Ɛpsilon

To J. D. Hooker   [21 May 1867]1

Down

Tuesday

My dear Hooker

I suppose you are now in France. I am very sorry you cd not come here, but remember that you are bound by honour to two visits here.2

We intend to be in London in the early part of June for a week & shall perhaps see you but that must not count.3 I am very glad to hear about Wallace & the gold medal. Every thing that I have read of his gives me the highest idea of his extraordinary talents. I cannot of course judge about Müller, but he must have done much good work if he is to beat Wallace.4 Thanks for the enclosed letter; I am glad to see that Barkely takes the same view that I did about the bones of the deer. I remember distinctly in one of the old voyages the express statement that no quadruped inhabited the island. With respect to Barkly’s belief in continental extensions, the argument which always brings me round to my old belief again is that you must extend the continental theory to every single island, as far as I know, in every ocean.5

I am getting on very slowly with my book for I have unparalleled power of expressing myself badly, so that I doubt whether it will be finished by Nov. & this half breaks my heart & injures my stomach6

yours affectly | Ch. Darwin

LS

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from J. D. Hooker, 17 May 1867. In 1867, the first Tuesday after 17 May was 21 May.
2
Hooker had evidently cancelled two visits to Down; one on 20 April (see letter from J. D. Hooker, 13 April 1867 and n. 4), and one on 18 May (see letter from J. D. Hooker, 17 May 1867). Hooker was attending the Paris Exhibition as a juror (Gardeners’ Chronicle, 6 April 1867, p. 348).
3
The Darwins visited London from 17 to 24 June 1867 (see CD’s ‘Journal’ (Correspondence vol. 15, Appendix II)), but did not see Hooker (see letter to J. D. Hooker, [23 June 1867]).
5
See enclosure to letter from J. D. Hooker, 17 May 1867, and letter to J. D. Hooker, 8 February [1867]. For CD’s views on continental extensions, see, for example, Correspondence vol. 6, letter to Charles Lyell, 25 June [1856], and letters to J. D. Hooker, 19 July [1856] and 30 July [1856] and n. 3, and Origin, pp. 357–8. Hooker and CD had disagreed on the subject: see, for example, Correspondence vol. 11, letter to J. D. Hooker, 5 March [1863] and n. 17.
6
CD was working on the proof-sheets of Variation; he finished on 15 November (see ‘Journal’ (Correspondence vol. 15, Appendix II)).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5543,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5543