My dear Hooker
The following, I believe, are all the chief references on experiments on Cowslips &c. for Harvey.—2
H. C. Watson Loudon’s Mag of Nat. Hist. Vol. 3. 1830 p.217 p. 852. W. Herbert. Transact. Hort. Soc. Vol. IV. p. 193 Henslow Loudon’s Mag. of Nat. Hist. Vol. 3. 1830. p. 409 He succeeded in getting primrose from cowslip4 H. C. Watson. Phytologist Vol. 2. p. 217 p. 852. Vol 3. p. 43.—5 Sidebotham Phytologist vol. 3. p. 703.6
Notwithstanding, the amount of evidence from witnesses who experimentised with hostile bias, I cannot avoid sometimes suspecting error.— No experiment is good unless plants protected by gauze or some other similar protection.— I think Mr Sidebotham alone took such pains; yet for some unknown cause H. C. Watson sneers at his experiments.— Mr Doubleday has often tried, & has found no variation.7 I reared lots of Primroses from manured primroses with no variation.— I have now got cowslips under gauze, which I fertilize with care. Nevertheless looking through all the above accounts (& I have some loose corroborative facts) the evidence does seem overwhelming that they are varieties. The case does not half please me, as I remember saying to you, it does not work well in with nat. selection—it is rather too sudden a jump.—especially the adaption to different climatal ranges.— I am inclined by conjecture to look at cowslip as the modified descendant of Primrose; & that the seeds from the cowslip do not simply vary, but revert back in different degrees to primrose. Most of the experiments have been made on cowslips & oxlips.— on this notion, the case would be more intelligible.
Yours affect | C. Darwin
I have received long copy of M.S. verses from some anonymous author, highly laudatory, yet partly quizzing the Origin.— They are from some Botanist. I suspect Dr Boott.—8 Does he write verses?
Etty keeps just the same, poor little thing, now 3 week, wearing Fever. What a world it is—9
Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2811,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on