To J. D. Hooker 22 August [1857]1
Down Bromley Kent
Aug. 22d.
My dear Hooker
Your hand-writing always rejoices the cockles of my heart; though you have no reason to be “overwhelmed with shame”, as I did not expect to hear.— We heartily rejoice that the birth is all safe over.—2
I write now chiefly to know whether you can tell me how to write to Hermann Schlagenheit (is this spelt right?) for I believe he is returned to England,3 & he has Poultry skins for me from W. Elliot of Madras.4
I am very glad to hear that you have been tabulating some Floras about varieties. Will you just tell me roughly the result?— Do you not find it takes much time? I am employing a laboriously careful Schoolmaster, who does the tabulating & dividing part into two great cohorts more carefully than I can.5 This being so I shd. be very glad some time to have Koch6 —Webb’s Canaries7 —& Ledebour,8 & Grisebach, but I do not know even where Rumelia is.9 I shall work British Flora with 3 separate Floras; & I intend dividing the varieties into 2 classes as Asa Gray & Henslow gives the materials,10 & further A. Gray & H. C. Watson have marked for me the forms, which they consider real species, but yet are very close to others;11 & it will be curious to compare results. If it will all hold good it is very important for me; for it explains, as I think, all classification, ie the quasi-branching & sub-branching of forms, as if from one root, big genera increasing & splitting up &c &c, as you will perceive.— But then comes, also, in what I call a principle of divergence, which I think I can explain, but which is too long & perhaps you would not care to hear.— As you have been on this subject, you might like to hear what very little is complete (for my schoolmaster has had 3 weeks holidays): only 3 cases as yet, I see. diag Babington British Flora12 593 species in genera 593 (odd chance equal) of 5 & upwards have in genera of 3 & in a thousand species downwards have in a presenting vars. thousand presenting vars
Hooker New Zealand13 genera with 4 sp. & with 3 species & upwards downwards
Godron. Centre France14 5 species & upwards 3 species & downward ramme
I do not enter in details on omitting introduced plants & very varying genera as Rubus, Salix Rosa. &c.—which wd. make result more in favour.—
I enjoyed seeing Henslow extremely, though I was a good way from well at the time.15
Farewell, my dear Hooker do not forget your visit here sometime.—
Ever yours | C. Darwin
What sort of man is Swede Anderson?16 Does he care for generalities & other branches of Nat. History.— Is there any chance that he wd. investigate a little point on colouring of Horses in Norway for me, about Zebra-like stripes on them.?17 If there was I wd. write out questions, but it depends on nature of man.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Babington, Charles Cardale. 1851. Manual of British botany, containing the flowering plants and ferns arranged according to the natural orders. 3d edition. London: John van Voorst.
Boreau, Alexandre. 1840. Flore du centre de la France; ou description des plantes qui croissent spontanément dans la région centrale de la France, et de celles qui y sont cultivées en grand, avec l’analyse des genres et des espèces. 2 vols. in 1. Paris: Roret.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Grisebach, August Heinrich Rudolph. 1843–4. Spicilegium florae Rumelicae et Bithynicae exhibens synopsin plantarum quas aest. 1839 legit. 2 vols. Brunswick: F. Vieweg.
Henslow, John Stevens. 1835. A catalogue of British plants, arranged according to the natural system, with the synonyms of De Candolle, Smith, Lindley, and Hooker. 2d ed. Cambridge.
Hooker, Joseph Dalton. 1853–5. Flora Novæ-Zelandiæ. 2 vols. Pt 2 of The botany of the Antarctic voyage of HM discovery ships Erebus and Terror, in the years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. London: Lovell Reeve.
Koch, Wilhelm Daniel Joseph. 1843–4. Synopsis florae Germanicae et Helveticae, exhibens stirpes phanerogamas rite cognitas, praemissa generum dispositione secundum classes et ordines systematis Linnaeani conscripta. 2d edition. 2 vols. Frankfurt: Fridericus Wilmans. Leipzig: Gebhardt & Reisland.
Ledebour, Karl Friedrich von. 1842–53. Flora Rossica sive enumeratio plantarum in totius imperii Rossici provinciis Europaeis, Asiaticis et Americanis hucusque observatarum. 4 vols. Stuttgart. [Vols. 6,7]
LL: The life and letters of Charles Darwin, including an autobiographical chapter. Edited by Francis Darwin. 3 vols. London: John Murray. 1887–8.
Natural selection: Charles Darwin’s Natural selection: being the second part of his big species book written from 1856 to 1858. Edited by R. C. Stauffer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1975.
Summary
Tabulation of varieties goes on; very important as it shows the branching of forms. Mentions his principle of divergence.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2134
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 114: 208
- Physical description
- ALS 8pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2134,” accessed on 17 August 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2134.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6