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From William Preyer   25 November 1880

Jena

November 25, 1880

Dear Sir—

The beautiful leading article in the Times of Nov. 20, 1880 on your new book awakens in me so vivid a desire to read it that I take the liberty of addressing myself directly to the author. Would you kindly instruct the publisher (is it Mr. Murray?) to send me a copy by book-post?1 It would take several weeks to get one through a bookseller here and I am rather impatient wishing particularly to know what methods you employed in studying the movements of plants. They may be applicable to animal embryos which I am investigating and the earliest movements of which have never been experimented on.

At the same time I beg to be informed about your papers in “Nature” VIII. p. 417. 1873 (Origin of certain instincts) and in “Zoologist” VIII. 3488. 1873 (Perception in the lower animals).2 I would return the copies within one week, if you will kindly send them. But I do not wish to trouble you, if you have none left.

Please accept my newest book not as merely “popular lectures”. It contains many special researches some of which may perhaps have some little interest for you.3

With my best compliments to Mrs. & Miss Darwin4

I remain Your’s | faithfully | Wm. Preyer | in Jena

To Mr. Ch. Darwin | in Down

1
A review of Movement in plants appeared in The Times, 20 November 1880, p. 9; John Murray was CD’s publisher. Preyer’s name is on CD’s presentation list for Movement in plants (see Appendix IV).
2
See Correspondence vol. 21, letters to Nature, [before 13 March 1873] and [before 3 April 1873]. The letters were printed in Nature, 3 April 1873, pp. 417–18, and 13 March 1873, p. 360 (reprinted in the Zoologist 2d ser. 8 (1873): 3488–9).
3
A copy of Preyer’s Naturwissenschaftliche Thatsachen und Probleme, populäre Vorträge (Scientific facts and problems, popular lectures; Preyer 1880) is in the Darwin Library–Down.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12857,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12857