From J. D. Hooker [27 or 28 December 1862]1
K⟨ew⟩
⟨ ⟩
Dr Darwin
I send Mr Oldfields answer to your questions— he has misunderstood me about Lythrum.2
Do you know that I very much agree with J. E. Gray about collecting—& its interest3 Our greatest interest in Nat. Hist specimens is the knowledge we obtain thereby of function, affinity, distribution &c—but there is a much more catholic view of specimens than this, which none but a very few of the very ablest ⟨naturalists have e⟩ntertained ⟨two words missing⟩ higher interest ⟨ ⟩ & which ⟨inclu⟩des a love of all ⟨the⟩ artistic pleasure they afford, the pleasure of classyfying by eye, & not by knowledge, the historic interest attached to them, & the pleasure of being successful in obtaining, as well as the love of possessing, without which much of all the rest is nothing. R. Brown4 was one of those few rare great men, who loved specimens for all that Gray loved them for, & did not despise the springs of that love; & who besides loved them for all that we should. His fault was, not that he loved too wisely, but too much, & was cursedly selfish.
Henslow was another.5 This interest is neither less useful nor good nor worthy of cultivation because it is often perverted. it made Brown selfish; it frittered away Henslows energies, it obfuscates all Grays good qualities, & it leads to many vices; but then look at the grist it brings to the Mill-Scientific—& look on the other-hand to the effects of the love of specimens for the higher objects alone— in cases it leads to nothing, in some others to indolence, jealousy, very narrow-mindedness & as many evils of a less docile nature What a mess poor J. E. G. has made of Rowland Hill, & what a Jesuitical letter is his last;6 how du Chaillu will chuckle.7
By the way—now don’t despise me—I am collecting Wedgewoods simply & solely because they are pretty & I love them— I have not even a Grayan Excuse, they afford me pleasure—voila tout—
I saw Boott yesterday, first time for ages—looks more old & thin, but was in great force.8 F. Palgrave is to be married on Tuesday, to a Miss Gaskell, who rejoices in the name Cecil;—he was author of “Passionate Pilgrim” & so I was all wrong together, in every conceivable way9
I should like to turn the water-spout of Herbert Spencers abstract philosophy on the subject of Nat: Selection as applied to Politics, Govt, & Society:—10 By the way what splendid books Jeremy Bentham might have written had he clearer notions & read the Origin.11
I will take care of your note for Naudin.12
Ever yours affec | J D Hooker
Nothing to pay for Bees.13
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.
Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni. 1861. Explorations & adventures in equatorial Africa; with accounts of the manners and customs of the people, and of the chace of the gorilla, crocodile, leopard, elephant, hippopotamus, and other animals. 2d edition. London: John Murray.
Rupke, Nicolaas A. 1994. Richard Owen, Victorian naturalist. New Haven, Conn., and London: Yale University Press.
Spencer, Herbert. 1860–2. First principles. London: George Manwaring; Williams & Norgate.
Thurstan, Henry J., pseud. [Francis Turner Palgrave]. 1858. The passionate pilgrim; or, Eros and Anteros. London. [Vols. 7,10]
Summary
Hostile to Spencer’s application of natural selection to society.
JDH on J. E. Gray’s views on collecting.
JDH collecting Wedgwood ware.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3891
- From
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 101: 93–5
- Physical description
- ALS 5pp damaged
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3891,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3891.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10