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 Macleay led him to the study of entomology. The discovery of a rare moss near Norwich brought him under the notice of Sir James Edward Smith, at whose suggestion he devoted himself to botany. In 1806, in the company of his future father-in-law, Dawson Turner, F.R.S., and afterwards in that of William Borrer, F.L.S., he botanised in the wilder parts of Scotland, and in 1809, on the advice of Sir Joseph Banks, he visited Iceland. Here he made collections in all branches of natural history, which were, however, lost by the burning of the ship on the return voyage, when Hooker himself had a narrow escape. In 1811 he printed privately his ‘Recollections of Iceland,’ describing the island and its natural history, mainly from memory; the book was reprinted in 1813. He then determined to accompany Sir Robert Brownrigg, recently appointed governor, to Ceylon, and with this object sold his land, unfortunately investing the proceeds in stocks which declined in value. The disturbed state of Ceylon prevented his carrying out his intention. In 1814 he undertook a nine months' botanical tour in France, Switzerland, and Northern Italy, forming the acquaintance of most of the continental, as he had already made that of the English botanists, and pursuing an extensive correspondence. In the following year he married Maria, eldest daughter of Dawson Turner, F.R.S., banker, of Yarmouth, and settled down at Halesworth, Suffolk. Here he began the collection of his extensive herbarium, and produced between 1816 and 1820 his first four botanical works; but an increasing family and a decreasing income led him in 1820 to accept, at Banks's advice, the regius professorship of botany at Glasgow. His success as a lecturer with large classes and useful botanical excursions secured the increase of the endowment of the chair from 50l. to 150l., and of the fees from 60l. to over 700l. He maintained intimate relations with the admiralty, colonial, and India offices, secured former pupils as correspondents in many parts of the world, and organised the sending out of numerous collectors. In 1836 he was made a knight of Hanover for his services to botanical science. Among his correspondents was John, sixth duke of Bedford, who was desirous that the royal gardens at Kew should be turned to account as a national institution, and after the death of the duke in 1839, and a report in favour of this scheme by Lindley, Lord John Russell was able to carry out his father's wishes by obtaining for Hooker the appointment of director of the royal gardens, on the resignation of W. T. Aiton in 1841. Here Hooker's great administrative talent showed itself: during the remaining twenty-four years of his life a garden of eleven acres was extended to seventy-five acres of botanic garden and 270 acres of arboretum and pleasure-ground, and ten old conservatories and hothouses were replaced by twenty-five houses of modern construction and considerably greater size. Of these, two, the palm house and temperate house, have no rivals in point of dimensions combined with successful cultivation. He also founded in 1847, with the aid of Professor [q. v.], a museum of economic botany, the first and most complete in the world, occupying three buildings. A queen's private garden had thus become an unrivalled botanic establishment. The opening of the gardens to the public and a liberal system of exchange with other gardens, both public and private, were amongst his earliest reforms.

During the first ten years of his directorate he occupied a private house, West Park, in the adjoining parish of Mortlake, to which he had transported his vast herbarium and library from Glasgow, having hired a Leith smack for the purpose. In 1857 a crown house attached to the gardens having become vacant, he was instructed to occupy it, and as it did not afford sufficient accommodation for his herbarium, which had occupied twelve rooms at West Park, he was permitted to deposit this in a larger house at Kew that had been in the occupation of the king of Hanover. This herbarium, by far the richest ever accumulated in one man's lifetime, was after his death purchased by the nation.

Hooker always rose early, went little into society, and retired late. He was able, in addition to purely official duties, to produce either as author or editor about one hundred volumes devoted to systematic and economic botany. These contain descriptions of many thousand species, and are illustrated by about five thousand plates. Until 1835 the drawings were mostly executed by himself; after that date by Mr. Walter Fitch. Hooker's descriptions are singularly accurate, and he always completed the works that he planned. In addition to his own work, he liberally assisted younger botanists, and did much to advance the science by persuading the treasury, the admiralty, and the Indian and colonial governments to produce local floras. Of these the flora of British North America was by himself, and those of New Zealand, Australia, the British West Indies, the Cape colonies, and tropical Africa were inaugurated by him, and for the most part elaborated in his herbarium and library.

During his whole lifetime his library and