422 MISCELLANEA, [1881 



their minds, without being in the least conscious of it. If I 

 have interpreted your ideas at all correctly, I hope that you 

 will re-urge, on any fitting occasion, your view. I have men- 

 tioned it to a few persons capable of judging, and it seemed 

 quite new to them. I beg you to forgive the proverbial gar- 

 rulity of old age. 



C. D. 



[The following letter refers to Sir J. D. Hooker's Geo- 

 graphical address at the York Meeting (1881) of the British 

 Association :] 



C. Darwin to J. D. Hooker. 



Down, August 6, 1881. 



MY DEAR HOOKER, For Heaven's sake never speak of 

 boring me, as it would be the greatest pleasure to aid you in 

 the slightest degree and your letter has interested me ex- 

 ceedingly. I will go through your points seriatim, but I have 

 never attended much to the history of any subject, and my 

 memory has become atrociously bad. It will therefore be a 

 mere chance whether any of my remarks are of any use. 



Your idea, to show what travellers have done, seems to me 

 a brilliant and just one, especially considering your audience. 



1. I know nothing about Tournefort's works. 



2. I believe that you are fully right in calling Humboldt 

 the greatest scientific traveller who ever lived, I have lately 

 read two or three volumes again. His Geology is funny 

 stuff; but that merely means that he was not in advance of 

 his age. I should say he was wonderful, more for his near 

 approach to omniscience than for originality. Whether or 

 not his position as a scientific man is as eminent as we think, 

 you might truly call him the parent of a grand progeny of 

 scientific travellers, who, taken together, have done much for 

 science. 



3. It seems to me quite just to give Lyell (and secondari- 

 ly E. Forbes) a very prominent place. 



4. Dana was, I believe, the first man who maintained the 



