HOOKER, JOSEPH 1)A I.TON ( 1 S 17—) . .1 noted British botanist and traveler, second son of W..I. Hooker (q.v.). Ile was horn at Glasgow. where he obtained the degree of 11.D. in 1S39. Ile im mediately thereafter renouneed the pursuit. of medicine for that of botany, and joined the Ant arctic expedition of the Erebus and 7'; rror. \\lion he r vlurmarl • in 1S43. he brought 5310 spe cies of plants, which, with those discovered on the voyages of Captain Cook and other travelers, are discussed in six quarto volumes under the I it les of Flom . I ntaref Ora fondia., and Flora ( IC44-60), works wide]] won him an eminent position in science. In ISI7 he undertook a three years' expedition to the layas, upon which he made large colleetions, which, joined with those of his friend. Dr. Thom son. of the Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. ne•gre gated nearly ;ono species. Ilk Jour nerbz (2 vols., Svo. IS:i2 and 185-11 contain the narrative of this expedition, and the Mmol od ()roux of 11o. Sikkim-llirnalums (1819-51) illus trate the most remarkable additions which he made on this oecasion to garden plants. Dr. Thomson he undertook a Plora bolioa (vol. i., Svo. 1S.isi1s the first v.olunie of whieli, containing only a few' orders. remains a fragment. Half of the volume is occupied with dissertation on holanioal geography. a .1, pa rt men( of science to which he paid sneeial attention in various works. Ile afterwards again under
took a I'loro of Tallish toli,t, which was ema pleted in 1q71. In 1571 he made an expedi tion to Aloroeeo, nseended the Great Atlas. the summit of which had never before been reached by a European. and brought bark a valuable uolleetion of plants. In 1855 he was appointed assistant director at New Gardens, and, on the death of his father in 1865, director. He was president of the British Association in 186S, was appointed Companion of the Bath in 1869, and served as president of the Royal Society from 1672 to 1877. In the latter year he was knight ed Commander of the Star of India. In the list of scientific memoirs published by the Royal Soci ety, he i., recorded as the author of 55 independ ent numbers and the joint author of IS others. This Sit/dolts' Flora of the British islands is chiefly characterized by the record of the geo graphical distribution of the species. His great work, Genera undertaken in conjunc tion with his friend, George Bentham. commenced to appear in 1562. Among his other voyages. accounts of which appear in various books and journals, may be mentioned one to Palestine and Syria in 1560. and another to the Rocky Moun tains, California, in 1877.