Ɛpsilon

From J. D. Hooker   8 November 1872

Kew

Nov 8/72

P.S.

Dear Darwin

Oliver, Bentham, Bates & others, urge me not to answer Owen; on the grounds that I should feel such an attack to be beneath my notice—1 I have written to Huxley2 for his advice, informing him that I have not read the article.

Some think that “Nature” owes me an apology for inserting it considering the terms of the Treasury minutes, which calls me worthy of the gratitude of the country.—& more especially as ‘Nature” was the only paper, except the Athenæum, which never expound my cause in the fight with—Ayrton—abstaining altogether from an opinion,—or all but: & that hence if I insist on answering, it should not be in “Nature”.3

incomplete4

CD annotations

2.3 except … “Nature”. 2.6] ‘Published the Mem’5 blue crayon
1
Hooker refers to Daniel Oliver, George Bentham, Henry Walter Bates, and Richard Owen. See the first letter from J. D. Hooker, 8 November 1872 and nn. 3 and 5.
3
For a quotation from the relevant part of the Treasury minutes, see The Times, 30 July 1872, p. 5. A memorial in support of Hooker in his dispute with Acton Smee Ayrton (see letter from John Lubbock to W. E. Gladstone, 20 June 1872) was, however, reproduced in Nature, 11 July 1872, pp. 211–16.
4
The signature of the letter has been excised.
5
CD’s annotation is a note for his letter to Hooker of 9 November [1872].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8610,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8610