70 EVOLUTION [CHAP. II 



Letter 30 the apparent opinion of many old naturalists ? As for using 

 Lepas in place of Balaniis, I cannot. Every one will under- 

 stand what is meant by Lepas Anatifera, so that convenience 

 would be wonderfully thus suited. If I do not hear, I shall 

 understand I have your consent. 



Letter 3i J. D. Hooker to C. Darwin. 



In the Life and Letters , I., p. 392, is a letter to Sir J. D. Hooker from 

 Mr. Darwin, to whom the former had dedicated his Himalayan Journals. 

 Mr. Darwin there wrote: "Your letter, received this morning, has 

 interested me extremely, and I thank you sincerely for telling me your old 

 thoughts and aspirations." The following is the letter referred to, which 

 at our request Sir Joseph has allowed us to publish. 



Kew, March 1st, 1854. 



Now that my book x has been publicly acknowledged to 

 be of some value, I feel bold to write to you ; for, to tell you 

 the truth, I have never been without a misgiving that the 

 dedication might prove a very bad compliment, however 

 kindly I knew you would receive it. The idea of the dedica- 

 tion has been present to me from a very early date : it was 

 formed during the Antarctic voyage, out of love for your own 

 Journal^ and has never deserted me since ; nor would it, I think, 

 had I never known more of you than by report and as the 

 author of the said Naturalist's Journal. Short of the gratifica- 

 tion I felt in getting the book out, I know no greater than 

 your kind, hearty acceptation of the dedication ; and, had the 

 reviewers gibbeted me, the dedication would alone have given 

 me real pain. I have no wish to assume a stoical indifference 

 to public opinion, for I am well alive to it, and the critics 

 might have irritated me sorely, but they could never have 

 caused me the regret that the association of your name with 

 a bad book of mine would have. 



You will laugh when I tell you that, my book out, I feel 

 past the meridian of life ! But you do not know how from 

 my earliest childhood I nourished and cherished the desire to 

 make a creditable journey in a new country, and write such 

 a respectable account of its natural features as should give 

 me a niche amongst the scientific explorers of the globe I 

 inhabit, and hand my name down as a useful contributor of 



1 Hijnalayan Journals, 2~vols. London, 1854. 



