細節
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911)
Five autograph letters signed (one incomplete) to Dr James Croll (physical geologist, 1821-90), Kew Gardens, 25 November 1883 - 6 April 1884, 23 pages, 8vo, on bifolia (letter of 6 April 1884 lacks second bifolium, some soiling throughout, old adhesive on letter of 23 December 1883 affecting 7 words, occasional short tears to folds); together with contemporary copies (including complete text of letter of 6 April 1884).
A notable series on scientific questions in the Arctic and Antarctic. The first two letters, commenting on two articles by Croll, emphasize that 'it is not right to speak of an Antarctic Continent at all, except as pure speculation', stress the limits of knowledge about Antarctic ice sheets - 'true we have huge ice-bergs accurately described by you & all, but their origin is not proved' - and the difference between the icebergs of the Antarctic - of 'astounding number and size' - and the Arctic, with particular reference to his experiences with Ross: 'What Ross saw may not be the true Antarctic Continent, or even a part of it, but it is the only one ever seen or heard of. We surveyed its coast ... [and] saw far distant interior mountains and saw no break in the land'. The remaining three letters discuss the origin of wood found in the Arctic and whether it might be evidence for a period of Arctic warming, with particular scepticism as to Sir Edward Belcher's claims to have found a tree stump embedded in frozen clay - 'Belcher you know was a notoriously untruthful man...the best (and most deservedly) hated man of his day in the Navy' - and notes that others on the voyage described the 'tree stump' as little more than a part of a ship's spar; Hooker argues that the evidence points to this and other wood found in the Arctic being simply driftwood.
Almost Hooker's first exploit in the field of botany was accompanying Sir James Clark Ross's Antarctic expedition on Erebus, 1839-43, whose botanical results he published in six volumes (1844-60). He succeeded his father as Director of Kew Gardens in 1865. (5)
Five autograph letters signed (one incomplete) to Dr James Croll (physical geologist, 1821-90), Kew Gardens, 25 November 1883 - 6 April 1884, 23 pages, 8vo, on bifolia (letter of 6 April 1884 lacks second bifolium, some soiling throughout, old adhesive on letter of 23 December 1883 affecting 7 words, occasional short tears to folds); together with contemporary copies (including complete text of letter of 6 April 1884).
A notable series on scientific questions in the Arctic and Antarctic. The first two letters, commenting on two articles by Croll, emphasize that 'it is not right to speak of an Antarctic Continent at all, except as pure speculation', stress the limits of knowledge about Antarctic ice sheets - 'true we have huge ice-bergs accurately described by you & all, but their origin is not proved' - and the difference between the icebergs of the Antarctic - of 'astounding number and size' - and the Arctic, with particular reference to his experiences with Ross: 'What Ross saw may not be the true Antarctic Continent, or even a part of it, but it is the only one ever seen or heard of. We surveyed its coast ... [and] saw far distant interior mountains and saw no break in the land'. The remaining three letters discuss the origin of wood found in the Arctic and whether it might be evidence for a period of Arctic warming, with particular scepticism as to Sir Edward Belcher's claims to have found a tree stump embedded in frozen clay - 'Belcher you know was a notoriously untruthful man...the best (and most deservedly) hated man of his day in the Navy' - and notes that others on the voyage described the 'tree stump' as little more than a part of a ship's spar; Hooker argues that the evidence points to this and other wood found in the Arctic being simply driftwood.
Almost Hooker's first exploit in the field of botany was accompanying Sir James Clark Ross's Antarctic expedition on Erebus, 1839-43, whose botanical results he published in six volumes (1844-60). He succeeded his father as Director of Kew Gardens in 1865. (5)