134 SIR WILLIAM HOOKER 



There was no library, and no herbarium. In fact Kew in 1841 

 was simply an appanage to a palace, where a more than usually 

 extensive collection of living plants were grown. In the course 

 of the negotiations which led up to the transfer to the Depart- 

 ment of Woods and Forests it had even been suggested that the 

 collections themselves should be parted with. It was to such an 

 establishment, with everything to make, and little indeed to 

 make it from, that Sir William Hooker came at the age of 55. 

 He had, however, unbounded enthusiasm, and confidence in the 

 public spirit, and in himself: and what was still more to the 

 point, the experience gained in the smaller field of Glasgow, in 

 building up the garden there, combined with a knowledge of 

 plants which was almost unrivalled, and acquaintance with the 

 leading botanists and horticulturalists of Europe. It was then 

 no matter for surprise that he should accept the position, even 

 though the initial salary was small, and no official house was 

 provided. 



As the date of Sir William's appointment may be said to be 

 the birth-day of the new development of Kew, it will be well to 

 pause a moment and consider the position of botanical affairs 

 in Europe at that time. The glamour of the Linnaean period 

 had faded, and the Natural System of Classification of Plants 

 initiated by De Jussieu had fully established its position, and had 

 been worked into detail, taking its most elaborate form in the 

 Prodromes Systematis Naturalis of Augustin Pyrame De Can- 

 dolle. That great luminary of Geneva died in this very year of 

 1 841, leaving his work, initiated but far indeed from completion, 

 in the hands of his son Alphonse. In England, Robert Brown 

 was in the full plenitude of his powers, and in possession of the 

 Banksian herbarium was evolving out of its rich materials new 

 principles of classification, and fresh morphological comparisons. 

 In fact morphology was at this time being differentiated from 

 mere systematic as a separate discipline. Nothing contributed 

 more effectively to this than the publication of Die Botanik als 

 inductive Wissenschaft, by Schleiden, the first edition of which 

 appeared in 1 842 : for in it development and embryology were 

 for the first time indicated as the foundation of all insight into 

 morphology. But notwithstanding the great advances of this 



