To J. D. Hooker 6 June [1868]
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
June 6th
My dear Hooker.
We send you our hearty congratulations at the birth of a daughter & at Mrs. Hookers troubles being over.— I had been thinking for several days that the time must be come & wished much to hear.— You must feel a load of anxiety off your mind. I used to dread the time & hate it with all my heart.—1
I go steadily & slowly on with sexual selection, which has turned out a very large subject & which I have taken up as bearing on Man.—2
You will not feel in the least a gentleman at your ease till that fearful Norfolk week is over.—3
Farewell my dear old Friend | Ever yours | C. Darwin
P.S. If you have done with the Duke of Argyll’s Book I wish you wd return it, as I rather want see something in it about Humming Birds.—4
Footnotes
Bibliography
Campbell, George Douglas. 1867. The reign of law. London: Alexander Strahan.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Summary
Congratulations on birth of daughter. CD used to dread birth-time.
Sexual selection has turned out to be a large subject.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6233
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 94: 69–70
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6233,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6233.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16
