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 mv 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. I 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." 



