To J. D. Hooker 1 September [1868]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
Sept 1.
My dear H.
In my opinion Dr Joseph Dalton Hooker need take no notice of the attack in the Athenæum in reference to Mr Charles Darwin.2
What an ass the man is to think he cuts us to the quick by giving our Christian names in full. How transparently false is the statement that my sole groundwork is from pigeons, because I state I have worked them out more fully than other beings.3 He muddles together two books of Flourens4—but he is a scamp & I begin to think a veritable ass.—
Many thanks for your splendid letter. I am so glad to hear that Mrs. Hooker enjoyed herself & did so much.5
I saw yesterday Sir John & Lady L.6 & they told me how very brilliantly everything had gone off. How you & Mrs Hooker must rejoice that all is over & so successfully.— It must have been a cruel drawback all your anxiety about your Boy.7 What a God’s blessing it is that the poor boy probably thinks a little bleeding from the chest not worse than from the nose. I am very sorry for you.
I agree with everything in your letter, especially about the Red Lion Club, which I thought a foolish, vulgar exaggerated affair even under poor Forbes.—8 I am extremely sorry about Huxley’s want of judgment: he will surely sink in public estimation & lose the power of doing good.—9
I am glad that you had a talk with Adams: I think you put the argument quite fairly about Astronomy & the Astronomers.10
I hope you saw the Morning Advertiser on your Address, it was wonderfully rich.11 The Pall Mall was not bad on “she” & “it”.—12 It is real good news about you & Mrs. Hooker coming here.13 Emma will write soon to Mrs H.
Your letter has been worth its weight in gold
Yours affect | C. Darwin
Many thanks about Rein-Deer14
Footnotes
Bibliography
Flourens, Marie-Jean-Pierre. 1864. Examen du livre de M. Darwin sur l’origine des espèces. Paris: Garnier Frères.
Flourens, Pierre. 1855. De la longévité humaine et de la quantité de vie sur le globe. Paris: Garnier Frères.
Hooker, Joseph Dalton. 1868. Address of the president. Report of the thirty-eighth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Norwich, pp. lviii–lxxv.
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.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Athenæum [Owen’s?] attack on JDH [BAAS address] and CD. False statement that CD’s sole groundwork is from pigeons.
Agrees with JDH on foolishness of Red Lion Club.
Huxley’s want of judgment.
JDH’s argument about astronomy and astronomers.
Pall Mall Gazette [8 (1868): 593, 595–6] and Morning Advertiser on JDH’s address.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6342
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 94: 89–90
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6342,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6342.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16