Requests chemicals for Drosera experiments. Lists 12 acids tried so far.
Requests chemicals for Drosera experiments. Lists 12 acids tried so far.
Pleased JSBS has decided to work on Drosera; sends plants. Does not know whether thermo-electric pile could detect temperature change when leaves close.
CD’s experiment with very weak hydrochloric acid repeated with success: the plants digest albumen more quickly.
Thanks TFC for his extremely interesting paper ["On the fertilisation of the New Zealand species of Pterostyles", Trans. & Proc. N. Z. Inst. 5 (1872): 352–7]. Has no doubt his explanation [of the fertilisation mechanism] is correct. The case is analogous to that of the Cypripedium though TFC’s case is much more curious.
Comparative study of "ethnical scriptures" shows that natural selection has operated in the evolution of religion.
Reports case of a man with an eyelid abnormality that apparently was acquired in infancy but was inherited by his children.
Thanks for strange debate, which CD returns. Principle of evolution has first-rate supporters in [Edward Sylvester?] Morse and Theodore Nicholas Gill.
Thanks JDH and Thiselton-Dyer for useful information.
Is surprised Mimosa albida is not sensitive to water. Asks that they try again, or lend it to him.
Remembers a walk in Brazil in great bed of Mimosa.
After JDH left, CD was very bad, with much loss of memory and severe shocks continually passing through his brain.
Thanks CD for his praise of West Riding Asylum Medical Reports.
Hopes CD will come to Asylum if he attends BAAS meeting at Bradford.
Thanks JSBS for telegraphing his results, which seem very remarkable; feels he should now try Drosera.
Very pleased at JSBS’s discovery ["On the electrical phenomena which accompany the contractions of the leaf of Dionaea muscipula", Rep. BAAS 43 (1873): 133].
Asks for pure animal substances [proteins] for Drosera experiments. His other sources have been T. L. Brunton, Edward Frankland, W. A. Miller (now dead), and Hoffmann of Berlin [A. W. von Hofmann?].
Mimosa too far gone to send now.
CD’s marjoram is the common [Origanum] vulgare, not the pot herb.
On the water injury, Thiselton-Dyer and he may have used too fine a spray, but plant is insensitive.
Horribly angry at P. G. Tait’s letter in Nature [8 (1873): 381–2].
Tyndall writes that he is strong – the next number of Nature will prove it.
G. Henslow is much better.
JDH leaves for Bradford [BAAS meeting] tomorrow.
Rejoices at CD’s success with Drosera; longs to be at Nepenthes.
Thanks for ESM’s paper ["On the systematic position of the Brachiopoda", Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 15 (1873): 315–72]. "What a wonderful change … to look at these ""shells"" as ""worms""."
Obliged for information on Mimosa albida; if a vigorous plant behaves as JDH says, CD’s notions are all knocked on the head.
Anxious to read Tyndall’s answer to Tait [Nature 8 (1873): 399].
Drosera story too long for his strength. Essentially the leaves act just like stomach of an animal.
Burdon Sanderson will give some grand facts at BAAS about Dionaea.
Offers to help JDH with Nepenthes experiments. Finds experimental work always takes twice as much time as anticipated.
Reports that S. W. Moore may be able to provide various substances for CD’s research on the digestive power of Drosera (sundew).
Thanks for proofs of the Supplement to Crag Mollusca. Sends crab apples.
Consults about the wisdom of Frank’s becoming CD’s assistant rather than practising medicine.
Outlines his finances.
[Copy in EAD’s hand.]
CD, in commenting on Wyville Thomson’s "Notes from the Challenger" [Nature 8 (1873): 347–9], recapitulates his work on rudimentary male cirripedes [Living Cirripedia], especially the complementary males attached to hermaphrodites. Offers an explanation, on evolutionary grounds, of their function and size.
Although CD’s experiments with pepsin were unsuccessful, he observed that the glands [of Drosera] as far as acid is concerned act just as the stomach of a mammal. Further experiments detailed. The secretion must contain something analogous to pepsin. [See 9062.]
Requests 6 2oz bottles with corks. Folic acid produces remarkable effect. Orders hydriodic acid.
CD’s discovery of acidity of Drosera secretion is interesting. EF explains how hydrochloric acid can be detected and identified. [See Insectivorous plants, p. 88.]