To Isaac Anderson-Henry 2 February [1863]1
Down, Beckenham, Kent S.E.2
Feb. 2nd. 1863.
My dear Sir,
I am not well today and leave home tomorrow for a week or ten days to try and get some rest;3 so I must write briefly; and thank you for your very kind letter briefly.4
I have really not knowledge sufficient about Columbia to make any suggestions.5 If the Latitude had been given, I should have strongly urged (but this will have occurred to you) to have collected seeds from individual trees growing at great heights. I allude, of course to Hooker’s observation that seeds collected at different heights of some species produced seedlings with different constitution.6 Mr. Thwaites of Botanical gardens of Ceylon tells me that this is the case in that island.7 It might even be worth attending to in your present expedition as a point of science; i.e. to compare character of seedlings from great height and low places.— Many thanks for corrections about the Menziesia, and about the hybrid sent to Hooker.—8
Here is odd chance! I have made two or three trials to see whether seeds from short anthers germinated at different rates, as yet with no result; and I have tried ozonised water, with no result.—9 Not that I have tried nearly enough to come to any conclusion worth anything. Pray forgive brevity, and, with cordial thanks.
Believe me, | Yours Sincerely. | C. Darwin.
Mr. Neumann I believe to be the man who has worked at fertilization of stove orchids and in good gardens.10 I suspect he is working under M. Naudin (who is Decaisne right hand man and capital Botanist)11 M. Naudin writes to me, that he is going to publish on Hybridity and he believes he has discovered the physiological cause of sterility of Hybrids!!!12 I doubt.
If by any chance you have raised seedlings from any “weeping” tree, I should be grateful for information to quote on degrees of inheritance of “weeping” quality.—13
Pray forgive this wretchedly untidy note; but I am good for nothing.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Collected papers: The collected papers of Charles Darwin. Edited by Paul H. Barrett. 2 vols. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 1977.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
DBF: Dictionnaire de biographie Française. Under the direction of J. Balteau et al. 21 vols. and 4 fascicules of vol. 22 (A–Leyris d’Esponchès) to date. Paris: Librairie Letouzey & Ané. 1933–.
DNB: Dictionary of national biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. 63 vols. and 2 supplements (6 vols.). London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1912. Dictionary of national biography 1912–90. Edited by H. W. C. Davis et al. 9 vols. London: Oxford University Press. 1927–96.
Hooker, Joseph Dalton. 1852. On the climate and vegetation of the temperate and cold regions of East Nepal and the Sikkim Himalaya Mountains. Journal of the Horticultural Society of London 7: 69–131.
Hooker, Joseph Dalton. 1853. Introductory essay to the flora of New Zealand. London: Lovell Reeve.
LL: The life and letters of Charles Darwin, including an autobiographical chapter. Edited by Francis Darwin. 3 vols. London: John Murray. 1887–8.
ML: More letters of Charles Darwin: a record of his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters. Edited by Francis Darwin and Albert Charles Seward. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1903.
Natural selection: Charles Darwin’s Natural selection: being the second part of his big species book written from 1856 to 1858. Edited by R. C. Stauffer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1975.
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.
Taxonomic literature: Taxonomic literature. A selective guide to botanical publications and collections with dates, commentaries and types. By Frans A. Stafleu and Richard S. Cowan. 2d edition. 7 vols. Utrecht, Netherlands: Bohn, Scheltema & Holkema. The Hague, Netherlands: W. Junk. 1976–88.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Verlot, Bernard. 1864. Mémoire sur la production et la fixation des variétés dans les plantes d’ornement. Journal de la Société Impériale et Centrale d’Horticulture 10: 243–56, 305–20, 375–84, 420–32, 468–80, 518–28, 571–6, 624–40.
Summary
Suggests collecting seeds at different heights from British Columbia.
Describes experiment on seeds from short anthers.
C. V. Naudin writes he has discovered cause of hybrid sterility.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3964
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Isaac Anderson/Isaac Anderson Henry
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 145: 2
- Physical description
- C 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3964,” accessed on 23 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3964.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11