1858.] SIR J. D. HOOKER. 495 



from whom I have constantly received sympathy. Believe 

 [me] that I never forget for even a minute how much assist- 

 ance I have received from you. You are quite correct that I 

 never even suspected that my speculations were a "jam-pot" 

 to you ; indeed, I thought, until quite lately, that my MS. 

 had produced no effect on you, and this has often staggered 

 me. Nor did I know that you had spoken in general terms 

 about my work to our friends, excepting to dear old Falconer, 

 who some few years ago once told me that I should do more 

 mischief than any ten other naturalists would do good, [and] 

 that I had half spoiled you already ! All this is stupid ego- 

 tistical stuff, and I write it only because you may think me 

 ungrateful for not having valued and understood your sym- 

 pathy ; which God knows is not the case. It is an accursed 

 evil to a man to become so absorbed in any subject as I am 

 in mine. 



I was in London yesterday for a few hours with Falconer, 

 and he gave me a magnificent lecture on the age of man. We 

 are not upstarts ; we can boast of a pedigree going far back 

 in time coeval with extinct species. He has a grand fact of 

 some large molar tooth in the Trias. 



I am quite knocked up, and am going next Monday to 

 revive under Water-cure at Moor Park. 



My dear Hooker, yours affectionately, 



C. DARWIN. 



C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker. 



Nov. 1858. 



: . . . I had vowed not to mention my everlasting Ab- 

 stract to you again, for I am sure I have bothered you far 

 more than enough about it ; but, as you allude to its previous 

 publication, I may say that I have the chapters on Instinct 

 and Hybridism to abstract, which may take a fortnight each ; 

 and my materials for Palaeontology, Geographical Distribu- 

 tion, and Affinities, being less worked up, I dare say each of 

 these will take me three weeks, so that I shall not have done 



