2 Introductory Letter 



Darwin and to be his companion during many of his working hours 

 in Study, Laboratory, and Garden. I was the recipient of letters 

 from him, relating mainly to the progress of his researches, the copies 

 of which (the originals are now in the possession of his family) cover 

 upwards of a thousand pages of foolscap, each page containing, on an 

 average, three hundred words. 



That the editorship of these Essays has been entrusted to a 

 Cambridge Professor of Botany must be gratifying to all concerned in 

 their production and in their perusal, recalling as it does the fact 

 that Charles Darwin's instructor in scientific methods was his lifelong 

 friend the late Rev. J. S. Henslow at that time Professor of Botany in 

 the University. It was owing to his recommendation that his pupil 

 was appointed Naturalist to H.M.S. Beagle, a service which Darwin 

 himself regarded as marking the dawn of his scientific career. 



Very sincerely yours, 



J. D. HOOKER. 



