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Darwin Correspondence Project

From J. D. Hooker   7 January 1875

Jany 7/75

Dear Darwin

The Drosophyllum goes to day, with full instructions about being forwarded by Messenger.1

I dined with Tyndall Hirst & Spencer at the Athenæum & put the matter of my writing to Mivart before them, & they also most strongly dissuaded me from doing so in any shape, on the ground of the Presidentship.2 All I can say is that I am excessively sorry that I did not think of this myself, before saying anything about it, to you especially— I know well that you & George will not think the worse of me for it—but still I am vexed—

Their opinion is that without cutting him direct I should avoid him, & if he speaks to me should let him feel it: This of course I shall do

Ever yr affec | J D Hooker

Footnotes

Hooker had acquired a specimen of Drosophyllum lusitanicum (Portuguese sundew or dewy pine) from Edinburgh (see letter from J. D. Hooker, 3 January [1875] and n. 4). CD had given instructions on sending it in his letter to Hooker of 22 December 1874 (Correspondence vol. 22).
Hooker was president of the Royal Society of London. He had consulted John Tyndall, Thomas Archer Hirst, and Herbert Spencer at the Athenaeum Club in London about what action he should take over an attack by St George Jackson Mivart on George Howard Darwin ([Mivart] 1874, p. 70; see Correspondence vol. 22, Appendix V). Tyndall and Hirst were fellows of the Royal Society.

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

[Mivart, St George Jackson.] 1874b. Primitive man: Tylor and Lubbock. [Essay review of the works of John Lubbock and Edward Burnett Tylor.] Quarterly Review 137 (1874): 40–77.

Summary

Tyndall, T. A. Hirst and Spencer dissuade him from writing to Mivart, but he will let him feel his disapproval.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-9807
From
Joseph Dalton Hooker
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
unstated
Source of text
DAR 104: 4–5
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9807,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9807.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23

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