Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

CHAPTER XXIII
ASPECTS OF AMAZONIAN VEGETATION AND ANIMAL
MIGRATIONS
(ENGLAND, 1864-1873)
[ON reaching England in May 1864, Spruce
remained for some time in London, at Kew and
at Hurstpierpoint, with short visits to Mr. Daniel
Hanbury and to myself. He thus had frequent
opportunities of seeing most of his botanical friends,
and his further correspondence with them was of
little general interest. There is an exception, how-
ever, in the case of Mr. Hanbury, with whom he
at once established an intimacy which quickly
ripened into a close friendship ; and as this gentleman
thenceforth acted as Spruce's informal agent
in London, supplying him with medicines, books,
and any special delicacies he required (always on
a strict business footing), while Spruce was always
ready to give botanical or other information on Mr.
H anbury's special pharmaceutical researches, letters
passed between them weekly, and often daily, for
many years, amounting in all to nearly a thousand,
all of which were carefully preserved and were
presented by Sir Thomas Hanbury (after his
brother's death in 1875) to the Pharmaceutical
Society. These were kindly lent me, and a few
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