Sir Joseph Dalton Hooke, 



XXX111 



areas which only rarely have any in common. It is obvious that we have 

 in Impatiens a case of specific evolution, which deserves and awaits further 

 and profound study. 



Hooker was twice married: first, 1851, to Frances Harriet (died 1874), 

 eldest daughter of Rev. John Stevens Henslow, by whom he left four sons 

 and two surviving daughters ; second, 1876, to Hyacinth, only daughter of 

 Eev. W. S. Symonds, widow of Sir W. Jardine, seventh baronet (died 187-i), 

 by whom he left two sons. 



Hooker was 5 feet 11 inches in height, and throughout life spare and 

 wiry in figure. Tn 1859 Huxley wrote to him : " Don't let all the flesh be 

 worried off your bones (there isn't much as it is)." There was a touch of 

 the " quarter-deck " in his carriage. With a fresh complexion, there was in 

 later life a general ruggedness in his aspect, and he was somewhat indifferent 

 as to his personal appearance. Those who knew him in middle age think the 

 published photograph by Mrs. Cameron most characteristic. There are 

 portraits by Collier at the Royal Society and by Herkomer at the Linnean. 

 Huxley wrote of this in 1859 (H.L.L., vol. 2, p. 232), " You were never quite 

 so fat in the cheeks," and quizzed him about the fur coat ; it certainly gave 

 an aldermanic effect wholly foreign to him. The portrait has been repro- 

 duced. There is a bronze medallion modelled from life by Frank Bowcher. 



Great powers of physical endurance carried him through his travels with 

 no permanent injury to health. His temperament was nervous and high- 

 strung, and he could not stand petty worries, especially those incidental to 

 official life. A somewhat strict disciplinarian, he always retained the sense 

 of official subordination, which he had no doubt learnt in his naval service. 

 He was careful to note that he acted "under instructions," and would 

 speculate as to what the "Board" would say in the smallest administrative 

 details. His outlook in life was calm and philosophic ; science and its 

 progress was his absorbing and single-minded interest. He would spare no 

 pains to advance it. The x Club kept him in touch with what was being done 

 outside his own subject. Geographical research was with him a passion only 

 second to botany. Had he not been a great botanist, he might have been an 

 even greater geographer. 



He had a great gift for securing and retaining friendship, which was 

 helped by a keen sense of humour and an admirable gift in letter-writing, 

 which he doubtless inherited from his maternal ancestors. He was a 

 vivacious conversationalist, fond of paradox for the sake of stimulating 

 discussion, but was little prone to draw on his past experiences. 



He was nervous about public speaking, but when pushed could make an 

 excellent speech, rising to some eloquence. That when his health was 

 proposed as Copley Medallist was a notable performance, reviewing with a 

 dignified modesty the " incidents that directed my own scientific life," and 

 concluding that they " are fruitless, if there is not some inward motive 

 power to compel us to exercise our faculties, and some inward heat, some 

 fervour, to ripen the fruits of our labours." In his own case, he was content 



VOL. lxxxv. — B. d 



