To J. D. Hooker   2 February [1865]1

Down

Feby 2d.

My dear Hooker

I heard this morning of Falconer’s death.2 Poor fellow   I am much grieved; It will be a great loss to science. What a lot of knowledge of all kinds has perished with him. He was always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—

But I write to ask you to write me ever so short a note to tell me when you are well.—3 I got pretty well on Monday & had bad day again yesterday.— Whenever you can come here for a Sunday do pray come. I must take my chance of being well or ill; for I can rarely tell even a day before hand; but last week I had an extra bad time.—4 I hope you have got over that horrid influenza, which makes a man feel so wretchedly ill.

Farewell | Yours affectionately | C. Darwin

1
The year is established by the reference to Hugh Falconer’s death (see n. 2, below).
2
After a short illness, Falconer died of heart-failure on 31 January 1865 (see letter from F. H. Hooker, [27 January 1865], and DNB).
3
Hooker was recovering from an attack of influenza; before becoming ill, he had planned to visit Down House (see letter from F. H. Hooker, [27 January 1865]).
4
Emma Darwin reported CD’s sickness in her diary on 24, 25, and 27 January (DAR 242).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.2 bad] ‘b’ over ‘v’
2.5 hope] above del ‘hype’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4762,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4762