To J. D. Hooker 30 January [1863]
Down
Jan. 30th
My dear Hooker
Please address enclosed & post.—1
I have to thank you for two very pleasant notes:2 it was very good of you to write from Paris.—3 I fear Naudin has not responded;4 but I hope he may experiment, for I clearly see that he trusts too much to resemblance to parents & does not think enough of actual fertility or number of seeds. I hope to Heaven, that he may explain sterility, but do not expect it.—5 I am not surprised at all at Decaisne & Naudin thinking little of “Origin”;6 there has always appeared to me something antagonistic to a Frenchman in the way in which Englishman writes. On other hand I have just had another letter from A. Decandolle;7 he speaks of “us” as believing in mutability in glorious way, & reports that a Count Saperda, who is writing on Fossil plants goes the whole hog.—8
What do you think, Bates writes in a P.S. that he is married!9
I have just had a letter or rather M.S. with capital drawings by a young civilian at the Cape of Good Hope about the orchids there; with most curious account of their structure;10 they seem to me more singular creatures than any that I have seen, viz Satyrium, Disperis &c.— My hot-house will soon be ready, & the thought gives me not a little pleasure.11 I shall be most grateful for Nepenthes, or anything experimental:12 anything ornamental which, however, I shall avoid of course I must not have from Kew— I wish you would remind H. Gower? (your superintendent) that he really ought to try again on several flowers of Victoria Lily own pollen & pollen from distinct plant or distinct flower,—his result was so curious.—13
We are all going to London on Tuesday evening for a week, chiefly to see if change will do me good;14 I hope to read my paper on Linum on the 5th at Linn. Soc.; but Heaven knows whether I shall be able.—15 If I do get a bit stronger, I must come & pay you a visit of an hour & see Hot-Houses.—16
I see it announced that Wellwitschia is actually published!17
I suppose you saw Haast’s address it seemed to me very good.— Splendid Glacial action & how wonderful the old flint tools.18
I am tired—goodnight.— Anhow I hope I shall see you at Linn Soc. for come I will if I can, however bad sickness may come on— goodnight | C. Darwin
Jameson uses well your Himalayan glacial work in his Glen Roy paper.—19
Footnotes
Bibliography
Calendar: A calendar of the correspondence of Charles Darwin, 1821–1882. With supplement. 2d edition. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1994.
Conry, Yvette. 1972. Correspondance entre Charles Darwin et Gaston de Saporta. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Jamieson, Thomas Francis. 1863. On the parallel roads of Glen Roy, and their place in the history of the glacial period. [Read 21 January 1863.] Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 19: 235–59.
Raphael, Sandra. 1970. The publication dates of the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, series 1, 1791–1875. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 2: 61–76. [Vols. 10,11]
Saporta, Louis Charles Joseph Gaston de. 1862. Notice sur les plantes fossiles de Coumi et d’Oropo. Paris: [privately printed]. [Reprinted in Animaux fossiles et géologie de l’Attique d’après les recherches faites en 1855–56 et en 1860 sous les auspices de l’Académie des Sciences. With atlas. By Albert Gaudry. Paris: F. Savy. 1862–7.]
Trimen, Roland. 1863. On the fertilization of Disa grandiflora, Linn.... drawn up from notes and drawings sent to C. Darwin, Esq., FLS, &c. [Read 4 June 1863.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 7 (1864): 144–7.
‘Two forms in species of Linum’: On the existence of two forms, and on their reciprocal sexual relation, in several species of the genus Linum. By Charles Darwin. [Read 5 February 1863.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 7 (1864): 69–83. [Collected papers 2: 93–105.]
Summary
Naudin has not answered CD’s letter.
Reactions of Candolle, Naudin, Decaisne, and Gaston de Saporta to Origin.
CD’s new hothouse.
CD’s Linum paper.
JDH’s work on Welwitschia.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3953
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 115: 180
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3953,” accessed on 11 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3953.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11