From C. V. Naudin1   18 June 1865

Muséum | d’Histoire Naturelle, | Culture. | Paris,

18 Juin 65.

Cher Monsieur Darwin,

M. Decaisne2 et moi nous avons reçu les exemplaires de votre excellent travail sur les plantes grimpantes que vous avez bien voulu nous envoyer, et je viens, en son nom et au mien, vous en faire nos sincères remerciments.3

A mon tour, j’espère être bientôt en mesure de vous offrir un exemplaire de mon mémoire sur l’hybridation, qui est sous presse en ce moment.4 Par la même occasion, je compte vous envoyer une petite note que j’ai faite, il y a une dizaine d’années, sur les vrilles (tendrils) des Cucurbitacées, que peut-être vous ne connaissez pas (Annales des sc. nat. tom....),5 et où je crois avoir démontré que ces organes sont les nervures d’une feuille appartenant à un rameau avorté, et non, comme l’a prétendu M. Payer, une dépendance de la feuille normalement développée.6

Je suis extrêmement occupé, en ce moment, non seulement de mes recherches cucurbitologiques et hybridologiques, mais encore de la rédaction d’un traité général d’horticulture appliqué à tous les climats de la France.7 J’ajoute, avec regret, que, ce qui m’occupe beaucoup aussi, c’est de lutter contre une névralgie très douloureuse de la face, que ne me laisse de repos ni jour ni nuit.8

Ce serait un bonheur pour moi, Cher Monsieur, d’apprendre que votre santé est entièrement rétablie. Je le désire du fond du coeur, pour vous d’abord, puis pour la Science, qui a tout à gagner à ce que vous puissiez long-temps encore continuer à la servir.

J’ai reçu, avec le plus grand plaisir, le beau portrait que vous m’avez envoyé, et que je conserve précieusement comme un souvenir de vous, et aussi comme souvenir de M. votre fils, dont il prouve l’habilité en photographie.9

Veuillez donc, Cher Monsieur, agréer avec nos remerciments collectifs, l’assurance des sentiments distingués avec lesquels j’ai l’honneur d’être | votre dévoué serviteur et confrère, | Ch. Naudin | Mbre. de l’Institut. | au Muséum d’Hist. naturelle

1
For a translation of this letter, see Correspondence vol. 13, Appendix I.
3
The reference is to ‘Climbing plants’. No presentation list for ‘Climbing plants’ has been found.
4
The article referred to is Naudin 1865a. CD’s annotated presentation copy is in the Darwin Library–CUL (see Marginalia 1: 638–9).
5
The reference is to Naudin 1855. No copy of this article has been found in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection, but the article had been mentioned to CD by Joseph Dalton Hooker (see Correspondence vol. 11, letter from J. D. Hooker, [31 July 1863] and n. 7). There was a long debate among a number of botanists, including Naudin and Jean-Baptiste Payer, in the Société Botanique from February to July 1857 on the origin of the tendril in the Cucurbitaceae (Bulletin de la Société Botanique 4 (1857): 109–111, 142–6, 322–4, 744–56, 787–8). CD mentions these discussions in a footnote to ‘Climbing plants’, p. 73. For some of CD’s inquiries about tendrils, see Correspondence vol. 12, letter from Daniel Oliver, [before 31 March 1864] and nn. 3 and 5, and letter to Daniel Oliver, 11 March [1864] and nn. 3, 6, and 9.
6
In Payer 1845, p. 164, the tendril is described as a modified leaf. During the 1857 discussions (see n. 5, above), Payer added that the tendril in the Cucurbitaceae was analogous to the stipule of the leaf in the Rosaceae (Guillard 1857, pp. 145–6). Naudin had attempted to show that the tendril was a modification of the first leaf of an aborted shoot; that is, a ‘mixed organ’ consisting of a branch at its base and a leaf at the top (Naudin 1855, p. 9). In ‘Climbing plants’, CD mentioned Naudin’s view of the tendril as ‘part leaf and part branch’, referring to the 1857 discussions but not citing Naudin specifically. CD then cited Payer on the authority of Miles Joseph Berkeley (who referred to Payer as ‘Payen’ in his article in Gardeners’ Chronicle 1864, p. 721) as providing the ‘most probable’ explanation, that the tendril was ‘a separate portion of the leaf itself’ (‘Climbing plants’, p. 73).
7
The work referred to is Decaisne and Naudin 1862–71.
8
Naudin’s nervous disorder had left him totally deaf and in constant pain. He had already been forced to give up teaching, and eventually resigned from the Muséum in 1868 after two operations on his facial nerves failed to resolve the problem completely (letter from C. V. Naudin, 29 March 1868, Calendar no. 6068; see also J. Harvey 1997).
9
At Naudin’s request, CD had sent a photograph taken by his son William Erasmus Darwin in 1864 (see Correspondence vol. 12, letter to C. V. Naudin, 8 December [1864]; the photograph is reproduced as the frontispiece of Correspondence vol. 12). Naudin had sent a photograph of himself to CD in December 1864 (see Correspondence vol. 12, letter from C. V. Naudin, 6 December 1864 and n. 3). Although no photograph of Naudin has been found in the Darwin Archive–CUL, it is likely that the photograph reproduced in this volume is the same as the one CD received.

From C. V. Naudin1   18 June 1865

Muséum | d’Histoire Naturelle, | Culture. | Paris,

18 Juin 65.

Dear Mr Darwin,

M. Decaisne and I have received the copies of your excellent work on climbing plants that you were kind enough to send us, and I want, in his name and in mine, to express my heartfelt thanks.

In return, I hope soon to be in a position to give you a copy of my paper on hybridisation, which is in press at the moment. At the same time, I plan to send you a short communication written by me, about ten years ago, on the tendrils of the Cucurbitaceae, of which perhaps you are not aware (Annales de Sc. Nat vol.... ), and in which I believe that I have shown that these organs are the veins of a leaf belonging to an abortive shoot and do not, as M. Payer has claimed, derive from the normally developed leaf.

I am extremely busy at the moment, not only with my research on the Cucurbitaceae and hybridisation, but also in writing a general horticultural treatise applying to all the climates of France. I am sorry to add that a lot of my time is taken up also with my struggle against a very painful facial neuralgia, which lets me rest neither by day nor by night.

It would make me happy, dear Sir, to learn that your health is entirely restored. I wish it from the bottom of my heart, first for your sake, and secondly for the sake of Science, which has everything to gain from your ability to continue to serve it for a long time.

I received, with the utmost pleasure, the beautiful portrait which you sent me, and which I keep as a precious memento of you, and of your son, whose skill in photography it proves.

Will you, dear Sir, accept with our collective thanks, the assurance of the sincere regard with which I have the honour to remain | your obedient servant and colleague, | Ch. Naudin | Member of the Institut de France| at the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle.

1
For a transcription of this letter in its original French, see Correspondence vol. 13, p. 467.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4863,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4863