To J. D. Hooker 26 December [1860]1
Down Bromley Kent
Dec. 26th
My dear Hooker
Will you have kindness to read enclosed.2 Is the little fact new? Is it too trifling (on principle that “Lex de minimis non curat”)3 to be worth printing? Do not let me publish rubbish.— If worth publishing, shall I send it to Linn. Soc. or to Gardeners Chronicle?4 I looked at the seeds for simple amusement, & then the case seemed a little curious, & I thought Mr. Drummond would perhaps like to see his fact published.—5 To save you trouble I send envelope directed & stamped.—
Please do not let me publish absurdly small fact,— perhaps already well known.—
Ever yours | C. Darwin
I call plant Siloxerus because Steudel6 gives it as prior to Styloncerus.—7 I enclose seeds of no use to me or to anyone, I suppose.—
P.S. | I wrote to Oliver8 to ask him for date of publication in Pritzel9 or elsewhere, of “Rafinesques New Flora of N. America Part I.”10 Can you tell me? I hear that Oliver will not return till Jan 5th. — If you can answer me, please tell him.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Pritzel, Georg August. 1851. Thesaurus literaturæ botanicæ omnium gentium. Leipzig.
Rafinesque, Constantine Samuel. 1836. New flora and botany of North America. 4 pts. Philadelphia.
Steudel, Ernst Gottlieb. 1841. Nomenclator botanicus: seu: synonymia plantarum universalis, enumerans ordine alphabetico nomina atque synonyma, tum generica tum specifica, et a Linnaeo et a recentioribus de re botanica scriptoribus plantis phanerogamis imposita. 2d edition. 2 parts. Stuttgart and Tübingen: J. G. Cotta.
Summary
Sends JDH note on adaptation of an Australian Compositae for dispersal in dry climate. Is it too trivial to publish? [Collected papers 2: 36–8].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3031
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 115: 82
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3031,” accessed on 25 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3031.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 8