To Hugh Falconer   4 December [1864]1

Down

Dec. 4th.

My dear Falconer

Many thanks for your note.2 I have read in the Reader Sabine’s address and was much pleased by his eulogium and glorified in the highest degree.3 No doubt the notice of the “Origin” was brief enough and I think it my best work; but this obscure point was hidden to me by the effulgence of the other parts! Altogether I am very much pleased. I hear from Hooker there has been some row about what Sabine exactly said.4 My head is whizzing like a steam engine, so no more, except once again believe that I shall ever feel grateful to you for all the extraordinary interest you have shown in my affairs.

Most sincerely yours | C. Darwin.

Copy

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Hugh Falconer, 2 December 1864.
3
CD refers to Edward Sabine and the publication in the Reader, 3 December 1864, pp. 708–9, of his anniversary address delivered at the Royal Society of London (see letter from Hugh Falconer, 2 December 1864 and n. 3).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4698,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4698