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From W. T. Thiselton-Dyer   [after 16 October 1875?]1

In Insectivorous plants p. 353 you suggest that some of the vapour given off by Carbonate of ammonia may be absorbed by the hairs in Schloessing’s experiments. with Nicotiana Tabacum.2 No doubt it may be so, but experiments have also been made with other plants which, if I remember rightly, make it very probable that the absorption of Carbonate of ammonia from the air is a quite general phenomenon amongst plants whether provided with hairs or not. It would enter like Carbonic acid into the intercellular spaces of the leaves through the stomata and in as much as Vegetable tissues are very often acid, could hardly fail to be appropriated, just as it would be by the roots.3

Believe me | Yours very truly | W. T. Thiselton Dyer

CD annotations

1.1 Insectivorous plants] underl blue crayon

Footnotes

1
The date is conjectured from the possible relationship between this letter and the letter to W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, 16 October [1875].
2
In Insectivorous plants, p. 353, CD had cited Théophile Schloesing’s paper, ‘Sur l’absorption de l’ammoniaque de l’air par les végétaux’ (On the absorption of gaseous ammonia by plants; Schloesing 1874). Schloesing had demonstrated that leaves of Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) exposed to gaseous ammonia (NH3) under controlled conditions contained a greater amount of nitrogen than those not exposed. Schloesing had precisely controlled the amount of gaseous ammonia in the experiment, by exposing carbonate of ammonia ((NH4)2CO3) to air (see ibid., p. 1701).
3
Carbonic acid (H2CO3) is an aqueous solution of carbon dioxide (CO2). Ammonia in aqueous solution is moderately basic (pH 11.6), while healthy plant tissues are slightly acidic (pH 6.4).

Bibliography

Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.

Schloesing, Théophile. 1874. Sur l’absorption de l’ammoniaque de l’air par les végétaux. Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des sciences 78: 1700–3.

Summary

Comments on Insectivorous plants, p. 353 mentioning J. J. T. Schloesing’s experiments with carbonate of ammonia [see J. J. T. Schloesing, "Sur l’absorption de l’ammoniaque de l’air par les végétaux", C. R. Hebd. Acad. Sci. 78 (1874): 1700–3].

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-11301
From
William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
unstated
Source of text
DAR 86: B18
Physical description
ALS 2pp inc †

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11301,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11301.xml

letter

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