My dear D^r. Darwin—

I am sorry to say that I have really to contribute on the “aggregation” in the cells of roots— I made a few observations, just to get an idea of the appearances, but my time has been so fully occupied that I have not been able to go fully into the matter—¹ Moreover it occurred to me that the time of year was not at all favourable for observations of this kind, unless, of course, the plants were grown in warmth— These reasons combined led me to postpone the matter till the summer—

I have been working very hard at the new edition of Sachs, and I am glad to say that the first two books of it are now in the press—so that only the Physiology remains to be done, a sufficiently arduous undertaking even by itself—² To make the new edition of any value, much has to be added and altered, and it is a serious and anxious matter to do this, especially as the book covers such a wide range of topics— However, I console myself by thinking that the result will be at least better than nothing—

Yours very faithfully | Sydney H. Vines.