HOOKER, 3osErit DALTON, a.n., e n., r. R.S., was b. at Glasgow in 1816, and is the only surviving son of sir W. J. Hooker (q.v.). lie was educated for the medical profession, nail graduated as if. o. at Glasgow in 1839. He immediately thereafter rell tInCed the pursuit of medicine for that of botany, and joined the antarctic expedition of the Erebus and Terror. When he returned in 1843. he brought with him 5.340 species of plants, which, whim the discoveries of capt. Cook and other voyages, were published in 6 quarto vols., under the title of Botany of the Antarctic Voyage (1'17 00). This .great work gave him at once an eminent position in science. It. 1847, he. undertook an expedition to the Himalayas, which occupied him for three years. The" larse collections made at this time were joined to those of his friend, Dr. '1'llos. Them: son of the botanic e'a•dens, Calcutta, and numbered in the aggregate nearly 7,000 species. 1Iis Himalayan JaaMa1,1 (2 vols. Svo, 1834) contain the narrative of and the Rhododendrons of the Siladm-Himalaya (1849-31) illustrate the most remarkable addi tions which he made to the ornamental plants of our gardens on this occasion. With Dr. Thomson he undertook a Flora indica (vol. L, Svo. 1855), the first volume of which, containing only a few orders of plants, remains a fragment. The half of the volume is occupied with a valuable dissertation on botanical geography, a department of the science which has received special attention from Dr. Hooker in his various works.
He afterwards again undertook a flora of British India, which was completed in 1874. In 1S71 he made an expedition to Morocco, ascended the Great Atlas, the summit of which had never before been reached by a European, and brought back a valuable col lection of plants.
Dr. Hooker was appointed assistant-director at Kew gardens in 1833, and on the death of his father in 1805, he succeeded him as director. lie was president of the British association in 1868, was appointed companion of the Bath in'1869, and elected president of the royal society in 1873. lie became knight commander of the star of India in 1877, and LL.D. of Dublin in 1878.
In the list of scientific memoirs published by the royal society, he ms recorded to he the author of 58 independent memoirs, and the joint-author of 18 more. He has pre pared a valuable Students' Flora of the British Js ands, chiefly characterized by the record of the geographical distribution of the species. His great work, which lie has undertaken in conjunction with his friend George Bentham, is the Genera Piaatarunt, the first part of which appeared in 1862.