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 



