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Darwin Correspondence Project

From Francis Darwin   19 [May 1881]1

Strassburg (Elsass)

19th.

My dear Father

Many thanks for your long letter; will you please thank Bessy for her nice letters and say I will really write a decent letter next but now I want to get some axles off—2 I was talking with Wortmann (the d—d circumnutator) last night about several physiolog things, and I said I had heard from Elfving that Phycomyces bends away from a damp surface   He said that he had made it out too in the winter and had his M.S ready; he hadn’t intended to publish it till the winter, but now he should do so at once so as to be before Elfving.3 It is very unpleasant for me, and I have written to Elfving telling him and saying how sorry I am: I think Wortmann ought most certainly to arrange with Elfving and publish at the same time, for if it hadnt been for me Elfving would have been first   Elfving hasn’t this frightful priority mania, but everyone must like to be the first— Wortmann isn’t a bad sort fellow at all, but evidently thinks entirely of himself & priority. I hope this wont prevent Elfving writing to me in the future about his work—

I expect Wortmann will publish his circumnution now too; so I think I will, or at any rate a pretty full preliminary notice; for this I should want my notes, I wonder if you could find them—do not trouble if you do not see them at once— They are all together in the cupboard on the right side of the fire; about the 3rd shelf from the bottom & close to rt side; you will recognise them by the diagrams. There are 2 or 3 very big diagrams which need not be sent; and (if they are all together) only the diagrams marked fig 1 fig 2 &c need be sent; fig 3 or 4 is marked very faintly on the rt side with blue pencil— Please do not agonise about it, as it does not matter very much   I am quite willing to let Wortmann come first but I should like to come out abt the same time4

About your protractor, I was very sorry to find that it was packed up with my things by mistake, I will send it between 2 bits of card board, & Jackson will fasten on a string & lead blob.5

Wortmann tried whether Phyco was sensitive to a touch & says it is not; but he has found some unicellular thing which is so, which is interesting.6 He says he has talked to Sachs about the Power of Movement & he approves of the circumnutn theory but doubts about the roots, let him doubt & be d—d. Wortmann highly approves of the terms apheliotropic &c & things they will be generally adopted.7

De Bary took me to a meeting of the Naturforschende Gesellschaft, where Götte made a good address about sexual selection; he speaks a queer N german dialect which makes it hard to understand.8 He talked as if no one believed in sexual selection! I was introduced to Goltz who is a jolly fat old boy like a fattened & elderly Moseley; he is coming to the Internat Med Congress in London in August.9 I was also introduced to Oscar Schmidt who is rather common looking man, he seemed a vulgar sort of man but was very civil & kindly.10

The way these people work is wonderful   Wortmann begins at 5 am & goes strt on with only breaks for meals till 7; De Bary is here from am 9 to 7 pm, & then works at home till 12; every evening from 7 to 8 he goes to “kneipe”11 i e drink beer with 2 or 3 other professors at a certain table in a certain café—

It was very touching about poor Dubs & the ship—12 Please tell him the next soldiers shall have no writing on their backs then he can cut them out13 | Yrs affec | FD

