To W. J. Hooker   [25 August 1845]¹

Dear Sir William

I beg of you, as the most particular kindness, that if the enclosed letter² can anyway be improved, that you will kindly return it to me.— I c^d. have made it, with entire truth, stronger, but I thought the effect w^d. not have been so good. Would you like it shorter? or not addressed to you?

I am sure you will believe, that if my letter was to be shown to a body of scientific men, I w^d. not have dreamed of giving my opinion so authoritavely & presumptuously.³

The only possible good my letter can do, is adding one more in number.—

I most cordially wish your son success, though at the heavy loss to me of his residence in Edinburgh. His correspondence has been to me the greatest pleasure & use.

What a disgrace it is to our Institutions, that a Professor sh^d. be appointed by a set of men, who never heard of Humboldt & Brown.—

I shall have to write to your son in a few days & to thank him for some lynx-eyed corrections of two sheets of Journal, which he looked over.

Believe me | Yours faithfully & obliged | C. Darwin