To J. S. Burdon Sanderson 12 June 1874
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
June 12 1874
My dear Dr Sanderson
I have just read your article in Nature. It is very interesting, & in my opinion cd not be better done. I look forward to the next number, in which you will give your discovery; which the more I think of, seems to me the more important.1
I hear from Frank that your illustrations were capital.2 I did not answer your last note, as I had then much to do.3
I hope after a week or so to receive an account of your digestive experiments.
I must add that I have found another plant (Pinguicola) which catches flies & can also digest—4
yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
P.S. I read several years ago a paper in (I think) Report of Brit Assoc. by (I think??) Dr. Crum Browne or Dr Fraser on the physiological action of various salts & acids, when injected into the blood of animals. I think isomeric or isomorphous substances acted in nearly the same manner.5
I remember I though the paper extremely curious, but I never thought that it wd. concern me, so read it only for amusement.—
I have now tried so many acids & salts on Drosera, I shd. much like to read the paper again.
Ch. D.
A card with reference wd be amply sufficient.
Footnotes
Summary
JSBS’s article in Nature ["Venus’s fly-trap", 10 (1874): 105–7, 127–8] could not have been better done.
Has found another plant, Pinguicula, which can catch and digest flies.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9489
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Scott Burdon Sanderson, 1st baronet
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- University of British Columbia Library, Rare Books and Special Collections (Darwin - Burdon Sanderson letters RBSC-ARC-1731-1-18)
- Physical description
- LS(A) 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9489,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9489.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22