1 845.] SIR J. D. HOOKER. 335 



some kind. Geology is at present very oral, and what I here 

 say is to a great extent quite true. But I am giving you a 

 discussion as long as a chapter in the odious book itself. 



I have lately been to Shrewsbury, and found my father 

 surprisingly well and cheerful. 



Believe me, my dear old friend, ever yours, 



C. DARWIN, 



C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker. 



Down, Monday [February loth, 1845]. 



MY DEAR HOOKER, I am much obliged for your very 

 agreeable letter ; it was very good-natured, in the midst of 

 your scientific and theatrical dissipation, to think of writing 

 so long a letter to me. I am astonished at your news, and I 

 must condole with you in your present view of the Professor- 

 ship,* and most heartily deplore it on my own account. There 

 is something so chilling in a separation of so many hundred 

 miles, though we did not see much of each other when nearer. 

 You will hardly believe how deeply I regret for myself your 

 present prospects. I had looked forward to [our] seeing much of 

 each other during our lives. It is a heavy disappointment ; and 

 in a mere selfish point of view, as aiding me in my work, your 

 loss is indeed irreparable. But, on the other hand, I cannot 

 doubt that you take at present a desponding, instead of bright , 

 view of your prospects : surely there are great advantages, as 

 well as disadvantages. The place is one of eminence ; and 

 really it appears to me there are so many indifferent workers, 

 and so few readers, that it is a high advantage, in a purely 

 scientific point of view, for a good worker to hold a position 

 which leads others to attend to his work. I forget whether 

 you attended Edinburgh, as a student, but in my time there 

 was a knot of men who were far from being the indifferent 



* Sir J. D. Hooker was a candidate for the Professorship of Botany at 

 Edinburgh University. 



