5 
one of the best books of travel ever written, in which the results of 
his Indian journeys, botanical and non-botanical, are summarised. It 
is sometimes forgotten that as a traveller Hooker, with his wide range 
of knowledge and his almost illimitable interests, did not confine 
himself to botanical observations. It is true that no botanical field- 
work has been more full of interest or has proved of greater value 
than that done by Hooker in Sikkim, and it is perhaps natural for 
those whose studies are confined to botanical problems to look upon 
this work as the chief harvest garnered by Hooker in the Eastern 
Himalayas, But it is probable that the trained surveyor would 
join issue with the botanist and would declare that however valuable 
had to be dealt with in the same manner. The latter task had not 
been completed when Thomson departed, but another smaller though 
very important one was successfully accomplished. Besides the 
three collections mentioned, the residuum of the Indian Her- 
barium distributed by Wallich on behalf of the Honourable East 
India Company was also entrusted to Kew. The distribution of 
this great collection took place between 1828 and 1832 ; there was 
consequently no set of its plants at Kew. In this Kew did not 
stand alone, the herbarium attached to the Royal Botanic Garden, 
Calcutta, at whose cost and for whose benefit the collection had to 
be brought together, was in like case. By a happy chance the friends 
were thus enabled to fill more or less satisfactorily a great hiatus in 
the herbaria of both gardens ; a set, fairly complete, so far at least 
as the plants collected by Wallich himself are concerned, was made 
up and laid into the herbarium at Kew, while a similar set was 
taken to Calcutta by Thomson. The early inclination towards the 
study of Cryptogams found no opportunity of asserting itself 
between 1851 and 1855; that towards palaeobotanical studies, 
though not completely inhibited, because several interesting contri- 
butions to our knowledge of fossil botany were published by Hooker 
during the years 1853 to 1855, was less active than it had been before 
he sailed for India in 1847. 
The period during which Hooker was Assistant Director at Kew 
was one of extraordinary activity. During the ten years that he 
