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From J. D. Hooker   [31 March 1863]1

Kew

Tuesday.

Dear Darwin

One line to say that the article is surely Owens & none others.2 I was certain of it on reading it, the expressions are identical with those of the Edr. Review,3 & the whole method of traduction is typical of Owen & unapproached by any one else.— so are the longwinded phrases, & so is the unutterable rubbish of the doctrine. Good Lord what rubbish & what vulgarity. I think there must be truth in a report I once heard—that he tippled.— Your doubt caused me to hunt up Carpenter today,4 who assures me it is so, both from his judgement, & from a conversation he had with Hepworth Dixon on Saturday about it—5 he is going to answer it—mildly.6

Froude7 told me today that Carlyle8 is a violent anti-Darwinian—of course it is of no consequence, but I should not have expected it.

Ever Yours affec | J D Hooker

I have just got sent a splendid Wedgwood of Dr Johnson!9

Footnotes

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to John Lubbock, 5 April 1863, and by the reference to the anonymous review of Carpenter 1862 in the Athenæum of 28 March 1863, pp. 417–19; the intervening Tuesday was 31 March.
2
Hooker refers to Richard Owen’s anonymous review of Carpenter 1862 in the Athenæum, 28 March 1863, pp. 417–19 (see letter to J. D. Hooker, [29 March 1863]). The attribution is confirmed by the publisher’s marked copy of the Athenæum (City University Library, London). Owen’s review is reproduced in Appendix VII.
3
Hooker refers to Owen’s anonymous review of Origin in the Edinburgh Review ([Owen] 1860a).
5
William Hepworth Dixon was editor of the Athenæum (DNB).
6
Part of Carpenter’s response to Owen’s review was published in the Athenæum, 18 April 1863, p. 525.
9
Samuel Johnson. Hooker was an enthusiastic collector of Wedgwood ware (see letters from J. D. Hooker, 6 January 1863, [16 February 1863], [6 March 1863], and [24 March 1863]).

Bibliography

Carpenter, William Benjamin. 1862. Introduction to the study of the Foraminifera. Assisted by W. K. Parker and T. R. Jones. London: Ray Society.

DNB: Dictionary of national biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 63 vols. and 2 supplements (6 vols.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1912. Dictionary of national biography 1912–90. Edited by H. W. C. Davis et al. 9 vols. London: Oxford University Press. 1927–96.

Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.

Summary

Owen is the author of the Athenæum article [28 Mar 1863, pp. 417–19]. JDH dismisses it as vulgar rubbish. W. B. Carpenter intends to write a reply.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-4098
From
Joseph Dalton Hooker
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Kew
Source of text
DAR 101: 126–7
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4098,” accessed on 17 May 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4098.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11

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