My dear Hooker

I came here on account of my Fathers health, which has been sadly failing of late, but to my great joy he has got surprisingly better.— I write now on account of the enclosed note: do you wish for the scraps, if so of course they are at your service; I presume I asked formerly for you.—² Let me have a line in answer some time, & I will write to Henslow.— I had not heard of your Botanical appointment & am very glad of it, more especially as it will make you travel & give you change of work & relaxation.³ Will you not some time have to examine the Chalk & its junction with London Clay & greensand &c? if so our house w^d be a good central place, & my horse w^d. be at your disposal: could you not spin a long week out of this examination? it would in truth delight us, & you c^d. bring your Papers (like Lyell) & work at odd times.—

Forbes has been writing to me, about his subsidence doctrines; I wish I had heard his full details, but I have expressed to him in my ignorance my objections, which rest merely on its too great hypothetical basis; I shall be curious, when I meet him, to hear what he says— He is also speculating on the gulf-weed. I confess I cannot appreciate his reasoning about his miocene continent, but I daresay it is from want of knowledge.—

You allude to the Scicily-flora, not being peculiar, & this being caused by its recent elevation (well established) in main part; you will find Lyell has put forward this very clearly & well.—⁴ The Appenines, (which I was somewhere lately reading about) seems a very curious case.—

I think Forbes ought to allude a little to Lyell’s work on nearly the very same subject as his speculations; not that I mean that Forbes wishes to take the smallest credit from him or any man alive: no man, as far as I see, likes so much to give credit to others, or more soars above the petty craving for self-celebrity.—

If you come to any more conclusions about polymorphism, I sh^d. be very glad to hear the result; it is delightful to have many points fermenting in one’s brains, & your letters & conclusion always give one plenty of this same fermentation. I wish I c^d ever make any return for all your facts, views & suggestions.

Ever yours most truly. C. Darwin

Pray give my best remembrances to M^r. Bentham⁵