To G. J. Romanes   20 December 1880

My dear Romanes

Your note has pleased me extremely & I thank you heartily, for Frank seemed to think that his papers were complete failures, as far as interesting or making anyone understand what they were about.—¹

But I write now to make a few trifling suggestions about your experiments.— I w^d advise Canary grass & cabbage seedlings when only $\frac{1}{4}$ or $\frac{1}{2}$ inch high. Your pots must be filled with earth up to very top, otherwise the rim will shade the seedlings— They ought to be grown in complete darkness, & so kept until experimented on. This makes them more sensitive to light, & allows them to grow quite upright.²

I am so ignorant that I do not know what effect a rapidly intermittent light has on the nervous system of animals, but I can clearly see that any manner of comparing the sensitiveness in the two kingdoms cannot fail to be interesting.

Your last sentence amused me. M^rs. Romanes is quite right not to allow the monkey to enter the nursery, for how dreadful it would be if the monkey received more attention than the baby!³ It seems to me very wise your observing a monkey closely.—

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin