To J. D. Hooker [1 April 1864]
[Down]
My dear Hooker
I shall not at present allude to your very interesting letter,1 (which as yet has been read to me only twice!!) for I am full of a project, which I much want you to consider.—
You will have seen Scott’s note.2 He tells me he has no plans for the future. Thinking over all his letters I believe he is a truly remarkable man.— He is willing to follow suggestions, but has much originality in varying his Experiments.—3 I believe years may pass before another man appears fitted to investigate certain difficult & tedious points—viz relative fertility of varieties of plants—including peloric & other monsters (already Scott has done excellent work on this head)4 And secondly whether a plant’s own pollen is less effective than that of another individual.5
Now if Scott is moderate in his wishes I would pay him for a year or two to work & publish on these or other such subjects which might arise.— But I dare not have him here, for it wd quite overwork me. There wd not be plants sufficient for his work, & it wd probably be an injury to himself as it wd put him out of the way of getting a good situation. Now I believe you have gardeners at Kew who work & learn there without pay.6 What do you think of having Scott there for a year or two to work & experiment?
I can see enormous difficulties. In the 1st place you will not perhaps think the points indicated so highly important as I do. 2ndly He wd require ground in some out of the way place where the plants cd be covered by net which wd be unsightly. On the other hand I presume you wd like a series of memoirs published on work done at Kew which I am fully convinced wd have permanent value. It wd of course I conceive be absolutely necessary that Scott shd be under the regular orders of the superintendant.7 The only way I can fancy that it cd be done wd be to explain to the superintendant that I temporarily supported Scott solely for the sake of Science, & appeal to his kindness to assist him. If you approved of having him (which I can see is improbable) & you simply ordered the superintendant to assist him I believe every thing wd go to loggerheads. As for Scott himself it wd be of course be an advantage to him to study the cultivation at Kew. You wd get to know him & if he really is a good man you cd perhaps be able to recommend him to some situation at home or abroad.
Pray turn this in your mind. I have no idea whether Scott wd like the place but I can see that he has a burning zeal for science. He told me that his parents were in better circumstances & that he chose a gardener’s life solely as the best way of following science8 I may just add that in his last letter he gives me the results of many ex— on difft individuals of the same sp. of orchid shewing the most remarkable diversity in their sexual condition.9 It seems to me a grievous loss that such a man shd have all his work cut short. Please remember that I know nothing of him excepting from his letters; these shew remarkable talent, astonishing perseverance much modesty & what I admire determined difference from me on many points.
Yours affectionately | Ch. Darwin
What will Sir William say?10
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Cross and self fertilisation: The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1876.
Desmond, Ray. 1995. Kew: the history of the Royal Botanic Gardens. London: Harvill Press with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
ML: More letters of Charles Darwin: a record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. Edited by Francis Darwin and Albert Charles Seward. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1903.
Scott, John. 1867. On the reproductive functional relations of several species and varieties of Verbasca. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 36 (pt 2): 145–74.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Proposes to support John Scott in research on relative fertility and self-incompatibility of plants. CD would pay him for a year or two but wants JDH to give him research facilities at Kew.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4444
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Joseph Dalton Hooker
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 115: 226a–b
- Physical description
- L(S)(A) 7pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4444,” accessed on 18 May 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4444.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12