A PIONEER BOTANIST.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 15, 30 December 1911, Page 3

A PIONEER BOTANIST.

By the passing of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker science loses ,one of her most active and conscientious servants. The deceased gentleman had reached the good old age of 94 years, and his life-time, though lengthy, was packed with usefulness. He was the illustrious son of an allustrious father, Sir William Jackson Hooker, and both were pioneers of their times in the advancement of botanical knowledge. Sir Joseph was born at Halesworth, Suffolk, and was educated at the High School and at the University of Glasgow. At the age of 21 he took the degree of M.D., and accompanied the famous Antarctic expedition of tho Erebus and Terror, under Sir James Clark Ross. Officially Hooker travelled as the assistant surgeon, but actually he'was the naturalist of the enterprise. The result of his investigations was the compilation of a most elaborate series of works on the botany of the southern regions, embracing the flora of Antarctica, New Zealand, and Tasmania. It was on August 14, 1841, that the expedition, returning from Tasmania, touched at the Bay of Islands. aTere it remained for over three months, during which period Hooker carried out an immense amount of research, getting together ipatcrial for his “Flora of New Zealand.” In these labours he received valuable assistance from Mr Colon so and other residents. Hooker’s work was very complete, and, in his methods, he must have been most painstaking. The first volume of the “Flora Antarctica,” issued by him in 1844, was confined to the flora of the Auckland and Campbell Islands, and the thoroughness of his study of the vegetation of those parts is borne out by tho fact that hut few additions have been made by later investigators. “Tho Handbook of the New Zealand Flora,” which he published in 1867, is still regarded as a classic of its line, and subsequent compilers have acknowledged their indebtedness to the author. Dr. Hooker carried on notable operations in India, which he visited in 1817. For three and a half years ho prosecuted this work, for some time exploring the loftiest mountains and remotest valleys of the Himalayas, unaccompanied by any other European. When crossing the Tibetand frontier, with Dr. Campbell, ho was imprisoned for some weeks by the Rajah of Sikkim and his life was threatened. On his return in 1851 ho published a number of interesting books relating to Indian natural history, and on the completion of an important contribution on the flora of British India he was rewarded with the G.C.S.I. He was appointed, in 1855, assistant director of Kew Gardens, and, on his father’s death, in 1865, he succeeded to the directorship, which he resigned in 1885. The name of Sir Joseph* Hooker should find a place among those of the most prominent exponents of the physical sciences.