To J. D. Hooker   4 October [1872]

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Oct. 4th

My dear Hooker

George1 will take up to London tomorrow morning & despatch by Rail the 2 Droseras. D. filiformis after being in very good health has suddenly failed. Perhaps it dies down in winter. D. Capensis has improved wonderfully, & now seems to require more warmth than a cool greenhouse.—2

I return also by Book-Post, the curious Kerguelen book, which Leonard & I have both read.3 Leonard has heard nothing as yet about his expedition.4 Drosera has almost been the death of me: indeed all work of all sorts now-a-days half kills me, but idleness kills me still more cruelly. But rest, my head must have; so that we have taken a house for 3 weeks near Sevenoaks, & are off early tomorrow morning.5

I hope the world goes on smoothly with you, & that the accursed man does not give you any more trouble.—6

Ever yours affectly | C. Darwin

Endorsement: ‘/72’

2
CD had obtained the specimens of Drosera filiformis (the threadleaf sundew, a native of North America) and D. capensis (the Cape sundew, a native to the Cape in South Africa) for his experimental work on insectivorous plants. Drosera filiformis dies back during winter. He resumed his work on Drosera in August 1872 after a break (see ‘Journal’ (Appendix II) and letter from W. W. Baxter, [after 23 August 1872?], n. 1). For more on his recent experiments with D. filiformis, see letter to Asa Gray, 22 October 1872.
3
Hooker mentioned John Nunn’s Narrative of the wreck of the ‘Favorite’ on the island of Desolation (Nunn 1850) in a letter to CD of 20 January 1867 (Correspondence vol. 15). Desolation or Kerguelen Island (which is in fact an archipelago) is now part of French territory.
4
Leonard Darwin had applied to be one of the observers of the transit of Venus (see letter to Hubert Airy, 24 August [1872] and n. 1).
5
CD stayed at Miss Ann Woodington’s, the Common, Sevenoaks, from 5 to 26 October 1872 (see ‘Journal’ (Appendix II) and letter to J. D. Hooker, 10 October [1872]).
6
For Hooker’s ongoing dispute with Acton Smee Ayrton, see the letter from J. D. Hooker, 1 January 1872 and n. 1.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 tomorrow morning] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8542,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8542