| RefNo | MS/603/10/127 |
| Previous numbers | 1899 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Letter from D'Arcy W [Wentworth] Thompson, St Andrews, to [Joseph] Larmor |
| Creator | Thompson; Sir D'Arcy Wentworth (1860-1948); British zoologist and classical scholar |
| Recipient | Larmor; Sir Joseph (1857-1942); Irish theoretical physicist |
| Date | 8 May 1918 |
| Description | Larmor's point is a subtle one and he must think on it, noting his workload. In his undergraduate days he translated Hermann Muller's 'Fertilisation of flowers' and believed every word of it for years, that the bee and butterfly had preferences and flowers were modified by the 'survival of the fittest' principle. He believes so little of it now that he cannot say what remains. He was made skeptical by F. Plateau of Ghent, who designed ingenious experiments which in Thompson's eyes tore apart the Spengel-Darwin-Muller theory. He asks Larmor to explain whether space is three-dimensional, supposing that they were the size of a bacillus and lived in a fluid crystal. He discusses this at length before considering the problem of stomata, ad there is a big Carnegie research on the subject which he ought to read. He has the vague idea that plants would get on well without them and he expands upon this. |
| Extent | 8p. |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | Ink on paper |
| AccessStatus | Open |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA6267 | Thompson; Sir; D'Arcy Wentworth (1860 - 1948); naturalist; mathematician | 1860 - 1948 |