Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, 



xm 



Darwin was forced to what, according to Wallace, " he considered a 

 premature publicity." This, in the interests of science, was perhaps not an 

 unmixed evil. For, with feeble health, it may be doubted if he would ever 

 have achieved the series of works in which he intended to promulgate it. 

 He was obliged immediately to prepare an abstract, the ' Origin of Species,' 

 which appeared in 1859. This had, at any rate, the advantage that it gave 

 the theory to the world with a summary, in the most concentrated form, of 

 the facts and arguments which seemed to the author to support it. 



But it had another effect. Darwin's friends, who had been in his con- 

 fidence, had now to decide one way or the other. Hooker gave a general 

 adhesion at once, though with some reserve. He would doubtless have done 

 so earlier, if to do so would not have been to force Darwin's hand. Writing 

 to Hooker on Christmas Day, 1859, he said, " I do think I did you a bad 

 turn by getting you to read the old MS., as it must have checked your own 

 original thoughts " (L.L., vol. 2, p. 252). This has since been published 

 (1909) by Francis Darwin in ' The Foundations of the Origin of Species.' 

 In August, 1854, in case this abstract might prove, in the event of his 

 death, to be the only record of his work, he had made a note : " Hooker 

 by far best man to edit my species volume " (' Foundations,' p. 28). The 

 fact that Hooker had read it as early as 1844, when it was written, saved 

 the situation. There is no evidence that a knowledge of its contents 

 hampered his own progress to evolutionary theory. He had to clear his 

 path of obstacles which were peculiar to his own subject; difficult as it 

 may be to appreciate the fact now, the doctrine of " multiple origins " hung 

 round the neck of botanists like a millstone. A result of its avowed or 

 tacit acceptance was, to use Hooker's words, " the too prevalent idea that 

 the plants of newly discovered, isolated, or little-visited localities must 

 necessarily be new." The resulting incubus of synonymy he described as 

 " the greatest obstacle to the progress of systematic botany ; " and he gave 

 copious illustrations from the Indian flora. The evil can only be remedied 

 by comparing new material in large herbaria ; in no other way can the 

 geographical distribution of a species be arrived at. 



In 1859, however, Darwin was able to write, to Wallace : "Hooker, who 

 is our best British botanist, and perhaps the best in the world, is a full 

 convert, and is now going immediately to publish his confession of faith " 

 (M.L., vol. 1, p. 119). But, writing to Hooker, he said : " I have spoken of 

 you .... as a convert made by me ; but I know well how much larger the 

 share has been of your own self-thought " (L.L., vol. 2, p. 176). The con- 

 version must have been fairly rapid at last, for Darwin had written to him 

 the year before " not to pronounce too strongly against natural selection " 

 (L.L., vol. 2, p. 138). 



The ' Flora Tasmania^,' completing the ' Botany of the Antarctic Expedition,' 

 was published in parts between 1855 and 1860. To the first volume, issued 

 in 1859, is prefixed an introductory essay, " On the Flora of Australia : its 

 origin, affinities, and distribution." This is by far the most important and 



