128 SIR WILLIAM HOOKER 



professorial rank. Notwithstanding that notable work was done 

 by him in those years, the period was essentially preparatory 

 and provisional, and can hardly be reckoned as an integral part 

 of his official hfe. He was in point of fact an enthusiastic 

 amateur, one of that class which has always been a brilliant 

 ornament of the Botany of this country, and has contributed 

 to its best work. He travelled, making successive tours in 

 Scotland and the Isles, no slight undertaking in those days 

 (1807, 1808). In 1809 he made his celebrated voyage to 

 Iceland, described in his J oicrnal, published in 181 1. But his 

 collections from Iceland were entirely lost by fire on the return 

 voyage. His son remarks that the loss to science was probably 

 greatest in respect of the Cryptogamic collections ; this naturally 

 followed from the fact that already he had taken a prominent 

 place as a student of the lower forms, and the field for their 

 study was more open than among the flowering plants of the 

 island. It was among the Cryptogams that Sir William found 

 the theme of his first great work, the British Jtrngerinanniae, 

 published in 18 16. Nearly a century after its appearance it still 

 stands notable not only for the beauty of the analytical plates, 

 but as a foundation for reference. It must still be consulted by 

 all who work critically upon the group, subdivided today, but 

 comprehended then in the single genus Jimgermannia. During 

 this period he also produced the Musci Exotici, with figures 

 of 176 new species from various quarters of the globe. Thus 

 up to 1820 his chief successes lay in the sphere of Cryptogamic 

 Botany. 



Naturally so ardent a botanist desired to widen his ex- 

 perience by travel. But circumstances checked the projects 

 which he successively formed to visit Ceylon and Java, South 

 Africa, and Brazil. In 18 14 he went to France, and became 

 acquainted with the leading botanists of Paris. He proceeded 

 to Switzerland and Lombardy, returning in 18 15, in which year 

 he married the eldest daughter of his friend Mr Dawson Turner. 

 Meanwhile, at his father-in-law's suggestion he had embarked 

 in a business for which he was not specially fitted by experience 

 or by inclination. It did not prove a success, and as the years 

 drew on, having a young family dependent upon him, he began 



