To William Ogle 17 August 1878
[Barlaston Hall, Staffordshire]
My dear Dr. Ogle,—
I am extremely glad to hear that you have undertaken to edit Kerner’s work on Flowers and their Unbidden Guests; for it opens out a highly original and curious field of research.1 It is possible that some of Kerner’s generalisations may hereafter require to be slightly modified; but I feel sure that every remark which he has made well deserves careful consideration.2 The beauty and poetry of flowers will not be at all lessened to the general observer, by his being led through Kerner’s investigation to notice various small, and apparently quite unimportant, details of structure,—such as the presence of differently directed hairs, viscid glands, etc., which prevent the access of certain insects, and not of others. He will, I believe, come to the conclusion that flowers are not only delightful from their beauty and fragrance, but display most wonderful adaptations for various purposes. I cordially wish that your translation may find many readers, not so much for your sake as for theirs.
Believe me very faithfully yours | Charles Darwin.
Down, Beckenham, Kent, | August 17, 1878.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Kerner, Anton. 1876. Die Schutzmittel der Blüthen gegen unberufene Gäste. In Festschrift der K. K. Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien. Vienna: K. K. Zoologisch-Botanische Gesellschaft; Braumüller.
Summary
Is glad WO is undertaking the editing of Anton Kerner’s book [Schutzmittel der Blüthen gegen unberufene Gäste (1876)], which appears to open out "highly original & curious fields of research". [Used as prefatory letter to Kerner, Flowers and their unbidden guests, The translation revised and edited by W. Ogle (1878).]
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11666
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Ogle
- Sent from
- Barlaston
- Source of text
- Ogle trans. 1878, pp. v–vi
- Physical description
- Printed & ADraftS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11666,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11666.xml