418 HOOKEB'S POSITION AS BOTANIST 



small in extent, and without adequate library, museum, or 

 herbarium. During the rule of the Hookers it became a great 

 scientific establishment. The living collections, which neces- 

 sarily fluctuate in quality with the skill of the gardening staff, 

 attained the highest degree of success. But the more per- 

 manent parts of the establishment, the herbarium, library, 

 and museums, form the basis upon which finally the systematic 

 study of plants must be pursued. Their framework consisted 

 of the Hookerian collections themselves : first those of Sir 

 William, acquired by the State after his death ; and afterwards 

 those gathered by Sir Joseph in the Antarctic, and in India. 

 These were largely added to by gift, by purchase, and by 

 exchange, so that for the botany of the world, and for that of 

 the British Empire in particular, Kew became the centre for 

 reference and study. It grew into a great co-ordinating 

 machine for systematic comparison. It was the source from 

 which a series of Floras of the British Dominions and Colonies 

 has been officially issued, many of them planned by Sir Joseph 

 himself. 



While this is what Kew means to the Systematic Botanist, 

 it is to the general public a place of the purest delight. The 

 living collections, and especially the Arboretum, on the per- 

 fecting of which both of the Hookers spent their best efforts, 

 give pleasure and instruction to the serious student and the 

 artist, as well as to the masses. This the public owes in 

 great measure to the administrative capacities of the first 

 directors. 



There is only one other family record in European Botany 

 which can compare with this of the Hookers at Kew. It is 

 that of the De Candolles at Geneva. For three generations 

 they also were in the forefront of Systematic Botany. The 

 greatest of them was A. P. De Candolle. He was a most versa- 

 tile writer on physiology, and on geographical distribution. But 

 his greatest work was the ' Prodromus Systematis Naturalis/ 

 in which all known plants were to be arranged according to 

 his natural system, and described at length. He initiated 

 this stupendous work, but did not live to complete it. It 

 was based chiefly upon his own collections, still preserved in 



