To W. W. Baxter   2 [December 1872]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Nov 2d

Dear Sir

You supplied me some little time ago with extract of Belladonna, & many years ago I procured in Bournemouth from a good shop some extract of Digitalis. Both these extracts act on my experimental plants, as if they contained gelatine, or albumen, or some animal matter.—2 In preparing these extracts is any sort of animal matter ever used?

I shd. be very much obliged for an answer & remain | Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Extract of Hyosciamus & of Colchicum does not act in this manner.—3

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from W. W. Baxter, 4 December 1872. CD wrote ‘Nov’ in error.
2
CD was using belladonna and digitalis in his experiments on insectivorous plants (see Insectivorous plants, especially p. 84). The Darwin family had stayed in Bournemouth in September 1862 (see Correspondence vol. 10).
3
Hyoscyamus is henbane. Colchicum is the autumn crocus.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 as] interl
3.1 & of Colchicum] added

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8592,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8592