472 THE LAST YEABS 



friends took him by motor the sixteen miles into Exeter t 

 see the statue of his * Uncle by ancestry,' Eichard Hookei 

 presented to the city by a very distant relative, 1 and set u 

 on the grass of the cathedral enclosure, which struck him a 

 * really a very fine thing.' 



Fortified by the good effects of Sidmouth, Hooker wa 

 able to continue working at the Balsams, though he did no 

 feel equal to the more intense fatigue of journeying to Londo 

 to join in the * send off ' to Scott's last expedition. Instea 

 Scott paid a farewell visit to The Camp. Moreover, in Sep 

 tember he repeated the round of family visits to Cirenceste] 

 for his son's silver wedding, to Lady Thiselton-Dyer, and t 

 Pendock. The following December he renewed his successfi 

 experiment, and wintered at Sidmouth, his last absence froi 

 home. 



One of the greatest pleasures of this stay was seeing hi 

 friend Colonel Cunningham, 2 who with his brother paid thei 

 a visit of which he gives some impressions in the followin 

 letter : 



Col. Cunningham to Lady Hooker 



Tor Mount, Torquay : January 26, 1911. 



I must write a line to say how greatly we enjoyed ou 

 visit of yesterday, and how grateful we feel to you and S: 

 Joseph for having allowed us to make it ! My brother, in 

 note which I had from him to-day, says ' Seeing Sir Josep 

 made me feel quite youthful again ' ; and, though I don 

 know that it produced exactly that psychic effect on me, 

 came away from Sidmouth with very much the feeling the 

 I suppose many of my Indian friends experienced when the 

 returned from a successful * Tirath ' or pilgrimage to a shrir 

 containing one of their special objects of adoration ! 



The following to Professor Oliver, who had barely escape 

 from an accident at a railway station, may be quoted as revea 

 ing his warm affection for his old friend and fellow worker. 



1 Robert H. Hooker, of Amalfi, Weston-super-Mare. 



8 Colonel David Douglas Cunningham, C.I.E., F.R.S., I.M.S. ; sometin 

 Professor of Physiology in Calcutta Medical College, and Hon. Surgeon I 

 the Viceroy of India and Hon. Physician to the King ; retired 1898. 



