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
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Summary
Asks about possible animal substances in samples of Belladonna and Digitalis.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8592
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Walmisley Baxter
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.)
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8592,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8592.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 20