vi Obituary Notice of Fellow deceased. 



only two alternatives : species must owe their isolation to some means of 

 transport, the view held by Darwin and now largely accepted, though Hooker 

 was long unable to convince himself of its efficiency ; or the area occupied by 

 the species must have been once continuous and afterwards dissevered by 

 geological action with consequent climatic change, the explanation accepted 

 by Hooker resting on the support of E. Forbes and Lyell. Darwin himself 

 abandoned Lyell's views and, supported by his own observations, followed 

 Dana in thinking that " continents as continents and oceans as oceans are of 

 immense antiquity " (L.L., vol. 2, p. 76). The trend of recent research is 

 probably on Darwin's side. He was deaf to Hooker's arguments, for, writing 

 to him in 1856, he said, " You cannot imagine how earnestly I wish I could 

 swallow continental extension, but I cannot " (L.L., vol. 2, p. 81). Hooker 

 apparently was never really convinced, for Darwin, writing to Wallace in 

 1876, congratulates him on his protest "against sinking imaginary continents 

 in a quite reckless manner, as was stated by Forbes, followed alas by Hooker " 

 (L.L., vol. 3, p. 230). 



The rejection of the theory of multiple origins seems obvious to us now. 

 But it is important to realise that it was only arrived at cautiously and 

 laboriously. Some years later, Alphonse de Candolle devoted at least half of 

 his great work, ' Geographie Botanique Baisonnee ' (1855) to extricating 

 himself from a belief in it. Hooker, in fact, helped to clear the ground for a 

 purely evolutionary theory ; for if multiple origins for species are abandoned, 

 the case for their formation by the direct action of the environment 

 collapses as well. 



During Hooker's absence on the Erebus a great change had taken place 

 in the position of his father. A botanic garden had been created at Kew in 

 1759 by the Dowager Princess of Wales, and this had been actively 

 maintained by her son George III for national purposes, with the assistance 

 of Sir Joseph Banks. The mutiny of the Bounty was the outcome of 

 an attempt initiated by him to introduce the bread-fruit of the Pacific into 

 the West Indies. After the death of Banks the fortunes of Kew languished, 

 and, on the accession of Victoria, the Government contemplated its abolition. 

 The proposal met with strenuous opposition, and on the Beport of a Committee 

 of Enquiry, Kew as a national botanical centre was reconstituted on a larger 

 scale. The elder Hooker had made Glasgow the seat of botanical work in 

 Great Britain ; he had amassed a vast herbarium, and was the possessor of a 

 fine library. These, on accepting in 1841 the post of Director, were transferred 

 to Kew, and on his death were purchased by the Government. But the 

 change, entirely due to public spirit on his part, involved the sacrifice of half 

 his income. 



Hooker, therefore, found it necessary to seek some employment. Having 

 acted temporarily, he was a candidate in 1845, with the support of Humboldt 

 and Bobert Brown, for the Chair of Botany at Edinburgh. Darwin was 

 despondent at the prospect, but consoled himself with the prophecy which he 

 lived to see vindicated — " I know I shall live to see you the first authority in 



