BARON VON MUELLER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5714, 6 November 1896, Page 6 (Supplement)

BARON VON MUELLER.

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Tho death of Baron von Mueller has inspire.] a great many appreciative notices in tho A-.Tstralian papers, and, as was inevitable, piu-ii:_>:w/-:Sf!t-8 have lia-l much, to say about tho •-liySia>;<us!io'l scientist's private life and peculiar! ti^. It'seems that it was only an r-cc-donf tiiab induced the Baron to settle in Ausbi-i'UfV It- was in 1847 that his hereditary toudeiujy to phthisis brought him to Adylniflo in .warch: of health. He had •nou-thoa any intention- of settling in the ■country, bnt t!:..s outbreak of hostilities in Schloswig-Tlrtlsfcoiu in the following year induced Mm to remain longer than he had anl-iftipfittifl, .r.ul finally to take up his resideneo in the country. The arrival of Earou, then Doctor Mueller, formed a new era in the botany of Australia. Among tho facts established by him may be mentioned the interesting- one that between forty and fifty species of alpine plants are common to Australia and Tasmania ; that upwards of thirty of these are purely Australian, and i some ten identical with European specios, and that very few indeed are the same as those of New Zealand. As an instance of the Baron's tremendous energy, it is recorded that on one expedition alone — that made with Mr A. C. Gregory in 1855-56 — he observed nearly 3000 species of plants, representing 160 natural orders, and more than 800 genera, and added to the number of plants known at that time, nearly 800 species, of which 500 were considered peculiar to Australia. In his private character the Baron was unselfish and sincere, but hardly attractive or popular. One who knew him well writes that he was better known by his odd habits and manners than by his great achievements. He was fond of reading papers and often made speeches, but his English was always German and, therefore, not clear or bright. His sympathies were as broad as his knowledge was wide, and in spirit he was as niuch an Englishman and an Australian as he was a German. In many respects, he was a great man — great in his interests, in his topics and in his views — but he was hard to follow in conversation, and people generally edged away from him.