From George Henslow 8 February 1879
6 Titchfield Terrace | Regents Park. | N.W
Feb 8/79
Dear Sir,
I hope to send you, as soon as I receive the extra numbers, a copy of my paper on “Self-Fertilization”, for although you will see it in the Transactions, I thought you would prefer to have one to annotate or criticize1
May I take this opportunity to say that though I have ventured to criticize your conclusions given in your work of “Cross & Self-Fertilisation” I trust I have not done so in any hostile spirit. The fact is that until 1872 I was an ardent believer in the value of Cross-fertilization; but so many facts have seemed to accumulate; not only to negative the idea of any injuriousness, but to support the value of self-fertilization; that my faith in the supposed importance of intercrossing began to waver.2
I do not pretend to have solved the mystery of special adaptations in flowers: but what does appear to me to be conclusive, is that no physiological benefit can be proved to be permanent, or even more than transitory: Though morphological characters, by which varieties may be known, may be.
Finally, I venture to look at the question thus:— If you are right, then any attempt to disprove your conclusions will assuredly soon be shewn to be useless; and the truth will be established firmer than ever.— If, however, yr. conclusions be erroneous; then, I think you will see, that the enormous weight which your name gives to them, will make the error a hundred times of more importance. My sole object is that the truth may discovered and established; and shall most gladly welcome any criticisms you may favour me with.
I am Dear Sir | Yrs faithfully | Geo: Henslow
Footnotes
Bibliography
Cross and self fertilisation: The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1876.
Henslow, George. 1877a. On the self-fertilization of plants. [Read 1 November 1877.] Transactions of the Linnean Society (Botany) 2d ser. 1 (1875–80): 317–98.
Henslow, George. 1877b. The fertilisation of plants. [Review of Cross and self fertilisation.] Gardeners’ Chronicle, 13 January 1877, p. 42; 3 February 1877, p. 139; 17 February 1877, pp. 203–4.
Summary
GH no longer believes in the value of cross-fertilisation in plants.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11864
- From
- George Henslow
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Titchfield Terrace, 6
- Source of text
- DAR 166: 175
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11864,” accessed on 5 June 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11864.xml