To J. D. Hooker   10 [November 1863]

Down

10th

My dear old Friend.

I was so glad to hear of your French tour & that you are determined & are able to exert yourself.—1 What an addition of trouble your case of S. Fever.—2

I now send Haast:3 I have tried many days to write to you, but could not.— Dr. Brinton has been here, (recommended by Busk)4 he does not believe my Brain or heart are primarily affected; but I have been so steadily going down hill, I cannot help doubting whether I can ever crawl a little up hill again. Unless I can, enough to work a little, I hope my life may be very short; for to lie on sofa all day & do nothing, but give trouble to the best & kindest of wives & good dear children is dreadful. I shd. much like to write on N. Zealand distribution & superficial deposits &c   (I have been rereading your old letters) but am too weak.5

God Bless you my best of Friends. | Yours affect. | C. Darwin

Haast sent me a Report of some kind & large map.—6

Endorsement: ‘/Nov 1863.’

2
Hooker’s son, William Henslow Hooker, and mother, Maria Hooker, were both ill with scarlet fever (see letter from J. D. Hooker, [1 or 3 November 1863]).
4
William Brinton was recommended to CD in the letter from George Busk, [c. 27 August 1863]. According to Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242), Brinton visited CD on 3 November 1863.
6
The report referred to is J. F. J. von Haast 1861; a lightly annotated presentation copy is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL. CD may also refer to the map that Haast mentioned in his letter to CD of 6 August 1863, or it may have been a copy of a map, including a geological section, that he presented, with a handwritten report, to the Provincial Council, Province of Canterbury, on 18 August 1863 (Archives Reference CH 287, CP 608a, National Archives, Christchurch). See also letter from Julius von Haast, 21 July [– 7? August] 1863 and n. 10.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4335,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4335