Ɛpsilon

To J. D. Hooker   3 July [1878]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

July 3d

My dear Hooker

You have thought so much more over the subject than I have, that I entirely yield, & so put my name down for £200 without any proviso.—2 I do not think that with my 5 sons, I ought to give more.—

We shall be delighted most thoroughily to see you here in the gooseberry season, & I hope that Lady Hooker & little Joseph both like gooseberries.—3 I do not think I am bound to say anything about the state of the crop.—

Ever yours | C. Darwin

Ask Dyer to see about Porliera hygrometrica: if I do not hear I shall understand you have not got it; or too big.4

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from J. D. Hooker, 2 July 1878.
2
CD had promised £200 towards a fund for Royal Society of London publications in order that the fees for fellows might be reduced; he had suggested that individual donations not be called in until the desired total of £10,000 had been pledged. Hooker gave his reasons against this in his letter of 2 July 1878. CD recorded a payment of £200 to the ‘R.S. Fund’ on 10 December 1878 under ‘Science’ in his Classed account books (Down House MS).
3
Hooker had expressed his desire for a gooseberry feast at Down (letter from J. D. Hooker, 2 July 1878). Emma Darwin recorded in her diary that the Hookers visited Down from 20 to 22 July (DAR 242). The party evidently included Hooker’s wife, Hyacinth Hooker, and their son, Joseph Symonds Hooker.
4
In his letter to Hooker of 1 July 1878, CD had asked to borrow a specimen of Porlieria hygrometrica. CD’s reminder must have prompted Hooker to ask William Turner Thisleton-Dyer to pack it up immediately; the plant was sent from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to Down on 5 July 1878 (Outwards book, Archives, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 £200] ‘ £’ above ‘200’
1.2 that] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11588,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11588