SIR JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER 



1817 191 1 



By F. O. bower. 



His long life childhood and education travels Geological work 

 Morphological Memoirs administrative duties systematic works 

 relations with Darwin acceptance of Mutability of Species his 

 philosophical Essays their influence in advancing Evolutionary Belief. 



It is a difficult task to condense within suitable limits an 

 appreciation of so long and strenuous a life as that of Sir Joseph 

 Hooker. Naturally with age the bodily strength waned, but the 

 vivid mind remained unimpaired to the end. He even continued 

 his detailed observations till very shortly before his death in 

 December, 191 1. The list of his published works extends from 

 1837 to 191 1, a record hardly to be equalled in any walk of 

 intellectual life. 



Sir Joseph Hooker was born at Halesworth, in Suffolk, in 

 18 17. His father, Sir William Hooker, brought him to Glasgow 

 as a child of four years of age, when he entered on his duties as 

 Professor of Botany in 1821. The Professor established himself 

 in Woodside Crescent, conveniently near to the Botanic Garden, 

 then but recently established, but developing under his hands 

 with wonderful rapidity. Doubtless his little son was familiar 

 with it and its contents from childhood. He grew up in an 

 atmosphere surcharged with the very science he was to do so 

 much to advance. His father's home was the scene of manifold 

 activities. It housed a rapidly growing herbarium and museum. 

 It was there that the drawings were made to illustrate that 

 amazing stream of descriptive works which Sir William was 

 then producing. New species must have been almost daily 



