Ixxii peoceedijstgs of the 



intimate friendship with Sir W. Hooker and eminence as a bota- 

 nist render what he says of his departed friend and fellow labourer 

 well worthy of being reproduced on the present occasion. 



" Our survey of what Sir William Hooker did for science would 

 be incomplete indeed, if it were confined to his published works 

 — numerous and important as they are^and to the wise and efG.- 

 cient administration through which, in the short space of twenty- 

 four years, a Queen's flower and kitchen garden and pleasure 

 grounds have been transformed into an imperial botanical esta- 

 blishment of unrivalled interest and value. Account should be 

 taken of the spirit in which he worked, of the researches and ex- 

 plorations he promoted, of the aid and encouragement he extended 

 to his fellow-labourers, especially to young and rising botanists, 

 and of the means and appliances he gathered for their use no less 

 than for his own. 



" The singlemiudedness with which he gave himself to hia 

 scientific work, and the conscientiousness with which he lived ybr 

 science while he lived by it, were above all praise. Eminently 

 fitted to shine in society, remarkably good-looking, and of the 

 most pleasing address, frank, cordial, and withal of a very genial 

 disposition, he never dissipated his time and energies in the 

 rounds of fashionable life, but ever avoided the social prominence 

 and worldly distinctions which some sedulously seek. So that, 

 however it may or ought to be regarded in a country where Court 

 honours and Groverumeut rewards have a factitious importance, 

 we count it a high compliment to his sense and modesty that no 

 such distinctions were ever conferred upon him in recognition of 

 all that he accomplished at Kew. 



" Nor was there in him, while standing in a position like 'that 

 occupied by Banks and Smith in his early days, the least mani- 

 festation of a tendency to overshadow the science with his own 

 importance, or of indifference to its general advancement. Far 

 from monopolizing even the choicest botanical materials which 

 large expenditure of time, and toil, and money brought into his 

 hands, he delighted in setting other botanists to work upon what- 

 ever portion they wished to elaborate, not only imparting freely, 

 even to comparatively young and untried men of promise, the 

 multitude of specimens he could distribute, and giving to all 

 comers free access to his whole herbarium, but sending portions 

 of it to distant investigators, so long as this could be done with- 

 out too great detriment or inconvenience. He not only watched 

 for opportunities of attaching botanists to Grovernment expedi- 



