From George Bentham 15 May 1862
25. Wilton Place, S.W.
May 15 1862
My dear Sir
Many thanks for the copy of your most valuable book which I received last night1 I have only had time as yet to go through the first two chapters but they are quite enough to show what a new field for observing the wonderful provisions of Nature you have opened—as the notice you gave of a portion of it at a recent Linnean meeting put us on a new and unexpected track to guide us in the explanation of phenomena which had before that appeared so irreconcileable with the ordinary prevision and method shown in the organised world.2 I can only hope you will continue to give the world the benefit of your invaluable observations.
I sincerely trust your health did not suffer after your evening at the Linnean Society and that we may again occasionally have the great advantage of seeing you there
Ever yours most sincerely | George Bentham
C. Darwin Esq
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.
‘Three sexual forms of Catasetum tridentatum’: On the three remarkable sexual forms of Catasetum tridentatum, an orchid in the possession of the Linnean Society. By Charles Darwin. [Read 3 April 1862.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 6 (1862): 151–7. [Collected papers 2: 63–70.]
Summary
Thanks CD for his book [Orchids]. CD has opened a new field for observation and a new unexpected track to explore phenomena that had before appeared "irreconcilable with ordinary opinion and method shown in the organic world".
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3554
- From
- George Bentham
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Wilton Place, 25
- Source of text
- DAR 160.1: 152
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3554,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3554.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10
