KNo\vij:nr,F 



OCTOBFR. 1012. 



with the directorship that Sir Joseph was called to the 

 hJKhest administrative office in science in (ireat Britain. He 

 served as President of the Koyal Society from 1.S73 to 1H7H. 

 The obli);ations of that position are far from beting limited to 

 the rc<|nirements of the Society itself. The Government of 

 the day has always been in the habit of takinj; its president 

 and officials into consultation in scientific matters of public 

 importance. In these years the administrative demands upon 

 Sir Joseph were the greatest of his life. They are marked by 

 a temporary pause in the stream of publication. None of his 

 own larger works belong to this period. It happens only too 

 often in this country that our ablest men are thus paralysed in 

 their scientific careers by the potent vortex of administration. 

 Not a few succumb, and cease altogether to produce. They 

 are caught as in the eddy of the Lorelei, and are so hopelessly 

 entangled that they never emerge again. Tliey fail to realise, 

 or realise too late, that the administration of matters relating 

 to a science is not an end in itself, but only a means to an end. 

 Some, the steadfast and invincible seekers after truth, though 

 held by the eddy for a time, pass again into the main stream. 

 Hooker was one of these. The Presidency of the Koyal 

 Society ended at the usual term of five years. Seven years 

 later he demitted office as Director of Kcw, under the Civil 

 Service rule. He was thus free in 1885, still a voung man in 

 vigour though not in years. For over a quarter of a century 

 after retirement he devoted the energy of his old age to 

 peculiarly fruitful scientific work. Thus the administrative 

 tie upon him was only temporary. So long as it lasted he 

 faithfully obeyed the call of duty, notwithstanding the 

 restrictions it imposed. 



I shall not attempt to give an exhaustive catalogue of the 

 works upon which the reputation of Sir Joseph Hooker as a 

 scientific systeiiiatist was founded. Were I to do so our 

 time would be gone before the list was completed. It must 

 suffice briefly to consider his four greatest systematic works, 

 ■■ The Antarctic Flora," " The Flora of British India," " The 

 Genera Plantarum," and the " Kew Index." 



We have seen how on the Antarctic voyage Hooker had the 

 opportunity of collecting on all the great circumpolar areas of 

 the Southern Hemisphere. His " .Antarctic Flora " was based 

 on the collections and observations then ni.ade. It was 

 published in six large quarto volumes. All the known facts 

 that could be gathered were incorporated, so that they 

 became systematically elaborated and complete floras of the 

 several countries. Moreover, in the last of them, the " Flora 

 Tasmaniae." there is an Introductory Essay, which in itself 

 would have made Hooker famous. We shall return to this 

 later. Meanwhile we recognise that the publication of the 

 "Botanical Results of Ross's V'oyage" established Hooker's 

 reputation as a traveller and botanist of the first rank. 



What he did for the Antarctic in his youth he continued in 

 mature life for British India. While the publication of the 

 ".Antarctic Flora" was still in progress, he made his Indian 

 journeys. The vast collections amassed by himself and Dr. 

 Thomson were consigned by agreement with Government to 

 Kew. Thither had also been brought in 1858 "seven waggon- 

 loads of collections from the cellars of the India House in 

 Leadenhall Street, where they had been accumulating for 

 many years." They included the herbaria of Falconer and 

 Griffith. Such materials, with other large additions made 

 from time to time, flowed into the already rich Herbarium at 

 Kew. This was the material upon which Sir Joseph Hooker 

 was to base his Ma^nitm Opus, the " Flora of British India." 

 Already in 1855 Sir Joseph, with his Glasgow college friend, 

 Thomas Thomson, had essayed to prepare a " Flora Indica." 

 It never advanced beyond its first volume. But if it had been 

 completed on the scale set by that volume, it would have 

 reached nearly twelve thousand pages I After a pause of over 

 fifteen years Hooker made a fresh start, aided now by a staff 

 of collaborators, and the "Flora of British India" was the 

 result. It was conceived, he says with regret, upon a 

 restricted plan. Nevertheless it ran to seven volumes, 

 published between the years 1872 and 1897. There are 

 nearly six thousand pages of letterpre.ss, relating to sixteen 

 thousand species. It is, he says in the Preface, a pioneer 



work, and necessarily incomplete. But he hopes it may "help 

 the phytographer to discuss problems of distribution of plants 

 from the point of view of what is perhaps the richest, and is 

 certainly the most varied botanical .area on the surface of the 

 globe." 



