MINUTES OF EVIDEXCE. 



87 



Assistant Surgeon, and often of Surgeon, throughout 

 the expedition, receiving no other pay but that of my 

 rank nor enjuying any iuimunity in respect of my 

 acting as naturalist, for which duty I was a volunteer 

 and accepted as such by the Comuuuuler. My outfit 

 of books, microscopes and collecting materials was also 

 provided at my own cost. Nevertheless as before said 

 I placed the whole of my collections at the disposal of 

 the Commander of the Expedition, including tlie Zoo^ 

 logical, the greater part of which last are in the British 

 Museum, where also I deposited all my Zoological 

 drawings which were largely used in the publication of 

 the zoology of the voyage. 



3. Of the other collections enumerated in the I'jtter 

 to the Admiralty, it may be enough to state that had 

 the Museum any just title to them, it would assuredly 

 have been asserted at the proper time by the Keeper of 

 the Botanical Department, who repeatedly consulted 

 them at Kew, and who received portions of some of 

 them for his own study. I would add further respect- 

 ing these collections, that some were in every sense 

 private property ; another never had any existence ; 

 and of the best of them full shares were repeatedly, 

 but vainly, offered to the Museum, provided only that 

 it would do, what other institutions did, viz., make a 

 return, however small, from its own stores of dupli- 

 cates. 



4. The statement made by the Trustees to the Ad- 

 miralty that the plants of the "Erebus" and "Terror" 

 were the last of any Government Expedition received 

 by the Museum is not a correct one : since that period 

 extensive Indian collections, larger by far than any of 

 those enumerated in the letter of the Standing Com- 

 mittee, and containing some thousands of specimens, 

 ■were presented to the Museum by Dr. Thomson and 

 myself. 



5. The complaints made to the Admiralty are not 

 directed aga'nst me alone, but against my father, who is 

 no longer able to defend himself — one to whom_ the 

 Botanical Department of the Museum is more indebted 

 than to any botanist of his day. He was the friend of 

 Banks, its founder, and the coadjutor in its interests of 

 Messrs. Brown and Bennett, under whom it assumed its 

 present importance, and by the first of whom. I believe, 

 the arrangement was made with the Commander of the 

 " Erebus " and " Terror," under which the Museum re- 

 ceived even more than its fair share of the Antarctic 

 collections. 



Kew, July 24, 1876. 



(Signed) Jos. D. Hookee. 



There is no evidence upon w^hat the claim of the 

 Trustees was based. As a public body they would no 

 doubt be justified in protesting against colleotions made 

 at the Government expense not being available for public 

 use. But that contention could hardly be urged against 

 Kew, which is, in point of fact, an institution completely 

 under Government control, which the British Museum 

 is not. In the one case the Government could interfere 

 as to th? use to which the collections were put ; in the 

 other case it has no power to do so. 



When I was appointed Director of Kew in 1885, I 

 adopted the view that it was the duty of a public servant 

 to loyally accept arrangements sanctioned by the Govern- 

 ment. It, therefore, appeared to me " desirable to 

 endeavour to estabhsh an amicable modus vivendi be- 

 tween the two institutions. It seemed to me that the field 

 of systematic botany was sufficiently large to afford ample 

 employment to both without overlapping in their work. 

 This appeared to_ be the spirit of the recommendation.? 

 of the Devonshire Commission. I accordingly trans- 

 ferred to the British Museum such objects and collections 

 as seemed more suitable for its custody than that of Kew. 

 I cannot say that my eflTorts were reciprocated in the 

 spirit I had looked for. I felt obliged, therefore, to 

 widress to the Keeper of the Botanical Department the 

 following friendly remonstrance: — 



Royal Gardens, Kew, 



T. r, \ Octol)er 17, 1890. 



Dear Carruthers,— Whenever Kew has had the ad- 

 ministration of Government grants we have alwavs 

 scrupulously sent to the botanical Department of the 

 British Museum the first set after Kew of any collections 

 made w.th public money. 



