To J. D. Hooker 30 March [1869]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
March 30th
My dear Hooker
Many thanks for sight of the letters.2 The account of the islet off Mauritius is most wonderful. I wish I cd believe that the island was formed of upheaved sandstone, as it wd. indicate former non-volcanic land.— I do not know whether Sir H. B is a geologist; but until some one, who is, sees the sandstone, I must believe that a steep conical islet, near a volcanic island, formed of friable sandstone, with the beds rising in inclination to the summit, consists of tuff.
You ought to urge Sir H. B. to have every plant, shell, insect & reptile collected. On any view, former continent, or waifs & strays (which I rather lean to, as snake & reptile different) the case is most interesting.—3
You are a real good man to come here on the 17th—4
I thought Huxleys address wonderfully brilliant,—some of his sayings most happy.— I wrote indeed to him to say that it was a shame that any one, man shd. have the power to write so many brilliant essays.—5 I do not think it right to make a class of Evolutionists, as distinct from Uniformitarians, simply because they are ready to speculate on first origin of our planet.— I think he has here sacrificed reality to make a striking point.6
Yours affecty | C. Darwin
Henrietta is a little better, & comes down daily.—7
Judging from Report in Gard. Chron. how splendidly Bentham has come out on the Descent of Species: I shall be very much interested in reading it in larger type in our Journal.—8
Footnotes
Summary
Interested in Barkly’s letter about Mauritius. Doubts non-volcanic origin. Urges collection of all forms of terrestrial life to determine whether they are of a former continent or "waifs and strays". He leans to latter view, as snakes and reptiles are different.
Huxley’s address wonderfully "brilliant", but it is a mistake to separate evolutionists from uniformitarians.
Bentham has come out "splendidly" on descent of species.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6688
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 94: 121–2
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6688,” accessed on 19 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6688.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17