West Park and Kew , 1841-1865. Ixxxvii 
together with the insignia of the Order of the Guelphs of 
Hanover, then an appanage of the British Crown. 
In evidence of the estimation in which my father was 
held by his botanical contemporaries, I think I cannot better 
conclude this sketch of his life and labours than by giving 
the following extracts from the obituaries of him dr,awn up 
by the two most eminent then living botanists, one in America, 
the other in Europe. Of these, Prof. Asa Gray thus writes 
in the ‘ American Journal of Arts and Sciences,’ 2nd Series, 
xli. 1 (1866) : — ‘ Our survey of what Sir William Hooker did 
for science would be incomplete indeed if it were confined to his 
published works — numerous and important as they are — and 
the wise and efficient administration through which, in a space 
of twenty-four years, a Queen’s flower and kitchen garden 
and pleasure grounds have been transformed into an imperial 
botanical establishment of unrivalled interest and value. 
Account should be taken of the spirit in which he worked, 
of the researches and explorations he promoted, of the aid 
and encouragement he extended to his fellow labourers, espe- 
cially to young and rising botanists, and of the means and 
appliances he gathered for their use no less than for his own. 
‘ The single-mindedness with which he gave himself to his 
scientific work, and the conscientiousness with which he lived 
for science while he lived by it, were above all praise. Emi- 
nently fitted to shine in society, remarkably good-looking, 
and of the most pleasing address, frank, cordial, and withal 
of a very genial disposition, he never dissipated his time and 
energies in the round of fashionable life, but ever avoided the 
social prominence and worldly distinctions which some sedu- 
lously seek. So that, however it may or ought to be regarded 
in a country where Court honours and Government rewards 
have a fictitious importance, we count it a high compliment 
to his sense and modesty that no such distinctions were ever 
conferred upon him in recognition of all that he accomplished 
at Kew. 
c Nor was there in him, while standing in a position like that 
occupied by Banks and Smith in his early days, the least 
