From George Henslow [13 or 14 June 1866]1
10 South Crescent | Bedford Sq | W.C.
My dear Mr Darwin,
Very many thanks for your kindness in looking over the proof & for your valuable criticisms.2
I cannot make out however, whether you believe in the fact of reversion.—3 Of course on the whole of this subject, I personally have no opinion to offer at all: as I am simply endeavouring to arrive at the present position of the subject from various authors:—& as to reversion, came to the conclusion stated in my paper, from the various works on the subject. If however you think it a fact, I will modify my statets. accordingly (without, of course, alluding to you)
I should be much obliged, however, if you would kindly give me your positive opinion on that point: as it is a very important one, since it is the one Naudin especially observed.4
the 3 passages you marked as “obscure” oddly enough, were all quotations from Berkeleys Translations in Journal of Hort: Soc: Jan/66 I have endeavoured to elucidate them, as far as I can.5
I have felt immense difficulty in drawing up this paper, as I have not had a scrap of experience of my own—so that I greatly feared it would be defective, yet, as you kindly suggest, if it call attention to the subject that is all I can desire or wish to expect.—6
If you would give me yr opinion on “reversion” as soon as possible I will be much obliged.
I have looked at Naudin’s remarks on “ovules”. & find it to be correct— Offered, however, as a matter to be provd. (p 181–2: in Nouvelles recherches sur l’hybridite)7
Yrs truly | G Henslow
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Naudin, Charles Victor. 1858. Observations concernant quelques plantes hybrides qui ont été cultivées au Muséum. Annales des Sciences Naturelles (Botanique) 4th ser. 9: 257–78.
Naudin, Charles Victor. 1864. De l’hybridité considérée comme cause de variabilité dans les végétaux. Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des Sciences 59: 837–45.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Summary
Thanks for criticism of proofs of his paper [see 5117].
Not sure whether CD believes in reversion and would like a positive statement as this is the one point C. V. Naudin especially observed. Naudin offers his remarks on ovules as a matter to be proved ["Nouvelles recherches sur l’hybridité", Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. 1 (1865): 25–176].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5120
- From
- George Henslow
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, South Crescent, 10
- Source of text
- DAR 166: 158
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5120,” accessed on 19 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5120.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 14