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To Daniel Oliver   15 November 1871

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Nov 15 1871

Dear Professor Oliver

Will you have the kindness to give me a small piece of information. Is it now believed that the spungeoles at the extremity of the rootlets secrete carbonic acid or any other element in a nascent state, which acts on bones & rocks so as to obtain the necessary phosphates & alkalis?1

I remember years ago having seen a statement to this effect, & I am anxious to know whether it is now thought true.2

Pray excuse my troubling you & believe me | yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

LS

1
CD’s query related to his study of earthworms, and the power of the digestive acids of worms to dissolve rocks and eventually cause the denudation of land (see Earthworms, pp. 240–6). A ‘spongiole’ is the ‘tender extremity of the radicle [root] of a plant, characterized by loose sponge-like cellular tissue’ (OED).
2
CD later referred to Julius Sachs on the secretion of carbonic acid by plant rootlets (see Earthworms, p. 243).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8068,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8068