WCP5319

[1]

Down

Sunday 22^d & Saturday 28^th. October 1865.

(This letter is mere idle talk & you need not read till so inclined.) N.B.)

My dear Hooker

I hope you are established at Kew, & relieved of your stiff joints & not more overwhelmed with business than you might naturally expect — Mind I write to amuse myself & expect no answer beyond a line in a week or two's time just to tell me how you are. — You wrote me a splendidly long & good letter just before you left Buxton.¹ You speak with regret that the Royal Soc[iety] never publickly [sic] honoured your Father;² but do you not think that is accounted for by the [2] fewness of the Botanists ever on the Council? I think it would aid in fairness of bestowal of medals; if the list of all that have received them were printed at end of List of Members, as is done by [the] Geolog[ical]. Soc[iet]^y. — I have been wading through the Annals & Mag[azine]. of N[atural]. Hist[ory]. for last 10 years, & have been interested by several papers; chiefly, however, translations; but none have interested me more than Carter's³on lower vegetables, infusoria & Protozoa.⁴ Is he is as good a workman as he appears,? for if so he would deserve a Royal Medal. — I know it is not new; but [3] how wonderful his account of the spermatozoa of some dioecious alga or conferva,⁵swimming & finding the minute micropyle on a distinct plant & forcing its way in! Why, these zoospores must possess some sort of organ of sense to guide their locomotive ^powers to the small micropyle, & does not this necessarily imply something like ^a nervous system, in the same way as Complemental male cirripedes [Cirripedia]⁶ have organs of sense & locomotion & nothing else but a sack of spermatozoa?

I fully agree with your remarks on Wallace's remarks & on the man himself: I fear he will not do what he ought in science. As for the Anthropologists being a bête noir to scientific men, I am not surprised, for [4] I have just skimmed through the last Anthro[pological]: Journal, & it shows, especially the long attack on Brit[ish]: Assoc[iation]: a curious spirit of insolence, conceit, dullness & vulgarity.⁷

I have read with uncommon interest Travers'⁸ short paper on the Chatham I.s[lands].⁹ I remember your pitching into me with terrible ferocity because I said I thought the ^{seed of} Edwardsia might have been floated from Chili [sic] to ^N[ew]. Zealand; now what do you say my young man to the three young trees of the same size on one spot alone of the Island & with the cast up pod on the shore? If it were not for those unlucky wingless birds, I c[oul]^d believe that the group had been colonized by accidental means; but as it is, it appears by far to me the best evidence of continental extension ever observed; the distance I see is 360 miles. I wish I knew whether the sea [5] was deeper than between N. Z. & Australia[.] I fear you will not admit such a small accident as the wingless birds having been transported on ice-bergs. Do suggest, if you have a chance, to any one visiting the Islands again to look out for erratic boulders there. How curious his statement is about the fruit trees & bees! I wish I knew whether the clover had spread before the bees were introduced.¹⁰ —

A newspaper has been sent me from N[ew]. Zealand with a savage ^anonymous attack on Haast¹¹ for geological plagiarism;¹² perhaps you have received or w[oul]^d. not care to see it. — I saw in Gard[ener's]. Chron[icle]. the sentence about the Origin¹³ dying in Germany,¹⁴ but did not know it was by Seeman.¹⁵ - - I sh[oul]^d. not be surprised, if it were a bit of revenge; for he had the impudence to ask me for a [6] Testimonial for some Professorship, which I felt compelled to refuse. — Talking of the Origin, a Yankee has called my attention to a paper attached to D^r Wells'¹⁶ famous Essay on Dew,¹⁷ which was read in 1813 to [the] Royal Soc[iety]. but not printed, in which he applies most distinctly the principle of N[atural]. Selection to the races of man. — So poor old Patrick Matthew,¹⁸ is not the first, & he cannot ^{or ought not any longer} put on his Title pages "Discoverer of the principle of Natural Selection "!¹⁹

Do you know who wrote the article in [the] July Quarterly²⁰ on Bates,²¹ Wallace & you? You will like much better the 2^[n]d vol. of Palgrave:^{22, 23} I hardly know why but I have liked [7] the whole very much. — We are reading (but you will have no time now to read) Buckle,²⁴ & like it extremely though we disagree with him every other page, & Emma²⁵ incessantly gets into a rage with him. — As you do not like Silas Marner,²⁶ I will not like much the Mill on the Floss;²⁷ it is certainly most clever; but almost all the persons are odious, & there is no one so charming as Dolly.²⁸ —

You borrowed many months ago Max Wichura²⁹ on Hybrid Willows:³⁰ the book is of value to me, as being marked[,] so some time ^please see about it. —

I heard only lately of the Subscription for FitzRoy³¹ & wrote to the Hon. Secretary to enquire [the] purpose [8] of [the] subscription & was glad to hear it was money for his family. The Sec[retary]. told me that the 3000, granted by Government w[oul]^d nearly all go to pay debts & his children were left penniless by his first marriage! Yet poor FitzRoy started with ^£20,000 as he told me. What a melancholy career he has run with all his splendid qualities. —

My health improves a little, but very slowly: I can, however, do no work & have great daily discomfort. God knows whether I shall ever do work again. On Nov. 7^th we go for a week to 6 Queen Anne S[tree]t to see D^r. B[ence]. Jones:³² if you are well enough, which I know is very doubtful & are in London, you must call & let me hear when. — I heard two days ago from Oliver³³ a not very good account of you & that you w[oul]^d. not return till Thursday. —

My dear old friend | Yours affectionately | C. Darwin [signature]