Ɛpsilon

From F. M. Balfour   [22 November 1880]1

Trinity College, | Cambridge.

Monday

My dear Mr Darwin

I have to thank you very much for a copy of your work on the movements of plants.2 I have as yet only read the introduction & the last chapter.

To offer any praise of the work would be a form of gross impertinence on my part, but I may say that it has been to me a complete revelation— The remarkable nervous system without nerves, for I do not know what else to call it, the existence of wh you have proved, must have a most important bearing on speculations as to the origin of the nervous system in animals—3 One is almost led to wonder why a nervous system has become developed, when it is possible for so perfect a arrangement can exist without any corresponding structural differentiations

Your’s very sincerely | F. M. Balfour

1
The date is established by the reference to Movement in plants; CD received his copies on 19 November 1880 (letter to R. F. Cooke, 20 November 1880). The Monday following 19 November 1880 was 22 November.
2
Balfour’s name appears on the presentation list for Movement in plants (see Appendix IV).
3
CD compared sensitivity and the transmission of movement in plants and animals, and likened the tip of the radical in plants to the brain of lower animals (see Movement in plants, pp. 572–3). See also letter to F. M. Balfour, 4 September 1880.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12786,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12786