To J. D. Hooker 8 April [1856]1
Down Bromley Kent
April 8th
My dear Hooker
I have been particularly glad to get your splendid eloge of Lindley.2 His name had been lately passing through my head & I had hoped that Miers would have proposed him for the Royal medal.3 But I most entirely agree that the Copley is more appropriate; & I daresay he would not have valued the Royal.—4 From skimming through many Botanical works & from often consulting the Vegetable Kingdom,5 (I had ignorant as I am), formed the highest opinion of his claims as a Botanist.
If Sharpey will stick up strong for him, we shd. have some chance;6 but the Natural Sciences are but feebly represented in the Council.7 Sir P. Egerton, I daresay, would be strong for him.—8 You know Bell is out.—9 Now my only doubt is, & I hope that you will consider this, is, that the Natural Sciences being weak on Council, & (I fancy) the most powerful man on council, Col. S.10 being strong against Lindley, whether we shd. have any chance of succeeding, it would be so easy to name some eminent man, whose name would be well known to all the Physicists. Would Lindley hear of, & dislike being proposed for Copley & not succeeding?11 Would it not be better on this view to propose him for Royal? Do think of this.— Moreover if Lindley is not proposed for Royal, I fear both Royal medals would go Physcicists; for I, for one, shd. not like to propose another zoologist, though Hancock wd. be a very good man.12 & I fancy there would be feeling against medals to two Botanists.—13 But for whatever Lindley is proposed, I will do my best.— We will talk this over here.—14
Your’s ever | C. Darwin
P.S. | Has Falconer appeared in world yet;15 if so & you know his address, I wish you would let me have it.— If I do not hear I shall understand you do not know.—
I have written the following in answer to Mrs Hooker’s note to my wife.—
Our carriage & a Fly shall be ready at 12o. 15’ at Croydon on the 22d.: I am vexed to see that you must go to Vauxhall & wait so long there; I had fancied as a matter of course that you could have stopped at Wimbledon, Croydon is same distance as Sydenham St. from us. viz 9 or 10 miles.—
It is very good of your coming for really it is an awful task.16 A Railway is actually making to Beckenham, which will save 2 miles.17
Do bring some work with you so as not to cut your visit very short.—
Mr & Mrs. Huxley come on Saturday 26th & return on 28th.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
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.
Hall, Marie Boas. 1984. All scientists now: the Royal Society in the nineteenth century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lindley, John. 1846b. The vegetable kingdom. London: the author.
Summary
Mustering support at Royal Society Council for John Lindley’s Copley Medal. CD thinks Albany Hancock deserves a Royal Medal.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1851
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 114: 160
- Physical description
- ALS 6pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1851,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1851.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6