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les collections aristophil
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DARWIN CHARLES
(1809-1882).
MANUSCRIT autographe, [vers 1875 ?] ; 2 pages in-4 (légères
rousseurs) ; en anglais.
6 000 / 8 000 €
Expériences sur des plantes carnivores.
Ce fragment de description d’expériences sur des plantes se rattache
aux recherches de Darwin pour son livre
Insectivorous Plants
(1875).
Plusieurs atomes de viande furent placés sur des glandes, produisant
des degrés différents d’infection des tentacules ; sur une troisième
feuille tous les tentacules furent infectés, quoique nulle viande ne fut
placée sur les glandes… Darwin présume que ce mouvement est dû
à l’excitation provoquée par l’absence d’oxygène… Après 24 heures,
toutes les feuilles se remettaient… Autre expérience, sur cinq plantes
laissées deux heures dans l’acide carbonique : Darwin décrit les
effets obtenus en plaçant des atomes de viande sur les glandes et en
exposant à l’air… [Darwin a évoqué ces expériences dans le premier
chapitre de ses
Insectivorous Plants
.]
Au dos de ce feuillet, des notes résument des remarques de Mme
Darwin sur une opération chirurgicale du professeur LYNE, d’après
la lecture du journal de Lyne : il semble qu’entre l’intervention du 5
décembre 1850, et le 9 mai 1851, un moignon a grandi, présentant un
os, mais pas d’ongle… Le professeur en parut un peu dépité… Après
la seconde intervention, le nouveau moignon a grandi visiblement,
et maintenant, sans nouvelle tentative pour l’enlever, c’est une assez
vilaine excroissance… Mme D. a écrit au neveu et exécuteur du prof.
Lyne pour s’enquérir de notes éventuelles…
DARWIN CHARLES
(1809-1882).
Autograph MANUSCRIPT, [circa 1875 ?]; 2 pages in-4 format
(scattered foxing); in English.
6 000 / 8 000 €
Darwin’s notes on “insectivorous plants” and regeneration.
The first side contains Darwin’s notes for his work,
Insectivorous
Plants
(1875), and the reverse, a discussion of an operation apparently
concerned with regeneration.
Darwin explains his interest in the first chapter of
Insectivorous
Plants
: “During the summer of 1860, I was surprised by finding how
large a number of insects were caught by the leaves of the common
sun-dew (Drosera rotundifolia) on a heath in Sussex. I had heard that
insects were thus caught, but knew nothing further on the subject”.
At first Darwin spent time on the Drosera when he “had nothing to
do” but as he became more and more intrigued with the habits of
insectivorous plants he began “working like a madman” and told Lyell
that he cared “more about Drosera than the origin of all the species
in the world.” Forced to turn his attention to other matters, however,
Darwin was not able to take the subject up again until 1872, when
he began preparing his “pile of experiments” for publication in 1875.
On the verso, one reads Darwin’s notes for an operation apparently
involving regeneration: « Mrs. Darwin explained that Lyne made a
cutting at the first operation on Dec. 5 which makes clear an expression
in the diary for Jan. 9th. She then says that Lyne fully agreed with her
father that the stump had grown between the operation on Dec. 5th,
1850 and that on May 9th, 1851. The stump which was removed on
May 9th included a bone, but bore no nail. She adds “We thought
that Prof. Lyne felt a little annoyed about the business, as he had
tried to cut as close as he could the first time (i.e. on Dec. 5) when he
made first one cutting and then another”. After the second operation
on May 9th, 1851, she goes on to say: “We could see and feel how
much it grew afterwards. It is now (for no attempt has been made to
remove it again) a rather large ugly excrescence, certainly containing
a bone, but without any nail”.