From J. D. Hooker [10 March 1865]1
Kew
Friday.
Dear Darwin
I forgot to tell you that Currey asked me to ask you,2 what you wished about the execution of the woodcuts,—3 he says there was something unsatisfactory about the last. Will you write straight to him about them
F. Currey Esq
3 New Square Lincolns Inn
W. C.
he wants to put them in hand at once.
Thomson has gone over Scott’s paper.4 & the enclosed is his conclusion;5 he is a scientific arithmetician & would I am sure solve the difficulty if soluble; the Denominators are obviously arbitrary & useless.6
I have read through Scott’s paper, & am amazed at his industry & ability, but in its present state the paper is not fit for publication, & I think the experiments should have been repeated—7 his discord with Gærtner either shakes the whole value of his system of experimentation, or shows that similar experiments give different results, or that one of the observers is wrong.8
You are the only judge of the value of such a paper:— it is awfully tedious to read. Much of it is simply a repetition of the Tables, & that part might be shortened—perhaps.
Ever yrs affec | Jos D Hooker
I return Scotts’ paper.
Currey wants to know, who you would wish to execute the wood engravings—
See that proofs are sent to you of them
Footnotes
Bibliography
Climbing plants 2d ed.: The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2d edition. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
‘Climbing plants’: On the movements and habits of climbing plants. By Charles Darwin. [Read 2 February 1865.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 9 (1867): 1–118.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Gärtner, Karl Friedrich von. 1844. Versuche und Beobachtungen über die Befruchtungsorgane der vollkommeneren Gewächse und über die natürliche und künstliche Befruchtung durch den eigenen Pollen. Pt 1 of Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Befruchtung der vollkommeneren Gewächse. Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Scott, John. 1867. On the reproductive functional relations of several species and varieties of Verbasca. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 36 (pt 2): 145–74.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Thomas Thomson has gone over Scott’s paper; encloses his conclusions. Not fit for publication in present form. His experiments should have been repeated to resolve his disagreement with Gärtner.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4782
- From
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 102: 13–14
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4782,” accessed on 13 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4782.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 13