To J. D. Hooker   22 [January 1845]

Down Bromley Kent

22d

My dear Hooker

I sit down to go through your letter categorically— 1st. There is no chance of any other fossil leaves from T. del F. being in England: shd you make out anything more about them hereafter, please to let me know: pray keep them for ever.—

I am delighted to hear of the Galapagos flora being done: would you, when it is printed in the Transactions give me a copy (& thanks for your offer of copy of Paper on Southern Coniferæ);1 as you must have so many Botanical friends, to whom your papers wd be more valuable than to me, any old proof-sheet copy would do perfectly for me, & any such copy of any paper of yours, I shd be truly obliged for.— Thanks for Araucarian information;—but pray do not trouble yourself to look for any more Papers of Nicols or send them to me, as I wish only just to state the character of the wood which I found.2 (I intend going through the Eding. New Phil Journal myself some time; I have gone through all late Parts.) I will take care of your Pacific Isld notes, till your return.—

I am very much obliged for the loan of Wilkes3 & will send by our weekly Thursday carrier next week for it: how magnificent a soul you have about books: I presume the 20£ d’Urville is the second & last Voyage, which I had not heard was out: hereafter I shall get you to look & see whether the geology of T. del Fuego is treated of in it.4 Pray do not waste any time about the Annales in Paris, though if in Book-shops, I certainly shd like to know the cost. Also I shall be very glad if you could urge Dieffenbach for the copper-plate, wood cuts & M.S. notes of mine: I am the more anxious about them now, as I am in a sort of negotiation with Murray, who wishes to get the power from Colburn & publish a 2d Edit:5 I have no doubt that you will work on him; Lyell recommended me to write to the great Humboldt & set him to worry the little Devilbach.

I heartily wish you a pleasant journey: by the way you will of course see Ehrenberg, & I will write to him to ⁠⟨⁠ask⁠⟩⁠ him to give you for me, a little MS. Paper which I sent for him to read on Atlantic dust.6

Farewell, with thanks for the long catalogue of things, which you have done & intend doing for me. Ever Yours | C. Darwin

1
J. D. Hooker 1845a. CD’s copy is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.
2
Journal of researches 2d ed., p. 332.
3
Wilkes 1845.
4
Jules Sébastien César Dumont d’Urville participated in three exploratory voyages. CD refers to the second voyage of the Astrolabe, 1837–40. By January 1845, parts 1–8 of Dumont d’Urville [1841–54] were published (Stafleu and Cowan 1976). The volumes containing the geology of the voyage were not published until 1848–54 (2 vols.). The geology of Tierra del Fuego is described at length in volume one (1848).
5
Journal of researches 2d ed. See letter to Charles Lyell, [8 February 1845].
6
‘An account of the fine dust which often falls on vessels in the Atlantic Ocean’ (Collected papers 1: 199–203). See letter to C. G. Ehrenberg, 5 September [1844].

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.3 Southern] interl
2.4 old] interl
2.8 (I intend … Parts.) 2.9] interl; square brackets in MS
3.3 & last] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-817,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-817