January, 1912.] 



8 



Review. 



Russel Wallace the outline sketch of his 

 theories. That sketch was communicated 

 to the Linnean Society in 1858. The 

 review of the Oirgin of Species which 

 most pleased Darwin was that written 

 by Hooker, with Lindley's acquiescence, 

 in the pages of the Gardeners' Chronicle. 

 In 1868, when he presided over the 

 Norwich meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation, Hooker devoted his presidential 

 address to an exposition and defence of 

 the Origin of Species. Thus, both by 

 sober counsel and subtle advocacy, 

 Hooker lent most powerful aid to 

 Darwin. Many years afterwards, in 

 1908, the conspicuous part which Hooker 

 had played in Darwin's work was re- 

 cognised officially. At the meeting of" 

 the Linnean Society, held to com- 

 memorate the 50th anniversary of the 

 communication of the Darwin- Wallace 

 joint paper on natural selection, Hooker 

 attended in person to receive one of the 

 Darwin medals, and delivertd— at the age 

 of 91 — a vigorous speech recalling the far- 

 off times when the great events were 

 happening. 



And through all these eventful years, 

 from pre- Victorian to present Georgian 

 times, Hooker's special systematic and 

 explorational work went on unceasingly. 

 His Antarctic collections were worked 

 out, and the Floras of the Antarctic, New 

 Zealand and Tasmania were published. 

 The Indian journey was accomplished, 

 and that classic, The Himalayan Journal, 

 was written. Therein is evidence enough 

 that, had Hooker devoted himself to 

 literature, he would have achieved no 

 less distinction than he won in science. 



Hooker's official connection with Kew 

 began a little more than fifty years ago. 

 After serving for ten years under his 

 father, William Jackson Hooker, the son 

 succeeded to the Directorship in 1865. 

 In that post his great powers of organis- 

 ation and his vast knowledge of plants 

 enabled him to add another great 

 reputation to the great reputations 

 which he had already built up. As is 

 well known, Hooker passed through 

 troublous times at Kew, where at one 

 period the hand of dull officialdom was 

 heavy upon him. But Hooker, though 

 never one who could suffer fools gladly, 

 won in the long run. Thanks to the 

 saving sense of the Press and the support 

 of men of science, he emerged victorious 

 from the struggle, and preserved Kew 

 from the worst of evils — the uninform- 

 ed meddlesomeness of an ill-educated 

 bureaucracy. 



Of the honours which fell to Hooker, 

 it is scarcely necessary to speak. He 

 received from the Royal Society the 

 Royal, Copley and Darwin medals, and 

 attained in 1873 to the highest position 

 open to a British man of science : the 

 presidency of the Royal Society. In 

 1877 he was created K.C.S.I., and forty 

 years later, on his 90th birthday, he 

 received the Order of Merit. It is right 

 that the Abbey should offer to receive 

 his ashes side by side with those of our 

 poets and painters, statesmen and 

 warriors. Yet it is more fitting that he 

 should lie beside his father at Kew. 

 His early life, his whole life, was devoted 

 to botany, and it is meet that he should 

 lie in the Mecca of botanical pilgrims. 



Review. 



THE RUBBER PLANTERS' 

 NOTE-BOOK. 



By Frank Braham, f.r.g.s. 



To the uninitiated reader who ha9 

 never visited a tropical country this 

 little book will give a very fair idea of 

 the rubber planting industry of Ceylon 

 and Malaya. The author, however, 

 states in his preface that the object of 

 the volume is to provide a note-book 

 which the rubber plantation assistant 

 can take with him into the field for 

 purposes of reference and guidance. 

 For this purpose the book appears quite 

 inadequate, as was only to be expected 

 in one which is described on the title 

 page as having been compiled from the 

 most reliable and modern sources. Plant- 

 ing, of course, cannot be learnt from 



books. At the same time a book written 

 by a practical planter who was really 

 familiar with the details of planting 

 work might be of the greatest assistance 

 to the beginner. Such a book still re- 

 mains to be written. We do not think 

 that its place is at all adequately taken 

 by the present publication which con- 

 stantly reveals a want of personal 

 familiarity with the actual working of 

 an estate, whilst attempting to deal 

 with the whole subject of preparation of 

 land, planting, cultivation and tapping 

 in a section of little over six thousand 

 words. 



In pursuance of our invariable practice 

 when writing reviews, we proceed to 

 enumerate a few of the points in which 

 we differ from the author of the book 

 under review, a method which we 

 imagine will most commend itself to 



