My dear Father,

I got your proofs and sent off a post-card to say so. I will have a good go at them tomorrow, & I have done some this morning—¹ I like de Bary very much & I can see that he hasn’t any of the touchiness of Sachs—² I have got a very nice lodging at a bootmakers looking N over a little square called the Stephan-Platz; it is close to the river and only about 4 minutes from the laboratory

The laboratory seems to consist of a very long room with a row of tables where people are microscoping all day; then de Bary’s room which is not large & with a small table with a Hartnack³ on it & an awful mess of glasses watch glasses &c on it. Then comes my room and I have a separate door & key of my own. D^e Bary suggested the anatomy of roots as having some connection with the root work in the Movements of P. which he called “sehr interessant”.⁴ So I have begun with Equisetum roots; and he snipped a lot of little roots from a great plant in the laboratory which he knocked out of its pot for the purpose— I cut longitudinal sections and saw the things in Sachs like this;⁵ he said some of my prep^ns were “ganz gut so gar”, but the shine was taken off by his saying afterwards that it was “furchtbar leicht”.⁶ Today I have been cutting transverse sections of the same roots which is much more difficult; I havn’t shown him any of the good ones yet

I am partly disgusted to find that de Bary’s assistant Wortmann (whom I knew at Würzburg) has found circumnutation in the mycelium of some fungus which grows an awful pace, he will show it me, & then I can tell you more about it—⁷ I will send you a few addresses, & if you will send the Bramble papers off I shall be much obliged.⁸ I forget whether I told you that Stahl is now professor at Jena, this is a horrid bore for me, as he would have been society for me;⁹ being in a room by myself is rather bad for getting to know the people but I dare say I shall.

I think I should like Dandy, he might be turned out almost at once, and if I found I didn’t ride enough to make it worth while I suppose the Leith Hill vet would find a home for him—I will write to Aunt Caroline at once.¹⁰

Please thank Bessy & Mother for letters¹¹ I am very glad poor Dubs¹² cheered up so soon Your affec | F. D.

I have met Oscar Schmidt & given him herzlichen Gruss from you—¹³ I will tell you about him