80 The Sontli Australian Naturalist. 



interest in exploration wane with advancing year<. He made 

 great exertions to promote the expeditions led by Ernest Giles, 

 and he had been an active member of the committee that fitted 

 out the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition. The botanical 

 specimens gathered by Babbage, McDouall Stuart, Lands- 

 borough, Giles, Forrest, and other explorers all found their 

 way to Melbourne for Mueller to arrange and classify. 



On his return to Melbourne after the Gregory expedition in 

 1857 Mueller vras appointed Director of the Melbourne Botanic 

 Gardens, and he retained that position until 1873. Ail authori- 

 ties, except Mueller himself, are agreed that both as a land- 

 scape gardener and a i)ractical horticulturist he was a failure. 

 He was unable to realize that most people frequent the gardens 

 not so much to study scientific botany as for the pleasure they 

 derive from promenading and casually glancing at well-kept 

 flower-beds. When at length, in response to strong public 

 opinion, the Baron, as he now had become, was relieved from 

 his duties, he was very incensed, and for the remainder of his 

 life never attempted to conceal his chagrin. The Government, 

 hovrever, softened the bloAv by allowing him to retain his title 

 of Government Botanist, with residence, herbarium and library. 



Mueller's pen seems never to have been idle, if one may 

 judge by his very extensive output of botanical works. The 

 Catalogue of the Royal Society (London) credits him with 104 

 papers, many of them being of hig'h scientific value. His monu- 

 mental work, "Fragmenta Phytographae Australiae," was 

 issued in eleven volumes between the years 1858-1882. It is 

 written in Latin, and gives critical descriptions and observa- 

 tions (v/ithout any attempt at classification) of plants that 

 came to him from all parts of Australia. In a previous article 

 of this series a brief account was given of the generous, un- 

 selfish, and skilful way Mueller acted as coadjutor to George 

 Bentham in preparing the seven volumes of the great ''Flora 

 Australiensis. " At first it was proposed that Mueller should 

 undertake the sole responsibility of the work, but to do so it 

 was necessary for him to have access to the extensive herbaria 

 collected by Banks, Brown, and others, and as these collections 

 were in England, Bentham was chosen. Again and again 

 Bentham bears testimony to the help Mueller gave. In the 

 history of science there are several accounts of similar partner- 

 ships, but there is none nobler than that which for fifteen years 

 existed between these two men, the one in England and the 

 other in far distant Australia, completing: a work which was the 

 first botanical survey of a whole continent. The alliance of the 

 English and German intellect of those days yielded massive 

 and splendid results for the world of science. If the reader 



