To J. S. Burdon Sanderson 13 October 1874
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
Oct 13. 1874
My dear Dr. Sanderson
Many thanks for your suggestion, but I doubt whether it is sufficient.1 The tentacles close very slowly over the 5 specified substances, & this might be accounted for by their pure state.2 But the important fact is that they subsequently re-expand so much more quickly than over minute insects, meat albumen etc. It is chiefly this latter fact which makes me conclude that the 5 substances are but little exciting & probably not very nutritious. I made so many experiments with Gelatine that I can hardly doubt that this conclusion is true with this substance.3 Klein speaks (Handbook Phys. p. 445) as if areolar (or connective) tissue & the fibrous basis of bone, were of a gelatinous nature, & this made me suppose that perhaps fibrin & fibro-cartilage were likewise allied to gelatine; & as gelatine is so little nutritious to animals, I imagined that the little action of these 5 substances on drosera might be thus explained.4 My best plan would be, I think, merely to call attention to the small power of the 5 substances on drosera, & to say (if you admit the truth of my inference from Klein) that at least areolar tissue & the fibrous basis of bone were allied to gelatine, & that gelatine was very little nutritious to animals—
I fear from what you say that I may not add that fibrin are likewise allied to gelatine: do you know what is the nature of fibro-cartilage?5 If you have anything further to remark I shd be grateful for a note—
With many thanks, | yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.
Summary
Discusses the powers of digestion of Drosera and why certain substances produce less excitement in the plant than others.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9678
- 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-1731-1-20)
- Physical description
- LS(A) 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9678,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9678.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22