To J. P. M. Weale 22 February [1867]
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
Feb 22.
My dear Sir
I am very much obliged for your letter & the paper on the Bonatea which I have read with much interest.1 Several of the points which you describe are new to me, but I will not here discuss them. I have forwarded your paper to the Linnean Soc., but as the Society has published so much on the fertilization of orchids & as it is rather in arrear I do not feel sure that it will publish your paper.2
I have in fact no means of judging on this head; but should your paper not be published you must not infer from this that the Society does not think it of value. If not published you could if you thought fit reclaim it. The difficulty I foresee will be the expense of engravings; but I hope I may be altogether mistaken in my mistrust.3
Your observations on Asclepias will I have no doubt be new & curious; I am nearly sure that Robt Brown many years ago told me that he did not understand how the pollen masses were retained by the stigmas which do not emit viscid matter.4 I have not heard anything about Dr Brown & his conduct as botanist in your colony.5 I am much obliged for your very kind & flattering expressions with respect to what I have been able to do in natural History.6 It is a most serious drawback to me that I am very seldom able to go to London or to see any of my fellow-workers in Natural History owing to my constant state of ill-health; I thus lose much pleasure & profit.
With my best wishes for your continued success in Natural History I remain | my dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Autobiography: The autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809–1882. With original omissions restored. Edited with appendix and notes by Nora Barlow. London: Collins. 1958.
Weale, James Philip Mansel. 1867. Notes on the structure and fertilization of the genus Bonatea, with a special description of a species found at Bedford, South Africa. [Read 7 March 1867.] Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany) 10 (1869): 470–6.
Summary
Discusses JPMW’s paper on Bonatea [see 5411].
Mentions Robert Brown’s views on pollen.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5409
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- James Philip Mansel Weale
- Sent from
- Down
- Postmark
- FE 22 67
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.326)
- Physical description
- LS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5409,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5409.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 15