To John Scott 1 and 3 August [1863]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
Aug 1st.
Dear Sir
I am rather overwhelmed with letters to answer, but I must thank you for the copy of your Orchid paper.—2 I can with entire truth say it has greatly interested me.— Every naturalist who cares for anything besides naming species, will, I believe, be interested by it.— I am pleased by the notice you take of my papers; but you take almost too much notice of them.3 My sole criticism is, as you know, that some parts might have been written in a4 simpler style,5 like your letters. I shall hereafter read your paper to Dr. Hooker,6 so that he shall see it; but for about 3 weeks he is terribly overworked owing to the absence and illness of several of the officers at Kew.7 I congratulated you on the printing of your Paper and now must wish you good night for I am very tired.
Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | C. Darwin.
Aug 3d. P.S.—8 | I have kept back my note, owing to receipt of yours,9 which as usual contained much to me very valuable matter.— I shall give all your new facts on sterility of orchids; as you have established the case far better than anyone.—10
Your argument on coloured primroses not being hybrids seems to me good, & ought to be just mentioned in your paper—11 It is a good thought of yours to sow seed of the coloured primroses & so perhaps discover parentage. I begin to think more & more that perhaps you had better keep back this subject for separate paper.12
Many thanks for seed of the red Cowslip— it is a very remarkable case.—13
I suppose I understand rightly that the seed of white & red Primrose are self- fertilised seed—if I am wrong please tell me.—14
I am very glad that I sent the result of crosses of Primrose & Cowslip:15 I doubted whether worth sending; as I thought the non result of the heteromorphic union of cowslip & primrose was mere accident.—16 I wish I had made more crosses, but I was then so busy.—
I have no more evidence about L. Lewisii: Asa Gray considers it only as var.—17 L. corymbiferum is dimorphic.— I was right about fertility of L. flavum.—18 I believe I once saw a lot of L. monogynum & they were all same form. Can seed of L. monogynum be purchased?? What you say about long-styled is curious.19
Dear Sir | Yours faithfully & obliged | C. Darwin
[Enclosure]20
Possibly Dr Hildebrand of Bonn would notice your paper in Bot. Zeitung— if you have spare copy & like; I will forward one to him—21
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.
Correns, C. 1916. Friedrich Hildebrand. Berichte der deutschen botanischen Gesellschaft 34 (pt 2): 28–49.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Cross and self fertilisation: The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1876.
Desmond, Ray. 1994. Dictionary of British and Irish botanists and horticulturists including plant collectors, flower painters and garden designers. New edition, revised with the assistance of Christine Ellwood. London: Taylor & Francis and the Natural History Museum. Bristol, Pa.: Taylor & Francis.
Forms of flowers: The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1877.
Hildebrand, Friedrich. 1861. Die Verbreitung der Coniferen in der Jetztzeit und in den früheren geologischen Perioden. Verhandlungen des naturhistorischen Vereines der preussischen Rheinlande und Westphalens 18: 199–384.
‘Illegitimate offspring of dimorphic and trimorphic plants’: On the character and hybrid-like nature of the offspring from the illegitimate unions of dimorphic and trimorphic plants. By Charles Darwin. [Read 20 February 1868.] Journal of the Linnean Society of London (Botany) 10 (1869): 393–437.
Junker, Thomas. 1989. Darwinismus und Botanik. Rezeption, Kritik und theoretische Alternativen im Deutschland des 19. Jahrhunderts. Stuttgart: Deutscher Apotheker Verlag.
Orchids 2d ed.: The various contrivances by which orchids are fertilised by insects. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition, revised. London: John Murray. 1877.
Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Planchon, Jules Emile. 1847–8. Sur la famille des Linnes. London Journal of Botany 6 (1847): 588–603; 7 (1848): 165–86, 473–501, 507–28.
Royal Society catalogue of scientific papers: Catalogue of scientific papers (1800–1900). Compiled and published by the Royal Society of London. 19 vols. and index (3 vols.). London: Royal Society of London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1867–1925.
‘Specific difference in Primula’: On the specific difference between Primula veris, Brit. Fl. (var. officinalis of Linn.), P. vulgaris, Brit. Fl. (var. acaulis, Linn.), and P. elatior, Jacq.; and on the hybrid nature of the common oxlip. With supplementary remarks on naturally produced hybrids in the genus Verbascum. By Charles Darwin. [Read 19 March 1868.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 10 (1869): 437–54.
‘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 JS for orchid paper [Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh 7 (1863): 543–50]. JS presents excellent new facts on sterility of orchids.
His argument that coloured primroses are not hybrids is good, as is idea of discovering primrose parentage by breeding for colours.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4260
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Scott
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 93: B24, B27–8, B70; DAR 147: 455
- Physical description
- ALS 6pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4260,” accessed on 1 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4260.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 11