To J. D. Hooker   14 [November 1857]1

Down Bromley Kent

14th

My dear Hooker

On Tuesday I will send off from London, whither I go on that day,2 Ledebour 3 remaining vols. Grisebach & Cybele, ie all that I have, & most truly am I obliged to you for them.3 I find the rule as yet of the species varying most in the large genera universal except in Miquels very brief & therefore imperfect list of Holland Flora,4 which makes me very anxious to tabulate a fuller Flora of Holland.—

I shall remain in London till Friday morning, & if quite convenient to send me two vols of D. C. Prodromus, I cd take them home & tabulate them:5 I shd. think a vol. with large best-known natural Family & vol. with several small broken Families wd. be best, always supposing that the varieties are conspicuously marked in both.— Have you the vol. published by Lowe on Madeira;6 if so & if any varieties are marked I shd. much like to see it, to see if I can make out anything about Habitats of vars. in so small an area,—a point on which I have become very curious. I fear there is no chance of your possessing Forbes & Hancock British shells, a grand work. which I much wish to tabulate.—7

very many thanks for seed of Adlumia cirrhosa, which I will carefully observe.8 My notice in G. Ch. on kidney Beans has brought me a curious letter from intelligent Gardener,9 with a most remarkable lot of Beans, crossed in marvellous manner in 1st generation like the Peas sent to you by Berkeley10 & like those experimentised on by Gærtner & by Wiegmann.11 It is a very odd case: I shall sow these seeds & see what comes up. How very odd that pollen of one form shd. affect the outer coats & size of the Bean produced by pure species!

Many thanks for your letter about medals, which I burnt; I am glad about Lindley & very sorry about Lyell.12 I hope he will never hear of the attempt: it is an old story that the very highest merit is undervalued.—

My week at Moor Park has done me wonderful good;13 & has almost quite driven away the wretched feelings in my head: I only wanted rest, & that I got there in perfection; & took quite long walks & enjoyed the scenery like a gentleman at large.

Ever my dear Hooker | Yours most truly | C. Darwin

1
Dated by CD’s intention to go to London and his stay at Moor Park (see nn. 2 and 13, below).
2
According to Emma Darwin’s diary, CD went to London on Tuesday, 17 November 1857 and returned to Down House on Friday, 20 November.
3
CD had borrowed Ledebour 1842–53, Grisebach 1843–4, and Watson 1847–59 from Hooker (see letters to J. D. Hooker, 30 September [1857], 20 October [1857], and [23 October 1857]).
5
Candolle and Candolle 1824–73.
6
Richard Thomas Lowe had recently published the first part of Lowe 1857[–72].
7
E. Forbes and Hanley [1848–]1853.
11
Gärtner 1849 and Wiegmann 1828.
12
See letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 June [1857]. John Lindley, whom Hooker had proposed for a Royal Medal of the Royal Society, was to receive the award at the anniversary meeting of the society on 30 November 1857. Charles Lyell, who had been nominated for the Copley Medal, did not receive it in 1857 but was awarded the medal in 1858.
13
CD spent the week of 5–12 November 1857 at Edward Wickstead Lane’s hydropathic establishment (‘Journal’; see Correspondence vol. 6, Appendix II).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 as yet] interl
2.1 quite] interl
2.9 which I much] ‘which’ over ‘—’
3.4 in 1st generation] interl
3.5 by Wiegmann] ‘by’ interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2170,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2170