Ɛpsilon

To George Francis   22 February 1878

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

Feb 22—1878

Dear Sir,

I am very much obliged for the series of specimens which you have been so kind as to send me. The bulbs are planted & I hope will grow, if they fail I will sow seed.1 Unfortunately I have never attended to the colouring matter of plants; but I will write by this post to the best authority in Europe, Mr Sorby forwarding your note & offering to send him the specimens if he should like to investigate them.2 Should he publish on the subject I will ask him to acknowledge your assistance

Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

LS

1
The letter from Francis has not been found. The bulbs and seeds have not been identified.
2
Henry Clifton Sorby had devised a method for the analysis of animal and vegetable colouring matter using a spectrum microscope (see Sorby 1867 and 1875). Sorby had examined the colouring of the hairs of Drosera for CD’s work on Insectivorous plants (see Correspondence vol. 22, enclosure to letter from J. D. Hooker, 15 September 1874, and Insectivorous plants, p. 5 n.).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11371F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11371F