WCP5322

[1]

Kew

Sunday¹ [24 May 1863]²

D[ea]^r Darwin

I was aware how poorly you must be in receiving the sad case³ & Abbeville paper⁴, for both of which much thanks. No one yet knows who wrote said Case — Busk⁵ & Egerton⁶ both deny it. W^m Gourlay⁷ F.L.S. is the man you ask about, a most estimable fellow who did great good in Glasgow all ways, & died awfully of Fungus haematodes in the face! a dreadful death, & rapid.

I twice took Clianthus, to look at it, but had no time, & so sent it to you — not doubting that you would explain it readily & rightly, & that if I tried I should make a bungle of it.

Thanks for your exposition of your Island views. It I think [2] I understand them ^precisely — my difficulty in accepting them arises from the want of apparent accordance between the plants common to Isl[an]d & continent, & what I should have expected to be common. In other words migration inadequate to explain the presence of what is common ^{to both}, & the absence of what is absent in one. I ^am far from believing in ancient connection, all I hold is that in the present state of science it is to me the least difficult hypothesis — though a very bad one. Cameroons Mts have much shaken my faith in our having any clue to ancient or ^modern migration as yet — We want some new hypothesis, as novel as Nat[ural]. Selection, or Glacial Cold, & as stupendous as continental connection.

I do hope Godman⁸ & Salvin⁹ will [3] stick to Gallapagos — my fear is that G[odman]., a fine looking young man of means, will be bagged by some pretty girl before a year is over.

I had a preliminary talk with F[alconer]¹⁰. the other evening about a reconciliation¹¹ with Lyell¹². Of course he was not ready yet, that I expected but I [one illeg. word struck through] I must ^{thought right to} broach the subject before he was ready — it will probably be weeks ^months yet. Poor Lyell seems perdu, no one sees him ^{in London}, & I am told by one that met him at Osborne, that he button-holes you about F[alconer]. — as Wheatstone¹³ used about Brewster¹⁴.

I am going to re-read Wallace[']s book¹⁵. I do not remember that it interested me at all when it appeared. I wonder that Wallace does not fructify as Bates¹⁶ does. Dr. Gray¹⁷ is really not malignant, Owen¹⁸ is, — Gray has all the attributes of malignancy except [4] malignance — there then! — or rather, he talks like a malignant man without feeling in the least malignant. — I never knew Gray to do an action that sprung from an unkind motive or feeling. [H]e abounds in all the ^active attributes of unkindness & malignancy without being either in heart.

I will get the Anthropological¹⁹. I shall be intensely interested in your verdict opinion of Bentham[']s²⁰ Address²¹. It is neither judicial nor argumentative, only intended to show his opinions ^of the position of your hypothesis in regard to its acceptance, its influence & its future prospects, on scientific research — he has taken immense pains with it — of course he does not appreciate half your stand-points.

What a mess Falc[oner]. Busk, Carpenter²² & Prestwich²³ have made of it! We had a "field night'' at the Club²⁴ last Thursday, & trotted them [5] all out. I cannot but think that Prestwich's position is most awkward — he had just claimed from Lyell the lion's share of authority in such matters & forthwith breaks down on a practical question. I regard the position of all 4 as humiliating. Falconer is of his original opinion saving solely that no fraud was played, (how he reconciles this to his facts I cannot conceive). Busk believes a little more than F[alconer]. — Carpenter more than either, & P[restwich]. is ready to believe any thing! Falc[oner]. assured us that the ^his whole conversation ^{with Lartet25} in the train from Paris to Moulin Quignon was, how so to word the Report as to give least umbrage to France's susceptibility! Lubbock²⁶ tells me he is going next week to see for himself.

[6] My wife's²⁷ knee is bad again but better — we go to the Nightingale[']s²⁸ for 3 days this week, & to Bury-hill next for as long or longer — I do hate these sort of visits, but one has no business to cut old & kind friends, & certainly trotting about agrees with my wife, & it is very nice to see how people like her — How people with disagreeable wives can visit is a most fearful & wonderful thing.

I saw Huxley²⁸ on Thursday looking quite well — his wife²⁹ & children are at Felixstow.

Palmerston³⁰ has given my brother in Law Leonard³¹ a living of £600 & good house in Suffolk, near Halesworth. — his wife³² has had a very bad confinement indeed.

I fancy I can feel the bad influence [7] of Yankee affairs on A Gray's³³ ordinary correspondence: it makes him very bumptious scientifically!

I send you Naegeli's³⁴ paper³⁵ & I pity you, but you are a hard headed man: —these subjects & papers floor me. — Please send it back when done with as it is Library copy[.]

I will remember the 2-formed stamen plant (Lagerstroemia) when it flowers —

I am glad that Lubbock is going to Abbeville — that young man wants advice — he is living too hard, a great deal, what with business Society & science — I feel very strongly attached to him indeed. I think him the most faultless [8] character I know, who is at the same time one of the best & most active & clever. Thank God there are some men worth living for, but really when one peeps beyond the immediate circle of ones friends one gets disgusted & disquited [sic] altogether.

Ever your affec[tiona]^te grumbler | J D Hooker [signature]³⁶