Volume I Part 47 (1/2)

You will, I think, ad so in India, is no arguainst the ten thousand natural contingencies of other plants, insects, animals, etc, etc With respect to South West Australia and the Cape, I am shut up, and can only d--n the whole case

You say you should like to seeGlacial chapter, and I have not yet written raphical Distribution, nor shall I begin it for two or three weeks But either Abstract or the old MS I should be DELIGHTED to send you, especially the Abstract chapter

I have noritten 330 folio pages of my abstract, and it will require 150-200 [es, and must be printed separately, which I think will be better in e for discussion at any Society, and I believe religion would be brought in byof a 12mo volume, like Lyell's fourth or fifth edition of the 'Principles'

I have written you a scandalously long note So now good-bye, my dear Hooker,

Ever yours, C DARWIN

CHARLES DARWIN TO JD HOOKER Down, January 20th, 1859

My dear Hooker,

I should very much like to borrow Heer at so at present till my Abstract is done

Your last very instructive letter shall make me very cautious on the hyper-speculative points we have been discussing

When you say you cannot h that they are too doubtful and obscure to be mastered I have often experienced what you call the hu more and more involved in doubt theon doubtful points But I always co of the future, and in the full belief that the proble on, will soround we shall have done soree that we only differ in DEGREE about the means of dispersal, and that I think a satisfactory a ree; I doubt only about our oceans

I also agree (I auhness of the Australian Flora froenera; but here co element of doubt, viz, the effect of isolation

The only point in which I PRESUMPTUOUSLY rather demur is about the status of the naturalised plants in Australia I think Muller speaks of their having spread largely beyond cultivated ground; and I can hardly believe that our European plants would occupy stations so barren that the native plants could not live there I should require much evidence to make me believe this I have written this note merely to thank you, as you will see it requires no answer

I have heard to ical Council have given me the Wollaston Medal!!!

Ever yours, CHARLES DARWIN

CHARLES DARWIN TO JD HOOKER Down, January 23d, 1859

I enclose letters to you and me from Wallace I admire extremely the spirit in which they are written I never felt very sure what he would say He must be an aht to be told hoell satisfied he is These letters have vividly brought before enerous conduct in all this affair

How glad I shall be when the Abstract is finished, and I can rest!

CHARLES DARWIN TO AR WALLACE Down, January 25th [1859]

My dear Sir,

I was extreo your letter to me and that to Dr Hooker Permit me to say how heartily I adh I had absolutely nothing whatever to do in leading Lyell and Hooker to what they thought a fair course of action, yet I naturally could not but feel anxious to hear what your impression would be I owe indirectly much to you and theht, and I should never have coer work, for I have found h with my poor health, but now, thank God, I am in my last chapter but one My Abstract will es

Whenever published, I will, of course, send you a copy, and then you will see what I mean about the part which I believe selection has played with domestic productions It is a very different part, as you suppose, from that played by ”Natural Selection” I sent off, by the same address as this note, a copy of the 'Journal of the Linnean Society,' and subsequently I have sent some half-dozen copies of the paper I have lad to hear that you have been attending to birds' nests I have done so, though almost exclusively under one point of view, viz, to show that instincts vary, so that selection could work on and improve them Few other instincts, so to speak, can be preserved in a Museum

Many thanks for your offer to look after horses' stripes; If there are any donkeys, pray add thehted to hear that you have collected bees' combsThis is an especial hobby of ht on the subject If you can collect duplicates, at no very great expense, I should be glad of sorowing, and irregular combs, and those which have not had pupae, are es should be well protected against abrasion

Every one whoht your paper very ritten and interesting It puts o!), which I y were never for an instant intended for publication, into the shade