Footnotes

The month and year are established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to Francis Darwin, 16 and 17 May 1881.
See letter to Francis Darwin, 16 and 17 May 1881. No correspondence between Francis and Elizabeth Darwin has been found. ‘Axles’: a family word for unresolved work-related issues (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 27, letter from Francis Darwin to Emma Darwin, 30 June 1879).
Julius Wortmann had observed circumnutation in the mycelium of a fungus (see letter from Francis Darwin, 14 May 1881 and n. 7). Francis had met Fredrik Elfving in Würzburg in 1879 (see Correspondence vol. 27, letter from Francis Darwin, 29 May 1879). Elfving was the first researcher to describe an autochemotropic (avoidance) response in the sporophore of the fungus Phycomyces nitens. His paper ‘En obeaktad känslighet hos Phycomyces’ (An unobserved sensitivity in Phycomyces; Elfving 1881) appeared in September 1881.
Wortmann’s paper, ‘Ein Beitrag zur Biologie der Mucorineen’ (A contribution on the biology of Mucorales; Wortmann 1881) appeared in parts in Botanische Zeitung, 10 and 17 June 1881. In the first section, he described experiments with Phycomyces nitens that demonstrated the movement of sporophores away from moisture; in the second part, he described the irregular nutation of the stolon of Mucor stolonifer (a synonym of Rhizopus stolonifer, black bread mould). Francis’s paper, ‘Ueber Circumnutation bei einem einzelligen Organe’ (On circumnutation in a single-cell organ; F. Darwin 1881b), appeared in Botanische Zeitung, 29 July 1881; it included three diagrams tracing the movement of a sporophore of P. nitens. Francis described the special rotation apparatus designed by Horace Darwin that allowed him to observe clearly the circumnutation of the sporangium.
In his letter of 16 and 17 May 1881, CD had mentioned being unable to find his ‘horn semicircle for measuring angles’ (i.e. protractor). William Jackson was CD’s butler.
Wortmann described the tip of the stolon of Mucor stolonifer as sensitive to touch (Wortmann 1881, pp. 385–6).
Julius Sachs had supervised Wortmann’s doctoral studies at Würzburg. Sachs was sceptical about CD’s conclusion in Movement in plants, p. 573, that the tip of the root was the sensitive part and directed movement in the adjoining parts. Sachs had also investigated influences on root movement (Sachs 1872 and 1873–4).
No record of the meeting of the Naturalists’ Society that Francis attended with Anton de Bary has been found. Alexander Goette was a professor extraordinarius of zoology at Straßburg (Strasbourg). He was born in St Petersburg, Russia, to a Baltic German family (NDB).
Friedrich Leopold Goltz, a professor of physiology at Straßburg, attended the seventh International Medical Congress, held in London from 2 to 9 August 1881. Goltz’s paper ‘Discussion on the localisation of function in the cortex cerebri’ (Goltz 1881) was published in the transactions of the congress. Henry Nottidge Moseley was a professor of anatomy at Oxford (ODNB).
Francis had mentioned meeting Oskar Schmidt in his letter of 14 May 1881.
Kneipe: pub, bar (German).
Bernard Darwin had been upset by a report of the sinking of a ship (see letter to Francis Darwin, 16 and 17 May 1881 and n. 11).
Francis was sending paper soldiers to Bernard. Some companies produced paper soldiers with advertisements on the reverse, as a free gift with purchases (see Toiati 2019 for more on the production of paper soldiers).

Bibliography

Darwin, Francis. 1881b. Ueber Circumnutation bei einem einzelligen Organe. Botanische Zeitung, 29 July 1881, pp. 473–80.

Elfving, Fredrik. 1881. En obeaktad känslighet hos Phycomyces. Botaniska Notiser (1881): 105–7.

Goltz, Friedrich Leopold. 1881. Discussion on the localization of function in the cortex cerebri. In Transactions of the International Medical Congress, seventh session, held in London, August 2d to 9th, 1881. Prepared under the direction of William MacCormac. 4 vols. London: J. W. Klockmann.

Movement in plants: The power of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.

ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.

Sachs, Julius. 1872a. Ablenkung der Wurzeln von ihrer normalen Wachsthumsrichtung durch feuchte Körper. Arbeiten des Botanischen Instituts in Würzburg 1 (1871–4): 209–22.

Sachs, Julius. 1873–4. Ueber das Wachsthum der Haupt- und Nebenwurzeln. Arbeiten des Botanischen Instituts in Würzburg 1 (1871–4): 385–474, 584–634.

Toiati, Luigi. 2019. The history of toy soldiers. Barnsley and Philadelphia: Pen & Sword Military.

Wortmann, Julius. 1881. Ein Beitrag zur Biologie der Mucorineen. Botanische Zeitung, 10 June 1881, pp. 368–74, 17 June 1881, pp. 383–7.

Summary

Is sorry to have involved himself in a priority dispute between Wortmann and Elfving. Intends to publish on circumnutation; will CD send him his notes? Apologises for taking CD’s protractor, will send it back. Has met Oscar Schmidt.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-13166F
From
Francis Darwin
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Strasbourg
Source of text
DAR 274.1: 72
Physical description
ALS

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13166F,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13166F.xml

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