I863-] 



LETTER IN THE ' ATHENiEUM.' 



23 



[In the following, he refers to the above letter to the 

 A thenceum :] 



C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker. 



Leith Hill Place, 



Saturday [May II, 1863]. 



My dear Hooker, — You give good advice about not 

 writing in newspapers ; I have been gnashing my teeth at 



my own folly ; and this not caused by 's sneers, which 



were so good that I almost enjoyed them. I have written 

 once again to own to a certain extent of truth in what he 

 says, and then if I am ever such a fool again, have no mercy 

 on me. I have read the squib in Public Opinion ; * it is 

 capital ; if there is more, and you have a copy, do lend it. It 

 shows well that a scientific man had better be trampled in 

 dirt than squabble. I have been drawing diagrams, dissecting 

 shoots, and muddling my brains to a hopeless degree about 

 the divergence of leaves, and have of course utterly failed. 

 But I can see that the subject is most curious, and indeed 



astonishing. 



[The next letter refers to Mr. Bentham's presidential 



* Public Opinion, April 23, 

 1863. A lively account of a police 

 case, in which the quarrels of 

 scientific men are satirised. Mr. 

 John Bull gives evidence that — 



" The whole neighbourhood was 

 unsettled by their disputes ; Hux- 

 ley quarrelled with Owen, Owen 

 with Darwin, Lyell with Owen, 

 Falconer and Prestwich with Lyell, 

 and Gray the menagerie man with 

 everybody. He had pleasure, how- 

 ever, in stating that Darwin was 

 the quietest of the set. They were 

 always picking bones with each 

 other and fighting over their gains. 

 If either of the gravel sifters or 

 stone breakers found anything, he 



was obliged to conceal it imme- 

 diately, or one of the old bone 

 collectors would be sure to appro- 

 priate it first and deny the theft 

 afterwards, and the consequent 

 wrangling and disputes were as 

 endless as they were wearisome. 



" Lord Mayor. — Probably the 

 clergyman of the parish might 

 exert some influence over them? 



" The gentleman smiled, shook 

 his head, and stated that he re- 

 gretted to say that no class of men 

 paid so little attention to the 

 opinions of the clergy as that to 

 which these unhappy men be- 

 longed." 



