Note 9 — TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) was early devoted to the study of natural history, making scientific journeys to Scotland in 1806 and to Iceland in 1809. Later (1814), Hooker prosecuted a nine months' botanical tour on the continent of Europe. The following year he married and settled on his estate where he commenced an herbarium; from 1820 to 1841 he was regius professor of botany at Glasgow, being in 1836 knighted for eminent service to science. From 1841 till his death he was director of Kew Gardens, London. Hooker's interest in American scientific development was marked, and he dispatched many pupils on botanical tours to unknown parts of the new continent.—Ed.