More Letters - A Record of His Work in a Series of Hitherto Unpublished Letters by Charles Darwin

Author:Charles Darwin [Darwin, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

I wonder why Asa Gray will not believe in the quaternary arrangement; I had fancied that you saw some great difficulty in the case, and that made me think that my notion must be wrong.

LETTER 617. TO J.D. HOOKER. Down, September 27th .

Masdevallia turns out nothing wonderful (617/1. This may refer to the homologies of the parts. He was unable to understand the mechanism of the flower.—"Fertilisation of Orchids," Edition II., page 136.); I was merely stupid about it; I am not the less obliged for its loan, for if I had lived till 100 years old I should have been uneasy about it. It shall be returned the first day I send to Bromley. I have steamed the other plants, and made the sensitive plant very sensitive, and shall soon try some experiments on it. But after all it will only be amusement. Nevertheless, if not causing too much trouble, I should be very glad of a few young plants of this and Hedysarum in summer (617/2. Hedysarum or Desmodium gyrans, the telegraph-plant.), for this kind of work takes no time and amuses me much. Have you seeds of Oxalis sensitiva, which I see mentioned in books? By the way, what a fault it is in Henslow's "Botany" that he gives hardly any references; he alludes to great series of experiments on absorption of poison by roots, but where to find them I cannot guess. Possibly the all-knowing Oliver may know. I can plainly see that the glands of Drosera, from rapid power (almost instantaneous) of absorption and power of movement, give enormous advantage for such experiments. And some day I will enjoy myself with a good set to work; but it will be a great advantage if I can get some preliminary notion on other sensitive plants and on roots.

Oliver said he would speak about some seeds of Lythrum hyssopifolium being preserved for me. By the way, I am rather disgusted to find I cannot publish this year on Lythrum salicaria; I must make 126 additional crosses. All that I expected is true, but I have plain indication of much higher complexity. There are three pistils of different structure and functional power, and I strongly suspect altogether five kinds of pollen all different in this one species! (617/3. See "Forms of Flowers," Edition II., page 138.)

By any chance have you at Kew any odd varieties of the common potato? I want to grow a few plants of every variety, to compare flowers, leaves, fruit, etc., as I have done with peas, etc. (617/4. "Animals and Plants," Edition II., Volume I., page 346. Compare also the similar facts with regard to cabbages, loc. cit., page 342. Some of the original specimens are in the Botanical Museum at Cambridge.)

LETTER 618. J.D. HOOKER TO CHARLES DARWIN.

(618/1. The following is part of Letter 144, Volume I. It refers to reviews of "Fertilisation of Orchids" in the "Gardeners' Chronicle," 1862, pages 789, 863, 910, and in the "Natural History Review," October, 1862, page 371.

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