To J. D. Hooker 8 [June 1858]
Down
8th
My dear Hooker
I am confined to sofa with Boil, so you must let me write in pencil— You would laugh, if you could know how much your note pleased me.1 I had firmest conviction that you would say all my M.S was bosh, & thank God you are one of the few men who dare speak truth. Though I shd. not have much cared about throwing away what you have seen, yet I have been forced to confess to myself that all was much alike, & if you condemned that you wd. condemn all—my life’s work—& that I confess made me a little low—but I cd. have borne it, for I have the conviction that I have honestly done my best.— The discussion comes in at end of long chapter on variation in a state of nature, so that I have discussed, as far as able, what to call varieties.— I will try to leave out all allusion to genera coming in & out in this part, till when I discuss the “principle of Divergence”, which with “Natural Selection” is the key-stone of my Book & I have very great confidence it is sound.2 I wd. have this discussion copied out, if I could really think it would not bore you to read—for believe me I value to the full every word of criticism from you, & the advantage, which I have derived from you, cannot be told.—
I am glad to hear that Mrs Hooker has returned: it will be a great pleasure to me to see you here, but I shd be very sorry for you to come if it caused you inconvenience.
I am glad to hear that poor old Brown is dying so easily:3 I fear that cannot be said for Miss Jenyns.4
Do not forget Fumariaceæ— I see in F. offinalis pistil does not spring towards nectary only the hood slips off rather more easily on opposite side.—5
I am trying several experiments on same head with Leguminosæ6
Farewell—your Note has relieved me immensely | Yours ever | C. Darwin
PS. | I forgot to thank you for note about the Nat. Cæs. Leopold Soc.y.—7
You will think it paltry, but as I was asked to pay for printing the Diploma, I did not like to refuse, so I sent 1£.—
But I think it a shabby proceeding.— If a gentleman did me some service, though unasked to do it, & then demanded payment, I shd. pay him, & think him a shabby dog & on this principle I sent my 1£.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Summary
Pleased with JDH’s reaction to MS on large and small genera.
Confident of soundness of principle of divergence.
CD experimenting on pollination mechanism of Leguminosae. Asks JDH to investigate Fumariaceae.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2282
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 114: 237
- Physical description
- ALS 5pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2282,” accessed on 9 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2282.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 7