To J. D. Hooker 5 [December 1863]
Down
Saturday 5th
My dear Hooker
I am very glad that this will reach you at Kew & that Mrs. Hooker will soon be with you.1 You will then get rest & I do hope some lull in anxiety & fear.2 Nothing is so dreadful in this life as fear: it still sickens me when I cannot help remembering some of the many illnesses our children have endured.—3 My Father, who was a sceptical man, was convinced that he had distinctly traced several cases of scarlet-fever to handling letters from convalescents.4—
The vases did come from my sister Susan;5 she is recovering & was much pleased to hear that you liked them: I have now sent one of your notes to her, in which you speak of them as “enchanting” &c.—6
I have had a bad spell, vomiting every day for eleven days & some days many times after every meal.7 It is astonishing the degree to which I keep up some strength. Dr. Brinton8 was here 2 days ago & says he sees no reason I may not recover my former degree of health.— I shd. like to live to do a little more work & often I feel sure I shall & then again I feel that my tether is run out.—
Your Hastings note, my dear old fellow, was a Copley medal to me & more than a Copley medal;9 not but what I know well that you overrate what I have been able to do. Now that I am disabled, I feel more than ever what a pleasure observing & making out little difficulties is.—
By the way here is a very little fact which may interest you.— A partridge’s foot, is described in Proc. Zoolog. Soc. with huge ball of earth attached to it, as hard as rock—10 Bird killed in 1860— Leg has been sent me & I find it diseased & no doubt exudation caused earth to accumulate: now already 32 plants have come up from this ball of earth.—11
Many thanks about Edinburgh R.—12 Do not send Hochstetter.—13
By Jove I must write no more— good Bye, my best of friends. | C. Darwin
Remember me most kindly to Huxley14 when you see him What a capital paper the “Reader” has become15
There is an Italian Edit. of Origin preparing!!!16 This makes fifth foreign Edit, ie in five foreign countries.17 Owen will not be right in telling Longmans that Book wd be utterly forgotten in ten years—18
Hurrah!
Footnotes
Bibliography
Brown, Philip A. H. 1982. London publishers and printers c. 1800–1870. London: British Library.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 27 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Freeman, Richard Broke. 1977. The works of Charles Darwin: an annotated bibliographical handlist. 2d edition. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.
Freeman, Richard Broke. 1978. Charles Darwin: a companion. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.
Hochstetter, Ferdinand Christian von. 1863. Neu-Seeland. Stuttgart: Cotta’scher.
Marginalia: Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990.
Newton, Alfred. 1863. On an illustration of the manner in which birds may occasionally aid in the dispersion of seeds. [Read 21 April 1863.] Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1863): 127–9.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Physicians: The roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London. By William Munk. 2d edition, revised and enlarged. 3 vols. London: Royal College of Physicians. 1878. Lives of the fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London. Compiled by G. H. Brown et al. 5 vols. London: Royal College of Physicians. Oxford and Washington, D.C.: IRL Press. 1955–89.
Summary
His bad health continues.
Thirty-two plants have come up from the earth attached to partridge’s foot.
Origin to be published in Italian.
Owen was wrong: Origin will not be forgotten in ten years.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4353
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 115: 213
- Physical description
- 6pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4353,” accessed on 15 January 2021, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-LETT-4353.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11