xT. 76.] TO J. D. HOOKER. 797 
We have had an enjoyable time ; and, I suppose, 
shall by day after to-morrow set off Rhine-wards, 
stopping, perhaps, a day at Strasburg, and by the 
Low Countries back to Paris, probably not to be again 
on this side of the Channel, unless you and Lady H. 
will take a trip to Normandy with us, either in Au- 
gust or September. 
I hope you will soon have done with Phyllanthus, 
and that you will not hesitate to restore as many old 
genera as your own judgment dictates. Your expe- 
rience and present insight must exceed Bentham’s. 
And what you must needs indicate, the next man will 
take up, and probably cackle over. 
My wife joins in love to yours and you; will be 
likely to write when she can. 
From Geneva the old journey of 1850 was nearly 
repeated, and Dr. Gray came down the Rhine, by rail 
this time, to Brussels, Amsterdam, the Hague, back to 
Antwerp and Brussels, and so to Paris. Besides meet- 
ing old friends, the object of the journey, he said, was 
to have one more good look at picture-galleries and 
churches and cathedrals; and great was his enjoyment 
of them, unwearied his wanderings about the places 
where he stopped. The new galleries at Amsterdam 
and Brussels, and their superb collections, delighted 
him, and the grand music of the cathedrals and their 
noble interiors seemed a new source of pleasure. 
He missed his old friends in Paris; Decaisne was 
gone, and Lavallée, ete. He went to a meeting at the 
Institute, and saw Chevreuil, who had passed his hun- 
dredth birthday, but spoke a few words with life and 
animation. There were some excursions in the neigh- 
borhood, and some work in the herbarium, where he 
received every kind attention. 
