From Isaac Anderson-Henry 17 January 1863
Hay Lodge, Trinity, Edinburgh.
Jany 17/63
Dear Sir
I have much pleasure in acknowledging receipt of your very polite note to me of the 14th Inst.1 If the Strawberries are of no use, and if I have anything else that is;—or if there is any information I can give you,—I will feel honoured and gratified in communicating it2
Your treatise on the Primulaceæ of which you so kindly sent me a copy was to me a communication of no ordinary interest.3 I had always intended writing my views to you on the subject. Many years ago I tried my hand on that family, but made nothing of them. The Linum tribe to which you alluded near the close4 had, the Summer before last occupied me a good deal. I was most anxious to incorporate a dash of the fine colour of L. rubrum on to L. album a perennial—L Corymbiflorum a yellow sps—or L. trygynum a brighter yellow still— But a more difficult intractable race I seldom before grappled with. Your treatise threw in upon me a gleam of light—and I suspect I had not used the sympathetic anthers—the mystery of the long and short ones being unknown to and unsuspected by me.5 Last Summer I had determined to test the matter as regards the Linum tribe. But having gone on a pretty extensive tour on the Continent my operations in that way were prevented from being carried out. I may try my hand anew this Summer. I may observe, however, that of one Cross I did save seeds vizt between the L. Album (seed bearer) and L. Rubrum. But as the former was prone to to self fertilisation, I am not very confident of the Cross being effected. The plants of this cross are up—four in number & the foliage offers a difference from the female parent. So I hope it is true. I may have hit the right anthers. But if I remember rightly—the Anthers are far from being uniformly short & long as in the Primulæ. It calls for and deserves a close investigation which I mean to give it this season
I have got your admirable Book on the hybridisation of Orchids.6 I never felt myself so small, as I did on reading it, in all my life. You have achieved immortality by such a work. A tithe of its discoveries would be an enduring monument to any other man. I rejoice to see you still at work—and what next it is you are to astound & astonish us with I, & all the world stand on tiptoe of expectation to learn.
If you have occasion ever to come this way do honour me with a visit— Save Dr Hooker & Dr Lindley none in all England will be more welcome to me.7
Believe me | most faithfully yours | I Anderson Henry.
I have for many years tried to incorporate the Raspberry with the Strawberry. I have one brood of plants with wiry foliage some having 4 divisions in the leaf. Myatts Pine was here also the seed bearer—a soft foliaged of variety. This coming Season I am to have an alliance if possible between the Bramble & raspberry. When I was at Woodend (my place in Perthshire) I found an upright growing variety of the Bramble which I had removed into the Garden for my intended manipulations. I will be glad to let you know the result.
If you would wish me to try anything to serve you in any way I will very gladly undertake it
Charles Darwin Esqre F.R.S. | &c &c &c
Footnotes
Bibliography
Collected papers: The collected papers of Charles Darwin. Edited by Paul H. Barrett. 2 vols. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 1977.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
‘Dimorphic condition in Primula’: On the two forms, or dimorphic condition, in the species of Primula, and on their remarkable sexual relations. By Charles Darwin. [Read 21 November 1861.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 6 (1862): 77–96. [Collected papers 2: 45–63.]
‘Two forms in species of Linum’: On the existence of two forms, and on their reciprocal sexual relation, in several species of the genus Linum. By Charles Darwin. [Read 5 February 1863.] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany) 7 (1864): 69–83. [Collected papers 2: 93–105.]
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Thanks for "Two forms of Primula" [Collected papers 2: 45–63].
Praise for Orchids.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3924
- From
- Isaac Anderson/Isaac Anderson Henry
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Edinburgh
- Source of text
- DAR 159: 60
- Physical description
- ALS 6pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3924,” accessed on 1 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3924.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11