From F. M. Balfour [22 November 1880]1
Trinity College, | Cambridge.
Monday
My dear Mr Darwin
I have to thank you very much for a copy of your work on the movements of plants.2 I have as yet only read the introduction & the last chapter.
To offer any praise of the work would be a form of gross impertinence on my part, but I may say that it has been to me a complete revelation— The remarkable nervous system without nerves, for I do not know what else to call it, the existence of wh you have proved, must have a most important bearing on speculations as to the origin of the nervous system in animals—3 One is almost led to wonder why a nervous system has become developed, when it is possible for so perfect a arrangement can exist without any corresponding structural differentiations
Your’s very sincerely | F. M. Balfour
Footnotes
Bibliography
Movement in plants: The power of movement in plants. By Charles Darwin. Assisted by Francis Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.
Summary
Thanks for copy of Movement in plants; CD’s discovery of a "nervous system without nerves" will have important bearing on origins of animal nervous system.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-12786
- From
- Francis Maitland Balfour
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Trinity College, Cambridge
- Source of text
- DAR 160: 27
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12786,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12786.xml
