Dear old Darwin,

I cannot tell you with what pride & satisfaction I heard Frank deliver his communication last night.—² He spoke slowly, clearly, & at ease, & was perfectly heard & understood—by all but Huxley!—³ I suppose that “Homer nodded”⁴ for he understood Frank to say that the filaments had no motion except under stimulus, whereas nothing could be clearer, fuller or more explicit than Frank’s description of the various spontaneous movements. I could not help wishing that Mrs Darwin had been there to see her son’s debût before the R.S.

Tell Frank that Mr Huxley had been up all the previous night, having travelled from Edinburgh by night train,—that he had sat with me at the R.S. Govt. Grant Committee⁵ from 3 till 6$\frac{1}{2}$—& that I suspect he slept through a good part of the paper! It must have been rather droll for the Fellows to hear me first liken the motion to Amœba & the protoplasmic masses of the Myxomycetes;⁶ & then to hear Huxley get up & point out the difference between Dipsacoid & Amoeboid substance to consist in the former not having spontaneous motion!!!

Ever yr affec | J D Hooker

I hope you have received Moseleys Photographs &c which he asked me to send on to you⁷