From J. D. Hooker   [26 January 1865]1

Kew

Thursday

Dr Darwin

John Scott has arrived at Calcutta after 116 days passage!2—with the plants he took out in capital order—3 Anderson has given him an appt. of £240 per annum at Dajeeling! on the spot.4

I am just out of bed having had a threat of Influenza, which has been expelled by Dovers powder.5

I shall take the 4pm. train on Saturday from Charing X. it arrives at Bromley 4.49.6

Ever yrs affec | J D Hooker

I shall dine before I leave.

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter, the letter from J. D. Hooker, [20 January 1865], and the letter from F. H. Hooker, [27 January 1865]. In 1865, the Thursday following 20 January was 26 January.
3
Hooker had asked Scott to look after a Wardian case of plants on his voyage to Calcutta (see Correspondence vol. 12, letter from J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1864] and n. 19, and letter from John Scott, 8 June 1864).
4
The reference is to Thomas Anderson. Hooker had written to Anderson about employment for Scott in India, and had been informed that Anderson needed a gardener for a proposed botanic garden at Darjeeling (see Correspondence vol. 12, letters from J. D. Hooker, [4 June 1864] and [19 September 1864]). See also letter from John Scott, 20 January 1865 and n. 7.
5
Dover’s Powder was a compound made from the root of Cephaëlis ipecacuanha, opium, and sulphate of potash. C. ipecacuanha (now Carapichea ipecacuanha) is a South American plant of the family Rubiaceae, which possesses emetic, diaphoretic, and purgative properties. The powder was often taken in a glass of white wine posset, which was to be drunk while the patient was under warm covers and sweating (see Royle and Headland 1865, pp. 456–60).
6
Owing to continued sickness, Hooker was not able to visit Down. See letter from F. H. Hooker, [27 January 1865].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4754,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4754