To Axel Blytt   28 March 1876

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

March 28. 76

Dear Sir

I thank you sincerely for your kindness in having sent me your work on “The Immigration of the Norwegian Flora”, which has interested me in the highest degree. Your view, supported as it is by various facts, appears to me the most important contribution towards understanding the present distribution of plants, which has appeared since Forbes’ essay on the effects of the Glacial Period1

With much respect | and my best thanks | I remain dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

LS

1
Blytt evidently sent his Essay on the immigration of the Norwegian flora during alternating rainy and dry periods (Blytt 1876). In it, he argued that alternating wet and dry periods played a large role in explaining the distribution of plants in Scandinavia; for a discussion of its significance to CD and others, see Lie 2008, pp. 166–9. Edward Forbes hypothesised that as the ice retreated at the end of the glacial period, Alpine plants continued to survive on mountain tops in the temperate zones (E. Forbes 1846).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10433,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10433