176 KETUKN TO ENGLAND : AND VISIT TO PAEIS 



impudence to ask for Hepat. etc. in the same letter as he 

 so coolly boasts his guilt and shame. I have promised, 

 however, and shall send them, ' sans lettre ' however. I shall 

 drop cher confrere quietly, as our friend Berkeley has H.; and 

 place him * inter eos maxime vitandos.' . . . 



One of these Southern Algae, contributed by Darwin, was 

 difficult to identify, and called forth the following to Harvey, 

 November 11, 1844. 



Do not bother about Darwin's Alga till I tell you ; such 

 a chap as that will, after all, require some of the double- 

 barrelled powers here in London to solve it, and after I get 

 your verdict I shall ask Berkeley. I shall be amused to 

 know how many genera I can get it put in by a good many 

 observers. When you have done with it I will have a crack 

 at it myself, and after I get all verdicts separately, I will 

 acquaint you. I shall let no one know that another has 

 examined it. 



Meantime Sir William was keeping a prudent eye on the 

 possibilities of any permanent post that might suit Joseph, 

 whose own views on the subject are shown in a letter to Dr. 

 Harvey (March 10, 1844), when, speaking of Harvey's candida- 

 ture for the Dublin chair, he says : 



For my own part I should have preferred the Curatorship 

 with half the salary, to the Professorship, which would 

 have obliged me to give two courses of Botany, besides 

 having the fear of being obliged to take Medical duties 

 (i.e. Clinical lectures), for which I am neither competent nor 

 inclined. I could not be a good Botanist and Medical man 

 too. 



For a moment there seemed a chance of the Curatorship of 

 the Dublin Herbarium, left vacant by the death of Dr. Coulter, 

 till it was resolved that this be attached to the professorship 

 of Botany, which would be given elsewhere. Kobert Brown's 

 health was failing, but succession to his important post at 

 the British Museum was out of the question. ' We must never 

 think of Brown's situation for Joseph ' (writes Sir William 