We are a good deal disappointed at the delay and diffi- 

 culty wo exj)erience in getting a set of Ridley's Fernando 

 Noronlia plant.s, and we were still more di.sapiK)inted at 

 the very poor share we received of Forbes's iS'ew Guinea 

 plants, wliich I am informed were distributed from the 

 Botanical Department. 



I believe that in both cases you had some sort of 

 technical excuse. But I go upon the broad ground that 

 it is desirable to have a friendly reciprocity between the 

 two institutions. 



I suppose the Department would like to have a good 

 set of the St. Vincent collections, which are excellent and 

 extensive. The first consignment of ferns has been 

 worked up by Baker, and I have had a good set put 

 e^ide, which I should be happy to send to the Botanical 

 Department. I must explain that the botanical collec- 

 tions made in St. Vincent are Mr. Godman's private pro- 

 perty. On asking for instructions as to dealing with the 

 duplicates, he replied that he wished me to do what I 

 liked with them in the interests of Kew. I am holding 

 the set destined for the British Museum back till the 

 Fernando Noronha business is settled. It is so small 

 a matter that you will no doubt speedily get it arranged. 

 I find that we have had the Monocotyledons and Poly- 

 petaliB. But we cannot get the Gamopetalse out of you. 

 The total number of specimens we have so far received 

 is sixty-eight. 



(Signed) W. T. Thiselton-Dter. 



The result was a complete rupture of official relations, 

 ft state of things which received the more than tacit 

 approval of the Director, Sir William Flower. 



I understand that Bescherelle's moss herbarium has 

 been purchased by the British Museum. It had been 

 previously offered to Kew, but after careful consideration 

 the purchase was declined. This deserves some ex- 

 planation. 



The principal value of the collection arose from its 

 containing the types of a iimited number of new 

 species from French colonial possessions. It would have 

 seemed preferable that these should be retained in 

 France. Every herbarium is, however, desirous of secur- 

 ing types. But in this case their acquisition involved the 

 purchase of some 15,000 specimens, the great bulk of 

 which would have merely duplicated what Kew already 

 possesses. The transaction, therefore, really comes to 

 this : A very long price was to 'be paid for a limited 

 number of types. I did not feel that I could make out 

 a sufficient case for a somewhat large expenditure of 

 public money. In the case of a younger institution, 

 not so rich in material as Kew, the purchase would 

 present itself in a different aspect. 



Cases such as the one under consideration present a 

 growing difficulty to public institutions. The object of 

 the vendor is to force a purchase not in itself desirable 

 by including in it something relatively small which by 

 itself would be worth securing. There is reason to think 

 that a practice is growing up of manufacturing types in 

 order to give a fictitious value to the collection in which 

 they are included ; and, unfortunately, we have to face 

 the paradox that the value of types is directly proportion- 

 ate to the badness of the species they represent. 



X. 



The detailed estimates, which are attached, show, under 

 the several heads for which the expenditure is accounted 

 for, the cost of maintaining Kew as a whole. The 

 classification is that prescribed by the Treasury, and it 

 does not admit of the cost of the various branches of the 

 establishment being separaiiely set out. 



The purchase of dried plants is provided for under the 

 item E 11 — Works : Purchases for the Museum. It is to 

 be noted that the jiurchase of living plants, equally for 

 scientific objects, comes under F. — 'Maintenance : 1 and 

 2a, Materials. The principle is not very intelligible, but 

 it was prescribed by the Committee on Public Accounts. 



The amount allowed for the purchase of books is £170 

 a year ; this is borne on the estimates of the Stationery 

 Office. This office also provides binding as required ; but 

 no information is available as to the cost. 



A classified list of the entire staff employed at Kew is 

 appended. This will give som? idea of the plan on which 

 the establishment is organised, and the way in which the 

 staff is on-.upied 



Sir W. 1. 

 Tkinellon- 



Dyer, 

 K.C.M.G., 



F.B..S. 



in Nov. 190«. 



