DARWIN'S WORK ON MOVEMENT IN PLANTS 



PROFESSOR HERBERT MAULE RICHARDS 

 Columbia University 



It is remarkable, when one considers the central inter- 

 est of Darwin's life, that he should have fonnd time and 

 strength to devote so considerable a portion of his energy 

 to purely botanical work. It is natural and fitting at 

 this time that the major interest of the world should be 

 directed to his larger achievements, but it should not be 

 lost sight of that his botanical work alone represents no 

 small labor accomplished. We may indeed not always 

 agree at present with his conclusions and may differ 

 even as to actual observations, but the fact remains that 

 he developed a number of highly important topics re- 

 lating to plant behavior. 



His lines of investigation among plants were indeed 

 somewhat special, for he made no pretence of covering 

 completely the field of even that side of botany which in- 

 terested him, but simply investigated certain more or 

 less important phases of plant life that came under his 

 notice. It may be expressed, perhaps, by saying that his 

 botanical studies were his avocation, and were employed 

 by him in a measure as a recreation from the exactions 

 exercised by his larger tasks. That does not mean, 

 however, that there was anything dilettantish in the spirit 

 of his attack on botanical problems or that his work along 

 these lines was not as thorough as his circumstances per- 

 mitted. Thoroughness indeed was an important element 

 in all that Darwin undertook and the patient application 

 to even small details is the secret of much of the value of 

 these botanical studies. 



From his published letters it would seem that his work 

 with plants was to him of the nature of a pastime, 

 serious indeed but none the less a pastime, in which he 

 often found himself so interested that all other lines of 