Scarcely was this great work ended when Dr. Trimen died. 

 He left the " Ceylon Flora." on which he had been engaged, 

 incomplete. Three volumes were already published, but the 

 fourth was far from finished, and the fifth hardly touched. 

 The Ceylon Government applied to Hooker, and though he 

 was now eighty years of age, he responded to the call. The 

 completing volumes were issued in 1898 and 1900. This was 

 no mere raking over afresh the materials worked already into 

 the " Indian Flora." For Ceylon includes a strong Malayan 

 clement in its vegetation. It has, moreover, a very large 

 number of endemic species, and even genera. This last 

 floristic work of Sir Joseph may be held fitly to round off his 

 treatment of the Indian Peninsula. His last contribution to 

 its botany was in the form of a " Sketch of the Vegetation of 

 the Indian Empire," including Ceylon. Burma, and the .Malay 

 Peninsula. It was written for the " Imperial Gazetteer." at the 

 request of the Government of India. No one could have been 

 so well (jualified for this as the veteran who had spent more 

 than half a century in preparation for it. It was published in 

 1004, and forms the natural close to the most remarkable 

 study of a vast and varied flora that has ever been carried 

 through by one ruling mind. 



The third of the systematic works selected for our con- 

 sideration is the " Genera Plantarum." It was produced in 

 collaboration with Mr. Bentham. Of its three massive 

 volumes the first was published in 1865. and the work was 

 completed in 1883. It consists of a codification of the Latin 

 diagnoses of all the genera of flowering plants. It is 

 essentially a work for the technical botanist, but for 

 him it is indispensable. Of the known species of plants 

 many show such close similarity of their characters that 

 their kinship is recognised by grouping them into genera. 

 In order that these genera may be accurately defined it is 

 necessary to have a precis of the characters which their 

 species have in common. This must be so drawn that it shall 

 also serve for purposes of diagnosis from allied genera. Such 

 drafting requires not only a keen appreciation of fact, but also 

 the verbal clearness and accuracy of the conveyancing 

 barrister. The facts could only be obtained by access to a 

 reliable and rich herbarium. Bentham and Hooker, working 

 together at Kew, satisfied these drastic recjuirements more 

 fully than any botanists of their time. The only real prede- 

 cessors of this monumental work were the Genera Pluntannn 

 of Linnaeus (1707-1764) and of Jussieu (1780). to which may 

 be added that of Endlicher (1836-1840). But all of these 

 were written while the number of known genera and species 

 was smaller. The difficulty of the task of Bentham and 

 Hooker was greatly enhanced by their wider knowledge. But 

 their Genera Plantarum is on that account a nearer approach 

 to finality. Hitherto its supremacy has not been challenged. 

 The fourth of the great systematic works of Hooker men- 

 tioned above was the Index Keicensis. It was produced 

 upon the plan and under the supervision of Sir Joseph by Mr. 

 Daydon Jackson and a staff of clerks. The publication began 

 in 1893, and successive supplements to its four quarto volumes 

 are still appearing at intervals. The expense was borne by 

 Charles Darwin. The scheme originated in the difficulty he 

 had found in the accurate naming of pl.ants. For " synonyms " 

 have fretiuently been given by diflerent writers to the same 

 species, and this had led to endless confusion. The object of 

 the Index was to provide an authoritative list of all the names 

 that have been used, w-ith reference to the author of each and 

 to its place of publication. The habitat of the plant was also 

 to be given. The correct name in use according to certain 

 well-recognised rules of nomenclature was to be indicated by 

 type different from that of the synonyms superseded by it. 

 The onlv predecessor of such an Index was Steudel's 

 Xoinenclator Hotanicus, a book greatly prized by Darwin, 

 though long out of date. He wished at first to produce a 

 modern edition of Steudel's Nomenclator. This idea was, 



