Vol. 6S.'] A^fNlYERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lv_ 



illustrations, appeared in the Memoirs Ot the Survey in 1848 ; by 

 "his great knowledge of living forms and assisted by material and 

 iuformation supplied by Mr. Einney and others of our Fellows, 

 Hooker was able to demonstrate the value of sections of ' coal- 

 balls,' when studied under the microscope, in revealing the actual 

 structure of these ancient representatives of plant-life on the 

 globe. These memoirs differ from all others on the subject 

 published at the time — or, indeed, long afterwards — in receiving 

 unstinted praise alike from geologists and from botanists. 



But, despite the attractions of fossil botany, Hooker's main 

 interest lay in the study of recent plants, and especially in the 

 causes — past and present — by which the geographical distribution 

 of the various floras of the globe has originated. He, in conse- 

 quence, longed to supplement his knowledge of the plants of the 

 frigid and temperate zones by detailed study of tropical and 

 mountain vegetation — and, as the best locality for such studies, he 

 selected India and the Himalayas. In jN^ovember 1847, therefore, 

 he relinquished his work upon the Geological Survey and set out 

 upon a private expedition to the East, in which he received some 

 help and encouragement from the Government. After three years 

 of intense labour and great hardship — much of the time being 

 spent in the passes of Eastern Nepal and Sikkim that lead round 

 the skirts of Kinchinjunga (then believed to be the highest moun- 

 tain on the globe) into Tibet — he returned to England in 1851, 

 bringing great stores of information concerning that hitherto un- 

 •explored region, as well as on other parts of India. He had spent 

 many weeks together at elevations 2000 feet above the highest 

 xVlpine summits, had been opposed, and in the end even imprisoned 

 b>y jealous officials, but, fortunately, his health seems to have suffered 

 no permanent injury. 



In 1854, Hooker published his well-known ' Himalayan Journals,' 

 a work inspired by the reading of Darwin's famous ' Journal of 

 Hesearches ' ; and the book fully justified its second title of 

 * Notes of a Naturalist,' for it deals with almost every branch 

 -of Natural History. While botany naturally occupies the foremost 

 place in the work, the observations on geology are scarcely less 

 numerous and important, and ornithology, entomology, ethnologj-, 

 ■etc., all receive ample attention. In addition to all this. Hooker 

 made accurate measurements and records in topography and 

 meteorology, while numerous sketches — combining scrupulous 

 iidelity to nature with artistic skill — add greatly to the value 



