PS OR RR BPE RTP EE iP eA 
PNR TNT Weise alts Soe Ae ene CE ee Te TC Se a ee eee 
a PTS eee ee 
ET. 51.] TO CHARLES DARWIN. 485 
to get plenty of Mitchella repens, which my pupils do 
not bring me in as they ought. I want to see if long- 
styled stigma and short differ, and also the pollen of 
the two, as they do in Houstonia, of which I hope I 
sent you Rothrock’s! observations. At least I will 
send when he has completed them. 
Precocious fertilization in the bud was much noticed 
here very long ago by Torrey, in Viola, Specularia, 
ete., etc., also in Impatiens, about which see my 
* Genera Illustrata,” volume ii. I once mentioned it 
to you as good evidence of close fertilization. As to 
pollen-tubes of such, I have no observations of my 
own, but a memory or fancy that they were shown to 
me by Torrey. I will ask him, and have him look at 
Specularia. 
As to the French lady’s translation and commen- 
tary on the “Origin,” I am not so much surprised, 
As I view it, there are only two sides to the main 
question. Very likely she takes one side in a 
thorough-going and consistent manner; and either 
she is right, or I am right, i. e., there is design in na- 
ture, or there is not. The no-design view, if one can 
bring himself to entertain it, may well enough lead to 
all she says, and we may very much admire how collision 
and destruction of least-favored brings about appar- 
ently orderly results, — apparent contrivances or ad- 
aptation of means to ends. On the other hand, the 
implication of a designing mind must bring with it a 
strong implication of design in matters where we 
could not directly prove it. 
If you grant an intelligent designer anywhere in 
1 J. Trimble Rothrock, of MeVeytown, Pennsylvania, b. 1839; bot- 
anist of Wheeler’s Survey of the United States Expedition to Alaska ; 
late professor in the University of Pennsylvania. 
