The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume XIV. The Victorian Age, Part Two.
§ 56. Sir Joseph Hooker
Sir Joseph Hooker, whose great experience as a traveller and a systematic botanist, and one who had in his time the widest knowledge of the distribution of plants, was of invaluable assistance to Darwin on the botanical side of his researches. Those who remember Hooker will remember him as a man of ripe experience, sound judgment and a very evenly balanced mind. But all these high and by no means common qualities were combined with caution, and with a critical faculty which was quite invaluable to Darwin at this juncture. Huxley was of a somewhat different temperament. He was rather proud of the fact that he was named after the doubting apostle; but, whatever Huxley doubted, he never doubted himself. He had clear-cut ideas which he was capable of expressing in the most vigorous and the most cultivated English. Both on platform and on paper he was a keen controversialist. He contributed much to our knowledge of morphology. But never could he have been mistaken for a field-naturalist. In the latter part of his life he was drawn away from pure science by the demands of public duty, and he was, undoubtedly, a power in the scientific world. For he was ever one of that small band in England who united scientific accuracy and scientific training with influence on the political and official life of the country.