To J. D. Hooker 9 [April 1862]1
Down
9th
My dear Hooker
One line to say that I shall very much like to examine Vanilla (give specific name if you can), but it will be too late for my Book.2 I am told that Vanilla flowers drop in 3 or 4 hours, which is a queer thing for an orchid.— The menyanthes which you sent me is going to flower in my greenhouse soon!3 If you can remember, when your plants bloom, just look whether you have both the long- & short-styled form.— Also look some day whether you have any Saxifrages with long hairs glandular at the tip.—4
I by no means thought that I produced a “tremendous effect” on Linn. Soc;5 but by Jove the Linn. Soc. produced a tremendous effect on me for I vomited all night & could not get out of bed till late next evening, so that I just crawled home.— I fear I must give up trying to read any paper or speak. It is a horrid bore I can do nothing like other people.—
My dear old friend | Ever yours | C. D.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Forms of flowers: The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1877.
Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.
‘Three sexual forms of Catasetum tridentatum’: On the three remarkable sexual forms of Catasetum tridentatum, an orchid in the possession of the Linnean Society. By Charles Darwin. [Read 3 April 1862.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 6 (1862): 151–7. [Collected papers 2: 63–70.]
Summary
On Vanilla.
Asks JDH to observe whether he has both long- and short-styled form of Menyanthes
and whether he has "Saxifrages with long hairs glandular at the tip".
The Linnean Society session made him vomit all night. Fears he must give up trying to read papers or speak. "It is a horrid bore. I can do nothing like other people."
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3500
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 115: 148
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3500,” accessed on 9 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3500.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10
