Ɛpsilon

From J. D. Hooker   27 July 1875

Royal Gardens Kew

July 27/75.

My dear Darwin

I have sinned & done amiss in never yet thanking you for your splendid book on Insectivorous plants.1 What a vast amount of labor it has entailed— I had no idea that you had gone so deep into the Chemistry of the matter. I think that even Dyer2 is now convinced that the plants digest. The coming Darwin will discover that plants “read, mark & learn” too.

I was greatly interested in Utricularia, which is a lovely piece of work3

I have had a lot of Nepenthes waiting for study for 2 months, but have been so busy getting over arrears, & getting Dyer into work, that I have not touched them yet.4 As it is I am not half through the arrears of correspondence.

I am greatly tempted to go to Down on Saturday if you should be disengaged.5

I ought to go to Boulogne where Harriet & the younger children are, but I don’t want to go so far for a Sunday.6

Your Willy7 is coming to me on Saturday 14th.—

Shall you be disengaged can you give me a bed on Saturday.

I return the L. S. paper8

Ever yr affec | J D Hooker.

1
Hooker’s name is on the presentation list for Insectivorous plants (Appendix IV). Hooker alludes to 2 Chronicles 6: 37: ‘We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly’.
3
CD discussed Utricularia (bladderwort) in Insectivorous plants, pp. 395–444.
4
Hooker had started investigating the digestive powers of Nepenthes (the tropical pitcher-plant) in 1873 (see Correspondence vol. 21, letter from J. D. Hooker, 20 October 1873). Thiselton-Dyer had been appointed assistant director at Kew in June 1875 (see letter from J. D. Hooker, 20 June 1875 and n. 2).
5
Hooker visited Down on Saturday 31 July 1875 (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [30 July 1875]).
6
Harriet Anne Hooker, Brian Harvey Hodgson Hooker, and Reginald Hawthorn Hooker. Boulogne-sur-Mer is a city in northern France on the English Channel.
8
CD had asked Hooker to sign a statement supporting Francis Darwin’s election to the Linnean Society (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 25 July 1875).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10095,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10095