From James Torbitt 24 January 1876
Sydenham | Belfast
24th. Jan 1876
Charles Darwin Esqre. | Down | Beckenham | —Kent
My dear Sir
With profound respect—now that the course of the life of the Peronospora Infestans seems to have been fully traced out, I venture once again to address you and if what I have to say possesses no interest I can only rely on your goodness to pardon the intrusion.1
The matter is this— In the spring of 1873 I planted the cutting of a Vine, in the summer of 1874 it had put forth its adventitious roots and leaves. I then took it up, divided it longitudinally into two equal parts, cutting down exactly through the centre of the pith, and leaving to each half an equal quantity of roots and leaves. I planted it in separate pots and it continued to grow healthily until it was lost sight of—in the nursery gardens.2 That is for several months, until it had acquired increased bulk and was evidently capable of living.
And now my dear Sir what I would wish to be permitted to ask—if indeed a question on my part be admissible—and I need not seek to hide my opinion that in coming to you I come to the highest authority in the world on the subject—
What I wish to know is—what is this so divided plant? is it an individual or several? Have both parts received an accession to the original stock of life, or only one of the parts? Or have neither? If neither, then how can dividing a plant into unequal parts, and calling one the stem and the other the scion be supposed to effect a new birth—afford a new starting point of life? May not after all the sexual union be the only rejuvenator of life? The true and only starting point of the life of the individual?3
I venture to forward herewith some matter in type,4 in the hope that it may be considered not unworthy of perusal and have the honour to be my dear Sir | most respectfully yours | James Torbitt
Footnotes
Bibliography
DSB: Dictionary of scientific biography. Edited by Charles Coulston Gillispie and Frederic L. Holmes. 18 vols. including index and supplements. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1970–90.
Torbitt, James. 1875. Potato cultivation. [Read 14 April 1875.] Proceedings of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society (1874–5): 112–25.
Summary
Are plants that arise from vegetative propagation individuals or merely parts of the original parent plant?
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10365
- From
- James Torbitt
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Belfast
- Source of text
- DAR 178: 130
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10365,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10365.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24