Ɛpsilon

From Federico Delpino1   6 December 1880

Genoa

addì 6 Xbre 1880

Venerando mio maestro!

La ringrazio per il dono del suo grande lavoro sui moti delle piante; è uno nuovo titolo di straordinaria benemerenza verso la scienza.2 La fitofisiologia odierna delirava, e la S.V. la rimette sul retto sentiero.

Poche settimane prima di ricevere il suo libro, nel discorso inaugurale che io feci nella Università di Genova, io lamentava che la moderna fisiologia vegetale commetteva il deplorabile errore di ritenere per azioni dirette e non riflesse le influenze della luce e della gravità e i moti che ne derivano.3 Ora la S.V. ha nel campo sperimentale smascherato questo gravissimo errore.4

Mille felicitazioni ed augurii! | Suo ossequentissimo | ammiratore | Federico Delpino

P.S. Mi prendo la libertà di | spedirle la mia fotografia.5

1
For a translation of this letter, see Appendix I.
2
Delpino’s name is on CD’s presentation list for Movement in plants (Appendix IV).
3
In his inaugural lecture, Il materialismo nella scienza (Materialism in science; Delpino [1880]), Delpino attacked the materialist view that plant physiology could be explained purely in physico-chemical terms and argued that plants had what he called a perception of their own needs so that their responses to external stimuli were mediated by internal reactions (Delpino [1880], pp. 22–5).
4
Among CD’s experimental findings was the discovery that sensitivity was localised in particular parts of plants, which signalled to other parts, which responded with various movements. For example, the sensitive part of the radicle or embryonic root was the tip, but movement occurred throughout the length, indicating that the tip directed the movement. CD compared the process to the action of the brain in lower animals (Movement in plants, p. 573).
5
The photograph has not been found.

From Federico Delpino1   6 December 1880

Genoa

6 December 1880

My venerable teacher!

I thank you for the gift of your great work on the movements of plants; it is a new title of exceptional importance for science.2 Contemporary plant physiology was talking nonsense, and your honour has restored it to its proper path.

A few weeks before receiving your book, in the inaugural lecture I gave at the University of Genoa, I lamented that modern plant physiology had committed the deplorable error of regarding the influence of light and gravity and the motions resulting from them as direct and not as indirect effects.3 Now your honour has unmasked this most grave error in the experimental field.4

A thousand felicitations and greetings! | From your most respectful | admirer | Federico Delpino

P.S. I take the liberty of sending you my photograph.5

1
For a transcription of this letter in its original Italian, see p. 458.
2
Delpino’s name is on CD’s presentation list for Movement in plants (Appendix IV).
3
In his inaugural lecture, Il materialismo nella scienza (Materialism in science; Delpino [1880]), Delpino attacked the materialist view that plant physiology could be explained purely in physico-chemical terms and argued that plants had what he called a perception of their own needs so that their responses to external stimuli were mediated by internal reactions (Delpino [1880], pp. 22–5).
4
Among CD’s experimental findings was the discovery that sensitivity was localised in particular parts of plants, which signalled to other parts, which responded with various movements. For example, the sensitive part of the radicle or embryonic root was the tip, but movement occurred throughout the length, indicating that the tip directed the movement. CD compared the process to the action of the brain in lower animals (Movement in plants, p. 573).
5
The photograph has not been found.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12892,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12892