To J. D. Hooker 5 October [1856]1
Downe Bromley Kent
Oct 5th
My dear Hooker
I write merely to ask you to send the seeds, for which I am in no hurry, & for which I am extremely much obliged,2 addressed (not like water plants) to. diag C. Darwin
care of G. Snow
Nag’s Head
Borough.ramme This is safer, course, though not prompt enough for water pods.—
Also hearty thanks for enquiries about Cytisus;3 I quite agree evidence not sufficient for so marvellous a statement; & how extraordinary that any Botanist, believing that he had witnessed such a phenomenon, & yet that it should not for ever after have impressed his mind! Such obtusity alone would make me doubt his evidence.—
Adios | C. Darwin
You will think it odd but I am glad to disbelieve the Cytisus story. Species would change too quickly, if such stories were true!
Footnotes
Summary
Agrees with JDH that Cytisus report [presumably of a large change] not sound. CD pleased because, if true, species would change too quickly.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1969
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 114: 178
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1969,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1969.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6