From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Daniel Oliver
Date:
[22–3 Sept 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 261.10: 12 (EH 88205996) and part of DAR 261.10: 18 (EH 88206002)
Summary:
Sends address.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Jeffries Wyman
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[c. 15] Sept 1860
Source of text:
DAR 47: 165–6
Summary:
Cases of monstrosities becoming transmissible.
Comments on passages in Origin on the blindness of the tucu-tucu (Ctenomys) and Mammoth Cave rats.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:
2 Sept [1860]
Source of text:
DAR 115: 73
Summary:
CD has a low opinion of British entomologists.
Lyell’s ingenious difficulties with natural selection show he is in earnest.
Asks JDH to observe beetles and variation of stripes in mules on his Syrian tour.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:
6 Sept [1860]
Source of text:
DAR 115: 74
Summary:
Thanks JDH for agreeing to observe coats of asses and mules in Middle East.
Asks for observations on vigour of plants as JDH ascends mountains.
Ad hominem article in Athenæum [review of John Tyndall, Glaciers of the Alps, 1 Sept 1860, pp. 280–2].
Reports extensive experiments on Drosera.
Observations on orchid anatomy.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Daniel Oliver
Date:
11 Sept [1860]
Source of text:
DAR 261.10: 9 (EH 88205993)
Summary:
Requests observations on Drosera and Dionaea,
and asks DO to look up Buchanan and Wight on insectivorous plants ["Conspectus of Indian Utricularia", Hooker’s J. Bot. 1 (1849): 372–4].
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Daniel Oliver
Date:
15 [Sept 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 261.10: 10 (EH 88205994)
Summary:
Thanks for reference to Annales des Sciences Naturelles.
Requests DO observe rate at which Australian Drosera closes.
On detection of nitrogen in organic fluids.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Thomas Vernon Wollaston
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
[16 Sept 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 205.3: 302
Summary:
Has received a batch of S. African specimens which contain many of the Atlantic genera he found in Madeira and the Canaries.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
James Drummond
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
17 Sept 1860
Source of text:
DAR 157a
Summary:
Reports observations on the fertilisation of Goodeniaceae, and particularly Leschenaultia. [See 2992.]
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Daniel Oliver
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
19 Sept 1860
Source of text:
DAR 58.1: 12–13
Summary:
CD’s observations on preference of Drosera for milk and nitrogenous fluids, and the effect of nitrate of ammonia are interesting. Asks whether CD is satisfied that the effect is not due to density of fluid or to a chemical irritant. His own observations suggest such possibilities.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
William Henry Harvey
Date:
[20–4 Sept 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 98 (ser. 2): 45–53
Summary:
Replies to WHH’s criticisms of the Origin. Is disappointed that WHH does not understand what CD means by natural selection. CD has said "ad nauseam" that selection can do nothing without previous variability. Natural selection accumulates successive variations in any profitable direction. If CD had to rewrite his book he would use "natural preservation" rather than selection. Defends his necessarily conjectural illustrations. Agrees with what WHH says on the antiquity of the world, but it makes no impression on him. Considers the difficulty of the first modification of the first protozoan. Emphasises that there is nothing in his theory "necessitating in each case progression of acquisition", nor is it the case that "a low form would never conquer a high" in the struggle for life. Attempts to explain what he means by a "dominant" group; dominance is always relative, and he does not believe any one group could be predominant. He has no objections to "sudden jumps"; they would aid him in some cases, but he has found no evidence to make him believe in them and a good deal pointing the other way.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Daniel Oliver
Date:
21 [Sept 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 261.10: 11 and part of 17 (EH 88205995, 88206001)
Summary:
Lists of nitrogenous organic fluids that produce contraction in Drosera, and details of how to reproduce results.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Ebenezer Norman
Date:
[24 Sept 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 98 (ser. 2): 45v
Summary:
Instructs EN to copy and post letter [2922].
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Daniel Oliver
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
25 Sept 1860
Source of text:
DAR 58.1: 1–3
Summary:
His results with pure gum on Drosera spathulata entirely support CD’s opinion. Other observations on insectivorous plants.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
John Stevens Henslow
Date:
28 [Sept 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 93: A76–8
Summary:
Has been observing Drosera. Asks JSH whether a curious motion in the red fluid poured out from the viscid hairs is a known or common phenomenon. It surprised him, but he is "so ignorant of vegetable physiology".
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Daniel Oliver
Date:
[29 Sept 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 261.10: 15 (EH 88205999)
Summary:
Requests Dionaea now that he knows Drosera so well. Wants to compare fluids secreted; in Drosera they are acid and have antiseptic effect on meat.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Daniel Oliver
Date:
24 [Sept 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 261.10: 22 (EH 88206006)
Summary:
Admires DO’s correlation of spiny tree species and dry hot climate. CD suggests that spines, like strange aroma of desert plants, protect against browsing where there are few plants.
Fragrance and unisexuality.
Dimorphism in Viola tricolor.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Daniel Oliver
Date:
27 [Sept 1860]
Source of text:
DAR 261.10: 23 (EH 88206007)
Summary:
Thinks he has worked out simple mechanism of movement in Drosera. Believes he is correct that gum has no effect.
Thanks for Trécul paper ["Organisation des glandes pédicellées de la feuille du Drosera rotundifolia", C. R. Hebd. Acad. Sci. 40: 1355–8; Ann. Sci. Nat. (Bot.) 3d ser. 3: 303–11].
Chloroform paralyses plants in 30 seconds.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project