330 BOTANY [CHAP. X 



Letter 654 such a man should have all his work cut short. Please 

 remember that I know nothing of him excepting from his 

 letters : these show remarkable talent, astonishing persever- 

 ance, much modesty, and what I admire, determined difference 

 from me on many points. 



What will Sir William say ? 



Letter 655 To J. D. Hooker. 



Down, April 5th [1864]. 



I see my scheme for Scott has invincible difficulties, and 

 I am very much obliged to you for explaining them at such 

 length. If ever I get decently well, and Scott is free and 

 willing, I will have him here for a couple of years to work 

 out several problems, which otherwise would never be done. 

 I cannot see what will become of the poor fellow. I enclose 

 a little pamphlet from him, which I suppose is not of much 

 scientific value, but is surprising as the work of a gardener. 

 If you have time do just glance over it. 1 never heard 

 anything so extraordinary as what you say about poisoning 

 plants, etc. 



. . . The post has just come in. Your interest about 

 Scott is extraordinarily kind, and I thank you cordially. It 

 seems absurd to say so, but I suspect that X is prejudiced 

 against Scott because he partially supports my views. 1 



You must not trust my former letter about Clematis. I 

 worked on too old a plant, and blundered. I have now 

 gone over the work again. It is really curious that the 

 stiff peduncles are acted upon by a bit of thread weighing 

 062 of a grain. 



Clematis glandulosa was a valuable present to me. My 

 gardener showed it to me and said, " This is what they call a 

 Clematis" evidently disbelieving it. So I put a little twig to 

 the peduncle, and the next day my gardener said, " You see 

 it is a Clematis, for it feels." That's the way we make out 

 plants at Down. 



My dear old friend, God bless you ! 



1 In a letter to Scott (dated June nth) Darwin warns him to keep 

 his views "pretty quiet," and quotes Hooker's opinion that "if it is 

 known that you agree at all with my views on species it is enough to 

 make you unpopular in Edinburgh." 



