To J. D. Hooker   7 April [1859]1

Down Bromley Kent

Ap 7

My dear Hooker

I have read your 1st Sheet & return it by this Post.— I like it very much, but really have no criticisms.— Some of your remarks are new to me. There is a good deal, of course, the same as will appear in my Book; but yet somehow everything is taken up from such different points of view, that I do not think we shall injure the originality of our respective Books.—2

I shd. have liked to have seen several examples proving truth (or showing its probability) of some of your remarks; as of best marked vars. being on confines of the range.3 Or again in regard to your remark of a species remaining for many generations constant under culture & then suddenly commencing to vary.—4

Under a purely selfish point of view I cannot help groaning to think what an advantage such a criticism would have been to me, if written after my Essay had been published; I now fear you will wash your hands of subject & think no more about it.— My God how I long for my stomachs’ sake to wash my hands of it,—for at least one long spell.—

Ever My dear Hooker | Yours affecy | C. D.

I again beg to say that there are many new remarks & observations to me.— I felt very sure that this would be so, & only make this conceited remark, because you seemed uneasy about borrowing from me.—5

I hope expressed clearly that the sole reason, why I suggested any other day for your visit here was for your convenience in regard to the Carriage.—6

1
The year is given by the reference to proof-sheets of Hooker 1859.
2
CD refers to the proof-sheets of Hooker 1859, which Hooker had asked him to read (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 [March 1859], and letter from J. D. Hooker, [9 March 1859]). Hooker’s text deals with the origin of plant species and varieties.
3
CD refers to Hooker 1859, p. viii. See following letter.
4
The point is discussed in Hooker 1859, p. viii.
5
This sentence and the remainder of the letter were added in pencil by CD. Several phrases elsewhere in the letter were also inserted in pencil (see Manuscript alterations and comments).
6
Hooker had been invited to visit Down (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 2 April [1859]). The details were not fixed until later in the month (see letters to J. D. Hooker, 11 April [1859] and 12 [April 1859]).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.1 truth] interl
2.3 in regard to] pencil, above del ‘as’
2.3 many] underl in pencil
2.4 suddenly] underl in pencil
3.1 help] ‘l’ over ‘p’
3.4 for my stomachs’ sake] interl in pencil
5.1 I felt … borrowing from me— 5.3] added in pencil
6.1 I hope … Carriage— 6.2] added in pencil

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2450,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2450