To G. J. Romanes 13 December 1880
Leith Hill Place | Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
Dec. 13th 80
(return home tomorrow)
My dear Romanes
Your suggestion seems to me an excellent one, but we have no apparatus.1 I will, however, show your note to Frank.2 Certainly alternations of light & darkness at long intervals stimulates plants. Wd. it not be worth your while to try seedlings of Canary grass or cabbage?—3 The former wd be best.— A whole pot of seedlings cd be tried together. They are exqui⟨sitely⟩ sensitive to light. They migh⟨t⟩ be tried now, but possibly it might be a little better in early spring.—
We staid in London on ou⟨r⟩ road here for 3 days & I had hoped to see you, but I had to see other people, & by the afternoon was dead beaten each day.—4
I am delighted that my book has interested you.—5
I suppose that you have cases of dogs calling on each other & tempting one another to go out hunting by themselves.— There is a case here of pet dogs in 2 houseses about mile apart, & their owners have agreed to shut up their dogs on alternate weeks, so that the 2 are never free at the same time for if they are, they will ⟨go⟩ hunting.—
My dear Romanes | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin
I hear that Mr S. Butler abuses me as ⟨a⟩ liar & scoundrel in his new book, but I ⟨do⟩ not intend to look at it—6
Footnotes
Bibliography
Butler, Samuel. 1879. Evolution, old and new: or, the theories of Buffon, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, and Lamarck, as compared with that of Mr. Charles Darwin. London: Hardwicke and Bogue.
Butler, Samuel. 1880. Unconscious memory: a comparison between the theory of Dr. Ewald Hering, … and the ‘Philosophy of the unconscious’ of Dr. Edward von Hartmann. London: David Bogue.
Movement in plants: The power of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.
Summary
Discusses GJR’s idea of subjecting plants to brief flashes of light.
Hoped to see GJR in London, but was too tired.
Delighted his book Movement in plants has interested GJR.
Asks if GJR has example of dogs calling on each other to go hunting; there is a case half a mile away.
Has heard that Samuel Butler has abused him in his latest book, but he does not intend to look at it.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-12908F
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- George John Romanes
- Sent from
- Leith Hill Place
- Source of text
- Bodleian Libraries, Oxford (MS. Eng. d. 3823, fols. 6–7)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12908F,” accessed on 7 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12908F.xml