Be Stlimictecmiing gg 
35 
3. The result may be regarded from two points of view. It is, 
in the first place, a contribution to science of incalculable value. 
British India 2 i ce largest area of the earth’s surface, the 
native vegetation of w as been thoroughly worked out, 
enumerated, ery desalted: The magnitude of the task may be 
best understood when it is stated that the Flora comprises some 
14,000 species, of which 10,000 are peculiar to the country. The 
next most considerable undertaking of the kind is the Flora of 
Australia, also prepared at Kew by Mr. Bentham, but this, though 
itself a monumental work, is far from comparable in magnitude 
with the Flora ot British India. The second =e in kee the 
work is of importance is the economic. An accurate knowledge 
of the actual 5 epnaita. es to India, is Bs primey dine 
point of any attempt to turn their useful pr operties to account. 
Upon the Flora must, therefore, be based the scientific publi- 
cations of the Forest Department, and any researches upon native 
vegetable materials useful in commerce and the arts. 
4, Sir Joseph Hooker is now in his 81st year. The completion 
of the Flora is probably amongst the greatest of his public services, 
as it has been one of the most cherished objects of his life. His 
devotion to the interests of our great Dependency is well known. 
the ed. He rescue ied from tes eollara of the East India Banas 
the splendid Rhododendrons of the Eastern sensing ae His map 
of the passes leading to Tibet has, of late rs, been found a 
document of the greatest importance by the et MORE of India. 
During his period of official employment at Kew, the interests of 
India were never lost sight of. In 1860 the cultivation of Cinchona 
was commenced at Kew from seeds procured from South America, 
which ultimately led to the successful introduction of the various 
species used in medicine into India. This was followed, in 156: 
of the Caoutchouc-yielding trees of S. America into India, an 
enterprise ene! to be fraught, in the future, with results of 
5 . 
of the Kew scientific staff, the whole of the work has passed under 
his own eye, and the vast bulk, including all the more difficult 
portions, has been executed with his own hand. It is safe to say 
that no other living botanist could have gates ay this : none 
other possesses so vast a knowledge of the vegetable kingdom, or 80 
intimate an acquaintance with India and its natural productions. 
He completed a long official career in 1885, and since then has 
devoted what might have been a well-earned repose, exclusively 
to the completion of pe Flora, with an unremitting determination 
which could not but command the highest admiration. It is the 
ere i of ses competent to express an opinion, that 
t he has ace eee: in this period even excels in excellence 
ms - his previous work 
