Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D.
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Has finished last revise of his book [Variation].
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Is curious to know what JDH thinks of Pangenesis. It is fearfully imperfect, yet satisfying, for it connects large groups of facts by an intelligible thread.
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Thomas Woolner is coming [to do a bust of CD].
Summary Add
Transcription
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
Nov. 17
My dear Hooker
Congratulate me, for I have finished last revise of last sheet of my Book.
It has been an awful job,—7
Ever my dear Hooker | Yours most truly | C. Darwin
About my book, I will give you a bit of advice, skip the whole of
Vol I, except last Chapt. (& that need only be skimmed) & skip largely
in 2
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- f1 5680.f1
The reference is to Variation. In his `Journal', CD recorded receiving the first proof on 1 March and finishing revisions on 15 November 1867 (see Correspondence vol. 15, Appendix II). On the size of the book and the use of two different sizes of type, see the letter to John Murray, 8 January [1867]. - +
- f2 5680.f2
The index of Variation was being prepared by William Sweetland Dallas, who had expected to complete it by about 18 November 1867 (letter from W. S. Dallas, 4 November 1867). However, the task progressed more slowly than Dallas had predicted (see letter from W. S. Dallas, 20 November 1867). Variation was published on 30 January 1868 (see `Journal' (Correspondence vol. 15, Appendix II)); Hooker mentioned in his letter of 1 February 1868 (Correspondence vol. 16) that he had received his copy. - +
- f3 5680.f3
Chapter 27 of Variation was headed `Provisional hypothesis of pangenesis'. On pangenesis, see also the letter to Charles Lyell, 22 August [1867] and n. 4. - +
- f4 5680.f4
CD's two papers, `Illegitimate offspring of dimorphic and trimorphic plants' and `Specific difference in Primula', were read at the meetings of the Linnean Society on 20 February and 19 March 1868, respectively, and subsequently appeared in the Journal of the Linnean Society. - +
- f5 5680.f5
CD visited London from 28 November to 7 December 1867 (`Journal' (Correspondence vol. 15, Appendix II)). - +
- f6 5680.f6
Hooker next visited Down on 21 December 1867 (Emma Darwin's diary (DAR 242)). - +
- f7 5680.f7
The references are to Thomas Woolner and Erasmus Alvey Darwin. - +
- f8 5680.f8
Numerous species of balsam (Impatiens) are endemic to the Himalayas; for a contemporary list, see J. D. Hooker and Thomson 1859, pp. 117--18. Himalayan balsam is now I. glandulifera (A. Huxley et al. eds. 1992), but was formerly I. roylei, which was described as endemic and very common in the western Himalayas (J. D. Hooker and Thomson 1859, pp. 117, 127--8). Receipt of these seeds at Kew was recorded on 27 November 1867 with the note: `The lady who gathered it mixed seeds of white Balsam with it. Dead' (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Inwards book). No letter from Hooker requesting balsam seed has been found. - +
- f9 5680.f9
The last chapter of the first volume of Variation is headed `On bud-variation, and on certain anomalous modes of reproduction and variation' (Variation 1: 373--411).