PEOGEESS OF THE INDIAN FLOEA 359 
of the Linnean Society the ' Praecursores ad Floram Indicam : 
being sketches of the natural families of Indian plants, with 
remarks on their distribution, structure, and affinities.' But 
with Thomson's departure and Hooker's appointment as 
Assistant Director at Kew, the greater work was inevitably 
laid aside, and remained on the shelf for fifteen years, during 
which his only Indian work of importance was a considerable 
share in preparing Thwaites' ^ Enumeration of Ceylon plants 
(1858-64). But in 1870, the India Council was moved to 
take an interest in the matter, mainly through Mr. (afterwards 
Sir) Mountstuart Grant Duff,^ with whom Hooker had some 
correspondence the previous year on Indian Forestry and 
Botany. The Duke of Argyll ^ also, Secretary for India, had 
scientific interests. Thus Hooker obtained support when he 
pointed out that the Indian Government had sanctioned the 
much needed Flora in 1863, but workers were wanted. The 
matter had sKpped so entirely from official ken that the India 
Office could not even find the record of this official letter written 
six years before, and had to ask Hooker for a copy of it. 
T. Thomson, the natural continuator of the work, was 
out of health, and in any case was bent on discussing details 
at impracticable length. There was no help for it ; Hooker 
met the renewed interest of the India Council by assuming 
the responsible editorship, and with the help of a staff of 
collaborators made a new start. Twenty-seven years of further 
1 George Henry Kendrick Thwaites (1811-82), beginning life as an account- 
ant, devoted himself to entomology and botany, especially the cryptogams, 
wherein his microscopic discoveries were ahead of his time. Most important 
was his determination of the algal nature of diatoms. For thirty years" (1849- 
79) he was in charge of the Ceylon botanical gardens at Peradenyia, publishing 
an ' Enumeratic Plantarum Zeylaniae ' (1859-64) which won him his F.R.S. 
He was also responsible for the successful cultivation of cinchona and other 
economic plants in Ceylon from 1860 onwards. 
2 Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff (1827-1906) was Under Secretary 
of State for India 1868-74, and for the Colonies 1880-1, when he was appointed 
Governor of Madras 1881-6. His series of Diaries contain many literary, 
personal; and political reminiscences. 
3 The eighth Duke of ArgyU (1823-1900) was a vigorous Liberal politician 
and capable administrator who ultimately broke with his party over the Irish 
question. Between 1868 and 1874 he was Secretary of State for India. From 
his earliest days he was interested in science, especially geology, in which he 
did some original work ; but his chief activity was as a polemical upholder of 
ideas left stranded by the progress of science. 
