From J. D. Hooker [31 December 1862]1
Kew
Wednesday
Dr Darwin
It is rather jolly this writing about matters non-scientific— let’s give up Science when you have done the 3 vols & take to gossip.2 I quite agree with you that a holiday is an unendurable bore,3 but depend on it that is because we have no vices to indulge in, & if you will only join me in some good vice, such as talking about & writing about what will do no good to our neighbours & some harm to ourselves—we shall get on capitally, & scratch away. As luck would have it—I put aside the Ducal critique for a more careful reading with the Article itself.— I read the article itself, & in turn forgot I had put aside the smasher, which by a curious coincidence I stumbled upon yesterday, the day you wrote to me! so here it is. I congratulate you on so clever logical & acute a relative—4 Have I not met him at Down? many years ago.
I saw Mr Froud5 yesterday for first time at my Cousins wedding— what a singularly magnetic man he is to look at & talk (2 words) to; I think Frank P. has married a nice girl of a nice family.6
I have a great mind to send the Parthenon a s⟨creed⟩7 —The only 7 times I ap⟨plied⟩ for information at b⟨ritish museum⟩ I got none whatever ⟨and on one⟩ occasion the attendant could not find the Natural Order Cruciferæ!— The last time I went I found the invaluable plants of Loureiro,8 the only authentic scraps for identifying genera which it is impossible to make out by descriptions, in such a state of dirt, disorder & confusion that I came away determining never to try there again.
Ever Yrs affec | J D Hooker
Footnotes
Bibliography
[Campbell, George Douglas.] 1862. [Review of Orchids and other works.] Edinburgh Review 116: 378–97.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
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.
[Parker, Henry.] 1862. The Edinburgh review on the supernatural. Saturday Review, 15 November 1862, pp. 589–90.
Taxonomic literature: Taxonomic literature. A selective guide to botanical publications and collections with dates, commentaries and types. By Frans A. Stafleu and Richard S. Cowan. 2d edition. 7 vols. Utrecht, Netherlands: Bohn, Scheltema & Holkema. The Hague, Netherlands: W. Junk. 1976–88.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
JDH’s impression on meeting [J. A.] Froud[e].
CD’s projected three volume work.
Complains at poor state of some [unspecified] plant collection.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3890
- From
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Kew
- Source of text
- DAR 101: 96–7
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp damaged
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3890,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3890.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10
