Dear Darwin

Many thanks for A. Grays—² he writes as if he had never been deceived as to the progress of matters from the first. I do not believe that any Belligerent aggressor ever knows whither it is drifting.

Have you seen Chas: Martins “Tableau Physique du Sahara orientale”³   it is very slight, but admirably written. I see A Gray alludes to Herbert Spencer— the latter has thanked me for some (trifling) assistance, in his preface,— thank God he does not bind me to his views;—which may be good bad or indifferent.—⁴ I always admire his wonderful grasp & admirable illustrations, but his whole work is cumbrous to my mind, & reminds me of a huge mill-sluice of scientific diction & ideas: fluid, very noisy, the noise never discordant; the stream full & powerful, but never adding an inch to the depth of the river it pours into. Much of it seems to consist in clothing biological science in the language of physical science. He often comes to me for illumination, & I reel under him, like a drunk man: he is the toughest cross questioner I ever had to deal with.

I have read Tyndall,⁵ but was not satisfied, I had a talk to him afterwards, but he is grown so dogmatic;—when a fellow says “my dear Hooker, the whole thing I have mathematically shown to be as certain as the heating power of the solar ray”—what can you say? but sink into insignificance.

My great difficulty is to allow of sufficient denudation. What is more familiar to you & me than 2 (or more) rocks a. b some miles apart, sticking up mid ocean so Each 800 ft high or so,— if the distance a.–b. represents the transverse section of a quondam river valley why then the peaks a. b. must represent points in the bowels of an old continent. I like Ramsays paper much better,⁶ & can follow it well, I suppose that you have seen it. Still sea-action puzzles me: Staffa⁷ to my mind presents no traces of marine denudation— As far as I could see on a most hasty visit the angles of the column are not eaten away by Ocean, nor are the broken prostrate columns rounded. Again in the swishing tidal straits of Loch Leven I saw the glacial scratches on the rocks moutonnée under water. The flat surfaces of Staffa are no doubt planed off by ice— how the cave is formed I cannot guess, but I think not by the sea. The valleys of E. Norfolk & Suffolk are I am sure tidal & not fluvial— I have traced them from below Ipswich up to Hitcham.⁸ If Tyndalls idea holds good, there should be beds of pebbles most frequently found high up on cliffs, everywhere. Ramsays idea is much better, glaciers tell no tales where rivers do.⁹ Of course I can allow of any amount of river cutting through Limestone countries, but how about rivers running through the gorges of hard trap in Auvergne or the quartz rocks of Siberia? On the other hand ice will not cut gorges, & in those trap districts the question is narrowed to water versus fissuring.— After all the great objection to the whole Ice or water theory is, where are you to stop?— is the valley of the Amazons to be held to be all scooped out by water— if so then why not the Atlantic? if on the other hand the Atlantic is not a water-scoop, but a depression between 2 uplifted masses of land, why not also the Amazons, Rhine,? & so on to every smaller river? It cannot be doubted that strata were thrown into great folds in the bowels of the earth;—that marine denudation shaved down the tips of these as they became exposed, & that marine accumulations fill up their hollows—that subsequent tiltings rearrange the slopes hollows & hills so that there is no or little relation now between the original curves & existing valleys, & that water or i⁠⟨⁠ce⁠⟩⁠ was busy all the time of these changes in scooping.

So that it seems to me that it must be very difficult to say in a general way how much is due to upheaval, & faults, & how much to river & Glacier—& though I entirely go with Ramsay in thinking that in all Alpine regions or regions that have been alpine, the glaciers have done far more than the water has since, or the upheaval before them—still I cannot go so far as to account for their whole sculpturing by Ice. Ice will increase Valleys, I doubt its originating them, except by its melting & the water following a definite course.

I have no objection in the world to Primrose & Cowslip being good species, & oxlip too for that matter, but I do not see why the fact of Red Cowslips not being wild should influence our view of its claims to be a species.¹⁰ If it has a constant difference & will not cross, let it be a species, whether wild or created by cultivation (as the Gardeners have it.). Lord Ducie¹¹ says that Red Cowslips grow wild about him & he has promised to send me some for you.

I have written to Anderson¹² recommending him to try Scott¹³—but M^cNab,¹⁴ who was here the other day gives a confoundedly bad character of Scott: he seems to be vehemently prejudiced against him.

We are all pretty well | Ever affec Yrs | J. D. Hooker.

Did I tell you that by a recent bye-law persons residing out of England are not eligible for election as Associates of the Linnean. but for this there would have been no difficulty in electing Scott.¹⁵ If he does well in India he may be a member yet.

Young Bartlett, son of the Curator of Zoological Society is going to Nicaragua with Capt Prior, & to stay away 3 years.¹⁶ have you any agenda or inquirenda in that quarter of the Globe?

Tell me when you write how the book gets on.¹⁷

I have been thinking of Wallace for Gold Medal R.S.¹⁸ but it seems to be half engaged to D^r Lockhardt Clark¹⁹ this year. How would you word Wallaces claims? Will it not be difficult to cite sufficient paper work?

P.S. | The Stanhopeas are all past flower—though one or two will be in flower again in a month or so.²⁰

The new Curator²¹ is making a thorough reform, & the Orchids are going ahead fast.

We had a good meeting of Phil Club²² yesterday. Busk gave us an incoherent account of the Gibraltar caves—26 species at least in a space half as big as your drawing room. Red deer Ibex, Cape Hyena, Serval, 3 Rhinoceros, Rabbit, Cervus Dama—Horse, lots of Hyena coprolites— The human remains belong to a totally different category & age. The rock itself seems to be a great Geological puzzle.

The association of Red Deer Rhinoceros & Cape Hyena seems to me to capsize all our ideas of climate being a guide to distribution—or rather of the converse²³

The Royal medals are I suppose as good as settled to Mr Lockhardt Clarke & Warren DelaRue, the Rumford to Tyndall.²⁴