CHAPTER XXIII 
LETTEKS TO DAKWIN, 1843-1859 
In one of his letters Darwin makes special mention of pre- 
serving his friend's letters. The answers to scientific questions 
are detached and placed among the memoranda of that subject ; 
the other parts are put among his general correspondence, so 
that it would only be a matter of half an hour to rearrange 
them in case of need. In spite of his care, however, a large 
number of the earher letters from Hooker have disappeared 
wholly or in part. From the remainder I give a selection to 
illustrate their correspondence before the appearance of the 
' Origin.' 
Darwin's first letter to Hooker (December 1843) is printed 
in the ' Life of Charles Darwin,' ii. 21. He had then sent his 
Galapagos collections to Hooker through Henslow, who had 
had them in keeping (see ' More Letters of Charles Darwin,' 
i. 400) ; the next in sequence, which answers the following 
of Hooker's, is given in 'More Letters of Charles Darwin,' 
i. 39. 
J. D. Hooker to C. Darwin 
December 1843. 
The Galapagos plants are far more extensive in number 
of species than I could have supposed, and are the foundation 
of an excellent Flora of that group : Mr. Henslow has sent 
with them those of Macrae which hardly differ from yours. 
I was quite prepared to see the extraordinary difference 
between the plants of the separate Islands from your 
Journal, a most strange fact, and one which quite overturns 
all our preconceived notions of species radiating from a 
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