Ayrton's " apparent aim was to drive Hooker to resign, and then 

 convert Kew into an ordinary park, and send science to the right about." 

 That Ayrton had little understanding of the requirements of science 

 I am able to testify : it once fell to my lot to receive him when he 

 visited the Depai-tment of Botany, when I failed to convince him 

 that a single specimen of each plant was not sufficient for all scientific 

 purposes. The controversy which elicited so much warmth, and 

 appro^Driately originated over a heating apparatus, came to an end in 

 July 1872 ; the Treasury Minute on the basis of which it was settled 

 will be found in this Journal for that year, p. 349. 



From this time until his resignation of the Directorate in 18S5, 

 Hooker's life was occupied by botanical activities, official, literary, 

 and other, of which some account will be found in Mr. Boulger's 

 sketch ah'eady mentioned, although for anything like a complete 

 summary of them the volumes before us must be consulted. "Full 

 of vigour, and indeed continuing an ordinary man's share of labour 

 for another quarter of a century," Hooker in his retirement from 

 office in no way abandoned the interests to which he had devoted his 

 life. A picture of him in his study at Sunningdale shows him sur- 

 rounded by the Wedgwood plaques in which he delighted — the only 

 form of art to which he seems to have had a special attraction. In 

 1901 he writes : " Kew still claims about one day of the week, devoted 

 to the Botanical Magazine, and I occupy my days here chiefly in 

 dissecting plants for the good of Kew Herbarium, and drawing the 

 analyses on the sheets for the use of those coming after me. This 

 work, dissecting flowers, fruits and seeds, has been a lifelong passion 

 with me ; I often think of my dear father working on his Ferns with 

 unabated energy up to the very week of his death." He writes a 

 graphic account of the coronation of Edward Vll in 1902, at which 

 he was present in " gorgeous sky-blue satin mantle of a G.C.S.I. 

 with a gold star on it as big as a soup plate, and a heavy gold collar 

 no my shoulders." He took part in the Cambridge celebrations of 

 the Darwin Centenary in 1909, when an interesting photograph 

 (here reproduced) was taken of himself and Lady Hooker, with 

 Mrs. T. H. Huxley, the last holding in her arms Ursula Darwin, 

 Darwin's great-grandchild. Up to the last his letters were full of 

 interest and reminiscence; thus in July 1911, writing of Banks, he 

 says : " I well remember first seeing him, when as a bov I was at 



