Ɛpsilon

To G. J. Romanes   18 July 1875

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

July 18. 75

My dear Mr Romanes

I have been much interested by your letter & am truly delighted at the prospect of success.1 Such energy as yours is almost sure to command victory   The world will be much more influenced by experiments on animals than on plants.2 But in any case I think a large number of successful results will be necessary to convince physiologists. It is rash to be sanguine, but it will be splendid if you succeed.

My object in writing has been to say that it has only just occurred to me that I have not sent you a copy of my “Insectivorous Plants”;3 if you would care to have a copy & do not possess one, send me a postcard, & one shall be sent. If I do not hear I shall understand.

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

LS

1
Romanes described his work on graft hybrids in his letter of 14 July 1875.
2
Romanes had considered doing animal experiments to test CD’s theory of pangenesis (see Correspondence vol. 22, letter to G. J. Romanes, 27 December 1874).
3
Romanes’s name was not on CD’s presentation list for Insectivorous plants.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10076,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10076