To A. R. Wallace [2 September 1872]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
My dear Wallace
I write a line to say that I understood, but I may of course have been mistaken, from Huxley that Bastian distinctly stated that he had watched the development of the scale of Sphagnum: I was astonished, as I knew the appearance of Sphagnum under a high power, & asked a second time; but I repeat that I may have been mistaken.—2 Busk told me that Sharpey had noticed the appearance of numerous infusoria in one of the solutions not containing any nitrogen; & I do not suppose that any physiologist wd. admit the possibility of infusoria absorbing nitrogen gas.—3 Possibly I ought not to have mentioned statements made in private conversation, so please do not repeat them. I quite agree about the extreme importance of such men, as Cohn, Trecul & Carter having observed apparent cases of Heterogenesis.—4 At present I shd. prefer any mad hypothesis, such as that every disintegrated molecule of the lowest forms can reproduce the parent-form; & that these molecules are universally distributed & that they do not lose their vital power until heated to such a temperature that they decompose like dead organic particles.
I am extremely grieved to hear about the museum: it is a great misfortune.—5
Yours most sincerely | C. Darwin
I have taken up old Botanical work & have given up all theories.—6
I quite agree about Howarth’s paper: he wrote to me & I told him that we differed so widely, it was of no use our discussing any point.7
As for Galton’s paper, I have never yet been able fully to digest it: as far as I have, it has not cleared my ideas, & has only aided in bringing more prominently forwards the large proportion of the latent characters.—8
Footnotes
Bibliography
Bastian, Henry Charlton. 1872. The beginnings of life: being some account of the nature, modes of origin and transformations of lower organisms. 2 vols. London: Macmillan.
Farley, John. 1977. The spontaneous generation controversy from Descartes to Oparin. Baltimore, Md., and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Summary
Huxley’s report of Bastian’s having watched the development of the scale of Sphagnum. The importance of studies of possible causes of heterogenesis.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8504
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Alfred Russel Wallace
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- The British Library (Add MS 46434)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8504,” accessed on 1 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8504.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 20