Then where does he do his
barnacles?" as though not merely his father, but all other men, must be
occupied on that group.

Sir Joseph Hooker, to whom the first letter in this chapter is
addressed, was good enough to supply a note on the origin of his
intimacy with Mr. Darwin, and this is published in the "Life and
Letters." (Chapter II./9. Ibid., II., page 19. See also "Nature," 1899,
June 22nd, page 187, where some reminiscences are published, which
formed part of Sir Joseph's speech at the unveiling of Darwin's statue
in the Oxford Museum.) The close intercourse that sprang up between them
was largely carried on by correspondence, and Mr. Darwin's letters to
Sir Joseph have supplied most valuable biographical material. But it
should not be forgotten that, quite apart from this, science owes much
to this memorable friendship, since without Hooker's aid Darwin's great
work would hardly have been carried out on the botanical side. And Sir
Joseph did far more than supply knowledge and guidance in technical
matters: Darwin owed to him a sympathetic and inspiriting comradeship
which cheered and refreshed him to the end of his life.

A sentence from a letter to Hooker written in 1845 shows, quite as
well as more serious utterances, how quickly the acquaintance grew into
friendship.

"Farewell! What a good thing is community of tastes! I feel as if I had
known you for fifty years. Adios." And in illustration of the permanence
of the sympathetic bond between them, we quote a letter of 1881 written
forty-two years after the first meeting with Sir Joseph in Trafalgar
Square (see "Life and Letters," II., page 19). Mr. Darwin wrote: "Your
letter has cheered me, and the world does not look a quarter so black
this morning as it did when I wrote before. Your friendly words are
worth their weight in gold.")

LETTER 13. TO J.D. HOOKER. Down, Thursday [January 11th, 1844].

My dear Sir

I must write to thank you for your last letter, and to tell you how much
all your views and facts interest me. I must be allowed to put my own
interpretation on what you say of "not being a good arranger of extended
views"--which is, that you do not indulge in the loose speculations so
easily started by every smatterer and wandering collector. I look at a
strong tendency to generalise as an entire evil.

What you say of Mr. Brown is humiliating; I had suspected it, but would
not allow myself to believe in such heresy. Fitz-Roy gave him a rap
i