CHAPTEE XLV 



THE ' LION ' LETTERS 



HOOKER, it has already been shown, was a notable instance 

 of inherited faculties, both general and specialised. Heredity, 

 so signally illustrated in both sides of his family, was always 

 a subject of vivid interest to him. It tinged his literary 

 criticism, as when returning ' Mary Barton ' and ' North and 

 South ' to Darwin, he writes (August 17, 1867) : 



The whole of the vraisemblable of the latter falls before 

 the Darwinian Gospel how could such imbecile parents 

 have such a child as Margaret ? 



Long afterwards, when Sir Francis Galton was collecting 

 statistics on the subject, Hooker noted an important omission 

 in his scheme. He writes to W. E. Darwin, July 19, 1904 : 



I have just filled up Galton's table, and am puzzled by 

 his omission of the wife's father. In my case both Henslow 

 and Symonds are worth mention, and had a notable influence 

 on my children's minds. My Eeginald got his mathematical 

 ability from the former. 



By a curious freak of heredity, however, none of Hooker's 

 children inherited in their turn his strong bent towards natural 

 science and especially botany, although of scientific and in- 

 deed botanical pedigree on both sides. Their talents found 

 scope in many directions ; in business work leading to the 

 Civil Service ; in doctoring, engineering, statistics ; in soldier- 

 ing and colonial administration, but not in pure science. 

 What his father had been to him, that he wished to be 



366 



