To J. D. Hooker 29 December [1860]1
Down Bromley Kent
Dec. 29th.
My dear Hooker
Thank you for your most interesting letter, which I have not had time to consider yet.—2 The case seems as if it would do hereafter as good illustration of gradation.— Thanks, also, for A. Gray letters.3 I answered him some time ago about the proposed Review.4 Huxley will take it in if it seems good.—5 I write now, with many apologies you poor wretch for troubling you, to say that you forgot to answer my question of date of Rafinesque Flora of N. America Part I.—6 Poor Naturalist as he was, he has good sentence about species & vars. which I must quote in my Historical Sketch & I sadly want the date at once.—7
Poor Etty has had another Relapse, but has rallied again to nearly standard a week ago.—
I am profoundly glad that you will take care of yourself.— I was always certain no one’s mind could stand your incessant work.— I feel sure in a year or two you will be as brisk as ever.—
I know well that my head would have failed years ago, had not my stomach always saved me from a minute’s over work.— I am indeed so glad that you are resolved to work more quietly.— I think I have quoted to you poor Dana’s case, & my prediction to him a few years ago.—8
My dear old friend | 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–.
Origin 3d ed.: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 3d edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1861.
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.
Rafinesque, Constantine Samuel. 1836. New flora and botany of North America. 4 pts. Philadelphia.
Summary
Feels his poor stomach "saved" him from overworking his head.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3034
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 115: 83
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3034,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3034.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 8