Dear Sir William

I have heard with much interest that your son, D^r. Hooker, is a candidate for the Botanical Chair at Edinburgh. From my former attendance at that University, I am aware how important a post it is for the advancement of Science, and I am therefore the more anxious for your son’s success, from my firm belief that no one will fulfill its duties with greater zeal or ability.— Since his return from the famous Antarctic Expedition, I have had, as you are aware, much communication with him with respect to the Collections brought home by myself, and on other scientific subjects, and I cannot express too strongly my admiration at the accuracy of his varied knowledge & at his powers of generalization.— From D^r. Hooker’s disposition, no one, in my opinion, is more fitted to communicate to beginners, a strong taste for those pursuits, to which he is himself so ardently devoted.— For the sake of the advancement of Botany in all its branches, your son has my most earnest wishes for his success.¹

Believe me, dear Sir William | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin Down House | Farnborough.

To | Sir William Hooker | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew