To W. J. Hooker [25 August 1845]1
Down. Bromley | Kent
Monday Morning
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 cd. have made it, with entire truth, stronger, but I thought the effect wd. 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 wd. 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 shd. 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
Footnotes
Summary
Encloses a testimonial letter for J. D. Hooker [see 907]. If WJH thinks the letter could be improved CD will alter it. Feels it a disgrace that a professor should be appointed by men "who never heard of Humboldt & Brown".
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-906
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Jackson Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Norwich Castle
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 906,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-906.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 3