From J. D. Hooker 16 September 1873
Royal Gardens Kew
Sept 16/73.
My dear Darwin
The Mimosa is so exhausted & brown, that it is not worth sending till it has made new growths—1 its movements are very sluggish at the best of times, & you could hardly have made a marked track through a field of this species albida, as with the true Sensitiva, for which I am writing to Brazil
Your Marjoram is not the pot herb, but the common vulgare.
Probably my drops were too fine for the Mimosa I administered them with a hair-brush, which sent a very fine spray over the leaf. Dyer & I both flicked water in vain with the finger,— but really the plant is a very insensible one. You shall have it when recovered.2
I am glad to hear that you have A. Clarke. What a wonderful case your’s is!—3
I am horribly angry at that vile letter of Taits in Nature, angry at Tait (of whom I know nothing) & at Nature for putting in such abominable letters attributing motives & everything that is vile. Tyndall has written me a splendid letter. He says “I am strong my boy, & the next number of Nature will prove it to you”—4
G Henslow & wife are here, he is marvellously better & can stand with 2 sticks; but is carried from room to room—5
We go to Bradford tomorrow morning—for which I have no stomach at all—but wife likes it—6
I rejoice to hear of your success with Drosera & long to hear more of the acid reaction & the retardation of the external digestive process.7 I long to be at Nepenthes— the specimens are splendid & most inviting but neither I nor Dyer have had time—8
I have a splendid Xanthorrhoea (Australian Grass tree) coming into flower.
Ever yours affec | Jos D Hooker
Address Brit: Assoc Bradford if I can do anything.
What is the name & American address of the Norton’s, any or all!—9
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
ANB: American national biography. Edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. 24 vols. and supplement. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1999–2002.
DNB: Dictionary of national biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 63 vols. and 2 supplements (6 vols.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1912. Dictionary of national biography 1912–90. Edited by H. W. C. Davis et al. 9 vols. London: Oxford University Press. 1927–96.
Hooker, Joseph Dalton. 1872–97. The flora of British India. Assisted by various botanists. 7 vols. London: L. Reeve & Co.
Rowlinson, J. S. 1971. The theory of glaciers. Notes and records of the Royal Society of London 26: 189–204.
Summary
Mimosa too far gone to send now.
CD’s marjoram is the common [Origanum] vulgare, not the pot herb.
On the water injury, Thiselton-Dyer and he may have used too fine a spray, but plant is insensitive.
Horribly angry at P. G. Tait’s letter in Nature [8 (1873): 381–2].
Tyndall writes that he is strong – the next number of Nature will prove it.
G. Henslow is much better.
JDH leaves for Bradford [BAAS meeting] tomorrow.
Rejoices at CD’s success with Drosera; longs to be at Nepenthes.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9057
- From
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 103: 162–5
- Physical description
- ALS 8pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9057,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9057.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21
