Ɛpsilon

To W. W. Baxter   6 January [1878]1

Beckenham

6 Jan.,

[Asks about the composition of a ‘spermaceti ointment’ which he has been buying for some years] because I blackened some young shoots of plants with this ointment mixed with Lamp-black & it produced an extraordinary effect on the shoots, which I think cannot be accounted for merely by the exclusion of light.2

incomplete3

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from W. W. Baxter, 7 January 1878.
2
CD had painted one side of the cotyledons of Avena and Phalaris with a mixture of lamp-black and spermaceti ointment in order to ascertain the effect of excluding light, but they became bowed towards the blackened side owing to the grease checking their growth (Movement in plants, pp. 467–8). See also letter from Leonard Darwin, 7 January 1878. Spermaceti ointment was used as a mild dressing for blisters, cuts, and grazes (Warren 1859, p. 675).
3
The letter is described in the sale catalogue as being one page long and complete.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11314,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11314