From J. D. Hooker [26 May 1865]1
Kew
Friday.
Dear old Darwin
It is a age since we corresponded.2 I have been engrossed morning noon & night with business. My father has been away, he is much shaken, though quite as well as, at his age, can be expected.3 My Herbm. Clerk died last week, a most serious loss to me, as he knew the ins & outs of the establishment from childhood, & was so trusty accurate & dependable: he was son of old Smith.4
Now we have to get rid of Curator of Pleasure Grounds,5 & I want to take advantage of this to reorganize the whole establishment, which is worked to death,6 & I dread a break down of our new Curator,7 who, what with Garden duties & accounts, works 16 hours a day: as for myself who have never done less, this is all very well, but persons not accustomed to it cannot stand it— as matters stand neither he nor I could leave Kew a week.
Then all Burchell’s enormous collections have come here,8 & I have not only to train a new Clerk for myself, but a new Herbarium assistant— Oliver’s defect is, that he is not a good utilizer of others labor, which is a sad draw-back both on his own acct:, & that of others, as he fails to train those under him & me.9
I am trying to look my future fairly in the face, but cannot see far ahead. My dear old Father piles duty on duty, & will neither give in nor give up. I do admire his gallantry, & I do not want to see him give up, but things do get into dreadful confusion, & I shall have a heavy day of reckoning
I send 2 letters of Willys which refresh me wonderfully— the complexity of blunders is charming.10
Lyell has sent me p. 112 of Principles to look over (Ch. VII. on changes of temperature)11 much of the detailed argument seems to me a blunder altogether & that he is out of his depth.12 I should like to talk it over with you Have you read Tylors book on Prehistoric man?13 I am charmed with it—& rather disappointed with Lubbocks.14 I wish he had not reclamated in re Lyell, whether right or wrong.15
My wife is poorly— I hoped she was to have given me a little daughter 7 months hence but she seems in an ambiguous way.16 Pray say nothing of it in writing to me—
Ever yr affec | J D Hooker
Footnotes
Bibliography
Allan, Mea. 1967. The Hookers of Kew, 1785–1911. London: Michael Joseph.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Desmond, Ray. 1994. Dictionary of British and Irish botanists and horticulturists including plant collectors, flower painters and garden designers. New edition, revised with the assistance of Christine Ellwood. London: Taylor & Francis and the Natural History Museum. Bristol, Pa.: Taylor & Francis.
Desmond, Ray. 1995. Kew: the history of the Royal Botanic Gardens. London: Harvill Press with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Lyell, Charles. 1867–8. Principles of geology or the modern changes of the earth and its inhabitants considered as illustrative of geology. 10th edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray.
Marginalia: Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990.
Ospovat, Dov. 1977. Lyell’s theory of climate. Journal of the History of Biology 10: 317–39.
Turrill, William Bertram. 1963. Joseph Dalton Hooker. Botanist, explorer, and administrator. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons.
Tylor, Edward Burnett. 1865. Researches into the early history of mankind and the development of civilization. London: John Murray.
Wilson, Leonard Gilchrist. 2002. A scientific libel: John Lubbock’s attack upon Sir Charles Lyell. Archives of Natural History 29: 73–87.
Summary
All overworked at Kew.
Burchell collections enormous.
Lyell has sent MS of Principles p. 111 on changes of temperature. JDH thinks Lyell blunders and is out of his depth.
Charmed with E. B. Tylor’s book on man [Early history of mankind (1865)],
disappointed in Lubbock’s [Prehistoric times (1865)].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4836
- From
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 102: 22–3
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4836,” accessed on 1 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4836.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 13