To T. L. Brunton 4 March 1874
Down. Beckenham— Kent
Mar. 4. 1874
Dear Sir
I thank you for your long letter which has interested me to an extreme degree. It has been very kind of you to take so much trouble about the Chlorophyl, on which subject I felt much curiosity—1 The parallelism in the digestive power of the secretion of Drosera & of the stomach of the higher animals seems to me extraordinary All albumenous substances, including the hardest cartilage, which man can digest, so can Drosera—2 But I found that the secretion of the latter wd not touch Chlorophyl Globuline, Mucin, & chemically prepared casein: & from what I have lately heard from Burdon Sanderson, & read in Schiff, so it is with gastric juice—3 I have also been very glad to hear about gelatine & to read your essay in the Med. Record—4
You have proved abundantly that the human face can differ on the two sides— When I first heard of your idea, it did not seem to me probable, but I stupidly forgot the case of a snarl or sneer— I will preserve your letter until there is a new Ed. of my book.5
Your idea about the origin of serpent & fire-worship strikes me as singularly ingenious: & is the only explanation with any probability of which I have ever heard.6 Again I thank you for your very interesting letter— When I next come to London which however will not be very soon, I will have the pleasure of calling on you in the belief that you will allow me—
Believe me | My dear Sir | yours truly obliged | Ch. Darwin
If you should ever meet with anything on the nutritive power of Chondrin I shd be very glad to hear of it.7 I lately read with some interest in Proc. R. Soc. about snake poisons & was surprised & even amused at the extraordinary simple explanation of venomous snakes not killing each other which always seemed to me a most mysterious circumstance—8
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Expression 2d ed.: The expression of the emotions in man and animals. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. Edited by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1890.
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Schiff, Moritz. 1867. Leçons sur la physiologie de la digestion, faites au Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Florence. 2 vols. Florence: Hermann Loescher.
Summary
On digestive powers of Drosera and those of higher animals.
Comments on expression on two halves of human face.
Responds to TLB’s views of serpent- and fire-worship.
Poison of venomous snakes.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9334
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Lauder Brunton, 1st baronet
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 143: 159
- Physical description
- C 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9334,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9334.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22