Ɛpsilon

To J. D. Hooker   26 [February 1881]1

4 Bryanston St. W2

Sat. 26th

My dear Hooker

It was a real pleasure to me to see your hand-writing again, for it is a long time since I have heard of you.3 What a bore about the mumps; but I am very glad that you will soon have complete rest & change, in which latter I have unbounded faith.—4 I suppose that Lady Hooker goes with you & I hope she may enjoy herself— Pray give her my kindest remembrances. I had vaguely thought whether I would pay you a call at Kew, but thought that you would probably be too busy, & it seems that you will be on the road before I could come.—

I shd. think that you might make a very interesting address on Geograph. Distrib.—5 Could you give a little history of the subject. I, for one, shd like to read such history in pelts; but I can see one very great difficulty, that you yourself ought to figure most prominently in it; & this you would not do, for you are just the man to treat yourself in a dishonourable manner!— I shd very much like to see you discuss some of Wallace’s views, especially his ignoring the all powerful effects of the Glacial period with respect to Alpine plants. I do not know what you think, but it appears to me that he exaggerates enormously the influence of debacles & slips & new surfaces of soil being exposed for the reception of wind-blown seeds.6 What kinds of seeds have the plants which are common to the distant mountain-summits in Africa? Wallace lately wrote to me about the mountain-plants of Madagascar being the same with those on mountains in Africa, & seemed to think it proved dispersal by the wind, without apparently having enquired what sort of seeds the plants bore.—7

I suppose it wd be travelling too far, (though for Geographical section the discussion ought to be far reaching) but I shd like to see the European or northern element in the C. of Good Hope Flora, discussed.— I cannot swallow Wallaces’ view that European plants travelled down the Andes, tenanted the hypothetical Antarctic continent (in which I quite believe) & thence spread to S. Australia & the Cape of G. Hope.—8

Mosely told me not long ago that he proposed to search at Kerguelen Land the coal-beds most carefully & was absolutely forbidden to do so by Sir W. Thompson, who said that he would undertake the work, & he never once visited them.9 This puts me in a passion.— I hope that you will keep to your intention & make an address on Distribution. Though I differ in much from Wallace, his Island Life seems to me a wonderful book.—10

Farewell, I do hope that you may have a most prosperous journey. Give my kindest remembrances to Asa Gray.—

Ever yours affectionately | Ch. Darwin

1
The month and year are established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from J. D. Hooker, 24 February [1881].
2
From 24 February to 3 March 1881, CD stayed at Henrietta Emma and Richard Buckley Litchfield’s house at 4 Bryanston Street, London (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).
3
See letter from J. D. Hooker, 24 February [1881]. Hooker’s last extant letter before this is dated 4 December 1880 (Correspondence vol. 28).
4
Hooker and his wife Hyacinth had plans to travel in Italy with Asa and Jane Loring Gray; their departure was delayed because Asa Gray contracted mumps (see letter from J. D. Hooker, 24 February [1881] and n. 3).
5
Hooker, as president of the Geographical Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, planned to give an address on the topic of geographic distribution at the meeting in York later in the year (see letter from J. D. Hooker, 24 February [1881] and n. 5).
6
See Wallace 1880a, pp. 480–4. CD explained his reservations about Alfred Russel Wallace’s view that the wind was an effective mechanism of seed dispersal between mountain tops in his letter to A. R. Wallace, 2 January 1881.
8
See Wallace 1880a, pp. 488–91.
9
Henry Nottidge Moseley probably wished to examine the coal beds on Kerguelen Island to determine the distribution of plants during the Carboniferous period; between 1872 and 1876 he had circumnavigated the world as a member of the scientific team on the Challenger expedition under the direction of Charles Wyville Thomson.
10
Wallace 1880a.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 4 Bryanston St. W] before del ‘Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.’
2.8 & slips] ‘&’ over ‘or’
2.12 & seemed] ‘&’ over ‘&c’
3.1 (though … reaching) 3.2] interl
3.3 Wallaces’] above del ‘his’
3.4 hypothetical] interl
4.4 make] after del ‘write’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13067,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13067