Ɛpsilon

From Daniel Oliver    [after 13 May 1866]1

Bot. Zeit. of 1865 to see if there were any memoirs wh. you ought to see. You may have seen them before this. The only likely ones were

p. 1. Hildebrand, on Dichogamy & Dimorphism

13. do of Geranium pratense— Pulmonaria officinalis.2

p. 50. Notice of yr. paper on Lythrum 3

p. 245. Hildebrd. Experiments on Hybridizing Orchids.4

Happily I can at length I think report improvet. in Mrs. Oliver.5 She has had a long & serious illness but at last she is so far recovered that we have already had her out in bath-chair twice & hope in a week or so to remove her from Kew.— Very many thanks for your kind enquiries & very kind message of sympathy wh. were very welcome during our late bitter trial6

Ever very sincerely | D Oliver

incomplete

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 May 1866.
2
The reference is to the two-part article by Friedrich Hildebrand, ‘Experimente zur Dichogamie und zum Dimorphismus’, that appeared in Botanische Zeitung (Hildebrand 1865a). CD had received a copy of the paper in February 1865; see Correspondence vol. 13, letter to J. D. Hooker, 15 [February 1865] and n. 2.
3
The review ‘Darwin, über die geschlechtlichen Beziehungen der 3 Formen von Lythrum Salicaria’ appeared in the January 1865 issue of Botanische Zeitung, pp. 50–2 (Hildebrand 1865b), under the initials ‘F. H.’. In his letter to CD of 24 July 1866, Hildebrand confirmed that he was the author.
4
Oliver refers to Hildebrand 1865c.
5
The reference is to Oliver’s wife, Hannah Hobson Oliver.
6
CD had asked Hooker to convey his sympathies regarding the recent death of the Olivers’ daughter (see letter to J. D. Hooker, [9 April 1866].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4964,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4964