DAEWIN AND YOUNGER WORKERS 71 



all, Sir Joseph Hooker. The two following pas- 

 sages from letters to Sir Joseph have been 

 selected not only as examples but also because 

 of their intrinsic interest. In the first, Darwin 

 is speaking of the deplorable loss of the ancestral 

 flora of St. Helena. 



'You have no faith, but if I knew any one who lived in 

 St. Helena I would supplicate him to send me home a cask 

 or two of earth from a few inches beneath the surface from 

 the upper part of the island, and from any dried-up pond, 

 and thus, as sure as I'm a wriggler, I should receive a mul- 

 titude of lost plants.' 1 



* 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.' 2 



Although the gardener showed an intelligent 

 understanding of this point in the investigation of 

 climbing plants, he does not appear to have been 

 equally appreciative of other work. Lord Avebury 

 tells the following story : 



' One of his friends once asked Mr. Darwin's gardener 

 about his master's health, and how he had been lately. " Oh! ", 

 he said, "my poor master has been very sadly. I often wish 

 he had something to do. He moons about in the garden, 

 and I have seen him stand doing nothing before a flower for 

 ten minutes at a time. If he only had something to do 

 I really believe he would be better." ' 3 



1 Jan. 15, 1867. More Letters, i. 494. 



2 Apr. 5, 1864. More Letttrs, ii. 330. 



3 The Darwin- Wall ace Celebration of the Linnean Society of 

 London (1908), 57, 58. 



