To J. D. Hooker   11 March [1859]

Down Bromley Kent

March 11.

My dear Hooker

I send by this Post my M.S: in being copyed, it has run out from the lines being far apart, to greater number of pages, than I anticipated.—1

I cannot correct style & still less stops till I see it in type; all that I have attempted is to make sense moderately intelligible.— Nevertheless if any bad grammar happens to strike you please mark it.— Especially I shd be glad to have any obscure passages marked.— Or any criticisms of any kind whatever. But my chief object is to know whether facts correct, & what you most vehemently object to. Also whether I have stolen anything from you.—2 Please remember my general remarks always try to include animal & vegetable Kingdoms.—

I thank you most heartily for being willing to read this M.S. You will have lots of time.

Yours affect | C. Darwin

I suppose that the Baronet has not sent the Petrel seed; confound him.—3

Remember my Ch. is only Abstract; & that of course there will be novelty to you.—

The Glacial part is only abstract of what you have seen.—4

I have just got your note on Embryology, for which hearty thanks; but I have not had time to study it—5

1
The manuscript referred to is the clean copy of CD’s two chapters on geographical distribution (Origin, pp. 346–410). The manuscript, like the rest of the text of CD’s ‘abstract’, has not been located apart from one or two sheets now in the Darwin Archive–CUL.
2
CD repeatedly expresses his concern to Hooker that he has learned so much from him, and followed up so many of his suggestions, that he may have inadvertently adopted views for which Hooker should receive the credit.
4
Hooker had read CD’s manuscript of part of chapter 11 of Natural selection in 1856 (see Correspondence vol. 5, letter from J. D. Hooker, 9 November 1856). In this chapter, CD described his theory of the origins of Arctic and alpine distribution patterns and the migration of northern plants through the tropics during a former cold period. This material formed the first of two chapters on geographical distribution in Origin. The second chapter was written for Origin early in 1859.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 being] interl
1.1 copyed] ‘ed’ over ‘ing’
2.1 & still less stops] interl
2.4 Or any … whatever.] added
2.7 general] interl
5.1 the Petrel] interl
5.1 confound] ‘c’ over illeg

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2429,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2429