The Aliveness of Plants. The Darwins at the Dawn of Plant Science

243 Pages·2008·1.61 MB·English

by  Peter Ayres

THE ALIVENESS OF PLANTS:
THE DARWINS AT THE DAWN OF PLANT
SCIENCE

THE ALIVENESS OF PLANTS:
THE DARWINS AT THE DAWN OF PLANT
SCIENCE
by
Peter Ayres
london
PICKERING & CHATTO
2008
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© Peter Ayres 2008
british library cataloguing in publication data
Ayres, P. G. (Peter G.)
Th e aliveness of plants: the Darwins at the dawn of plant science
1. Darwin, Charles, 1809–1882 2. Darwin, Francis, Sir, 1848–1925 3. Dar-
win, Erasmus, 1731–1802 4. Botanists – Great Britain – Biography 5. Botany
– Great Britain – History – 18th century 6. Botany – Great Britain – History
– 19th century
I. Title
580.9’22’41
ISBN–13: 9781851969708
∞

Th is publication is printed on acid-free paper that conforms to the American
National Standard for the Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Typeset by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
List of Tables ix
List of Figures xi
1 Green Th reads across the Ages: A Brief Perspective on the Darwins’
Botany 1
2 Th e Fortunes of the Darwins 5
3 Th e Misfortunes of Botany 23
4 Erasmus Darwin’s Vision of the Future: Phytologia 31
5 Charles Darwin’s Evolutionary Period 55
6 Charles Darwin’s Physiological Period 79
7 Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin and Diff erences with von Sachs 97
8 Francis Darwin, Cambridge and Plant Physiology 115
9 Francis Darwin, Family and his Father’s Memory 137
10 Fortune’s Favourites? 159
11 Where Did the Green Th reads Lead? Th e Botanical Legacy 171
Notes 191
Works Cited 209
Index 221
‘It might be called, “On the aliveness of plants” which I think sounds more
attractive than the life of plants’.
Francis Darwin replies to William Rothenstein’s invitation to give a talk to
a village society, Monday 23 March 1914 (Rothenstein Letters, Houghton
Library, Harvard University).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Francis was the fi rst Darwin to whom I was introduced. We met when I writ-
ing a biography of Harry Marshall Ward, the distinguished plant pathologist.
Th e two men were of similar age and met when young, while they were learning
their trade – botany. Th eir friendship was sustained throughout their lives and
for the last years of Harry’s life they were colleagues in Cambridge. I must there-
fore thank Harry for kindling my interest in the Darwin family. My interest in
Francis owes much also to my own friend and colleague at Lancaster University,
Terry Mansfi eld, an eminent stomatal physiologist. My thanks go to Terry for
reminding me oft en that Francis was a pioneer of stomatal physiology and that
he and his father, Charles, were pioneers in the study of plant movements. It was
clear to me that in order to understand Francis’s achievements I had to know
how much he had been inspired by his illustrious father. And for comparable
reasons, Charles led me in turn to his grandfather, Erasmus. Where their botany
was concerned, the Darwins could not be separated.
Desmond King-Hele’s and Jenny Uglow’s writings were wonderful guides to
Erasmus, but I think my enthusiasm for Darwins might have faded if it had not
been for the personal encouragement of Janet Browne, that great authority on
Charles. She welcomed me, an outsider, to the world of Darwin students.
Among other Darwin experts who kindly pointed me in the right directions
in Cambridge, where most of the archives are to be found, were John Parker (Plant
Sciences) and staff of the Darwin Correspondence Project (University Library)
particularly Gina Murrell, Alison Pearn and Andrew Sclater. Also in Cambridge,
and due my thanks for their researches on my behalf, are Christine Alexander
(Plant Sciences), Jacqueline Cox (University Archives), Colin Higgins (Christ’s
College) and Anne Th omson (Newnham College). Torri Reeve (English Herit-
age), Stephanie Jenkins (local historian), and Stephen Foster and Vic Anderson
(Southampton University): each tracked down for me information about the per-
sonal lives of the Darwins. When I was learning about Ingen-Housz, Sachs and
Henslow, botanists whose lives impinged signifi cantly on those of the Darwins,
Norman and Elaine Beale, Howard Gest, Wolfram Hartung and Max Walters gave
– vii –
viii Th e Aliveness of Plants
me invaluable advice and material help. So, too, did Peter Lea about Lawes, Gilbert
and the early days of Rothamsted Experimental Station.
At Lancaster University, Alan Shirras (Biological Sciences), Sue Clarke and
Jacqueline Whiteside (Library) helped me access the Rothenstein Collection of
letters in the archives at the Houghton Library, Harvard University. Closer to
home, staff in the libraries of Oxford University (old Bodleian, Corpus Christi
College, Somerville College, and especially Plant Sciences and the Radcliff e Sci-
ence Library) have been unfailingly friendly and helpful.
Finally I thank my wife, Mary, for her encouragement. Her interest and
practical help during numerous fact-fi nding expeditions gave me the energy to
complete the project.
LIST OF TABLES
4.1: Early Contributions to an Understanding of the Function of Leaves 32
4.2: Results of Lawes, Gilbert and Pugh’s Experiments into the Nitrogen
Yields of Diff erent Crops at Harvest 54
6.1: Charles Darwin’s Major Interests in Plants (Modifi ed from T. Veak,
‘Exploring Darwin’s Correspondence; Some Important but Lesser
Known Correspondents and Projects’, Archives of Natural History, 30
(2003), pp. 118–38) 80
– ix –