11 
arrangement which relieved him of the heavier part of the work 
connected with the ‘ Botanical Magazine.’ The relief which this 
severed. 
In seeking for a subject to occupy the leisure which had at last 
arrived, Hooker selected one that sufficed to occupy the remaining 
years of his life. Among the natural families of Indian plants with 
which he and Thomson had dealt in their ‘ Praecursores,’ one 
of the most interesting and at the same time one of the most difficult 
had been the Balsamineae, their account of which was published in 
1859. Wight and Beddome both subsequently gave especial 
attention to the South Indian members of this group, and in 1874 
Hooker himself dealt with them once more in the ‘ Flora of British 
India.’ But during the 30 years which had elapsed many new 
In this sketch of what Hooker was able to accomplish during the 
seven decades over which his active working career extended, 
_ even passing allusion been made to what was an ever-present motive 
in all that Hooker did, the application to practical and commercial 
papers, such as 
the time 
