86 BIOGRAPHICAL [CHAP. xn. 



habits of the friends of my early youth. I think it is 

 capitally well done and suited to its purpose, and I shall 

 hope to interest my children with it in the holidays. With 

 united sincere regards to you both, most truly yours, 



Jos. D. HOOKER. 



In March, 1882, a paper on " Injurious Insects" was read 

 at a meeting of the Richmond Athenaeum. The hall was so 

 crammed that the Council were crushed up on the platform. 

 " At the close of the lecture " (Lady Hooker writes) " Miss 

 Lydia Becker, at that time a vigorous upholder of ' Woman's 

 Rights/ rose to speak, and while praising Miss Ormerod's 

 able lecture, instanced her work as ' being a proof of how 

 much a woman could do without the help of man/ Miss 

 Ormerod, in her reply, thanked Miss Becker, but begged to 

 say that she had no right to the praise accorded to her on 

 the ground of her work being so entirely that of a lone 

 woman, for, she said, ' No one owes more to the help of man 

 than myself. I have always met with the greatest kindness 

 and most generous aid from my friends of the other sex, 

 and without their constant encouragement my poor efforts 

 would have had no practical result in being of benefit to 

 my fellow men/ " 



In the discussion which followed the lecture Sir Joseph 

 Hooker " referred to the great benefit they had derived 

 at Kew Gardens from Miss Ormerod's researches, remarking 

 that to her and her sister (Georgiana) they owed some 

 of the best illustrations they had of insect ravages upon 

 plants. He could not but allude also to the elegance 

 and clearness of the language employed by Miss Ormerod in 

 her paper as an illustration that scientific matters might be 

 put in a clear and simple form, so that all might understand 

 them. ... In conclusion he thanked Miss Ormerod and her 

 sister for their services to science." 



About 1888 an entomological "At Home" was given at 

 Torrington House, St. Albans, when some sixty people 

 assembled in the drawing-room and listened to a most 

 interesting dissertation on the " Hessian Fly," given by the 

 hostess in a friendly and informal conversational manner. 



The Farmers' Club lecture in 1889 was felt by Miss 

 Ormerod to be the most important and most gratifying of all 

 similar public appearances. She prepared it with infinite 

 care and, as the time fixed for its delivery approached, the 

 state of nervous tension was great. Leading agriculturists 

 were present, and a number of ladies came to make inquiries 



