To J.-H. Fabre 21 January 1881
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
Jan 21 1881
Dear & Honoured Sir
I am much obliged for yr very interesting letter. Your results appear to me highly important, as they eliminate one means by which animals might perhaps recognise direction; & this from what has been said about savages, & from our own consciousness, seemed the most probable means.1
If you think it worth while, you can of course mention my name in relation to this subject.
Should you succeed in eliminating a sense of the magnetic currents of the earth, you would leave the field of investigation quite open. I suppose that even those who still believe that each species was separately created, would admit that certain animals possess some sense by which they perceive direction, & which they use instinctively. On mentioning the subject to my son George,2 who is a mathematician & knows something about magnetism, he suggested making a very thin needle into a magnet; then breaking it into very short pieces, which would still be magnetic, & fastening one of these pieces with some cement on the thorax of the insect to be experimented on.
He believes that such a little magnet, from its close proximity to the nervous system of the insect, would affect it more than would the terrestial currents.
I have received your essay on Halictus, which I am sure that I shall read with much interest.3
With much respect, I remain | Dear Sir | Yours very faithfully Charles Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Fabre, Jean-Henri. 1879. Souvenirs entomologiques: études sur l’instinct et les mœurs des insectes. Paris: Librairie Ch. Delagrave.
Fabre, Jean-Henri. 1880. Étude sur les mœurs et la parthénogenèse des Halictes. Annales des sciences naturelles. Zoologie 6th ser. 9 (1879–80) (article 4): 1–27.
Summary
Discusses JHF’s investigations of animals’ sense of direction. Suggests experiment involving magnetism.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13022
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Jean-Henri Casimir (Jean-Henri) Fabre
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Harmas Jean-Henri Fabre
- Physical description
- LS(A) 2pp (photocopy)
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13022,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13022.xml