Ɛpsilon

To J. S. Henslow   12 October [1855]

Down Bromley Kent

Oct. 12th

My dear Henslow

I write one line to thank you for your note & Programme. I was, also, interested by the brief account in the Gardeners’ Chronicle.1 You little know how difficult, not to say impossible & how awful it would be to many, & to myself for one; to lecture or lecturette to a crowd of people. I would sooner pay 50£ for a good lecturer to come here; but in the same proportion as I shd. dread such an undertaking, so do I honour you for all you do: how I should like to see you at one of your Exhibitions!

Before many months are over I shall have to go over all my cirripedial collections & then I will not forget the Whale & Turtle parasites,2 if, as I believe, I have any to spare.

I have lately been reading in M.S. an admirable essay by Hooker on variation,— geographical range— & other such high & curious points &c. & it strikes as a first rate production, worthy of a son-in-law of you.—3

Ever my dear Henslow | Most truly Yours | C. Darwin

1
The Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, no. 39, 29 September 1855, p. 646, carried a report of the Hitcham Horticultural Show which had been held on 19 September. It mentioned Henslow’s ‘lecturets on the objects in the Marquee Museum’.
2
CD had earlier sent Henslow specimens of cirripedes for the natural history collection of Ipswich Museum (letters to J. S. Henslow, 2 September [1854] and 13 March 1855). He refers to the genera Coronula, found attached to whales, and Platylepas, which attaches to turtles.
3
It is not clear to which of Hooker’s papers CD refers: possibly he had seen an early draft of [J. D. Hooker] 1856.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 one;] ‘o’ over ‘t’
1.4 sooner] over illeg
2.2 if,] before omitted point
3.3 of] before omitted point

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1765,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1765