Ɛpsilon

From J. W. Clark   16 September 1875

18 High Street | Southampton

Sept 16. 1875.

Dear Sir,

As promised by my letter of yesterday I forward a few instances briefly described—respecting the dilation of the pupils of animal’s eyes when suffering from fear.1 The appearance is that of Gratiolet quoted in the “Expression of the Emotions”—as if “gazing into profound darkness”—but with associated actions & appearances it also conveys to my mind most distinctly the impression of fear or dread.2

Should I be able to get any more opinions or observations I shall make note of them & should you desire it shall be happy to forward them to you at any time.

Believe me I remain dear Sir, yours very truly, | J W Clark

P.S. Any further inquiries or suggestions you have to make respecting my experiments on the Drosera I shall esteem an honour.3

1
Clark’s letter to CD of 15 September 1875 has not been found, but see the letter from J. W. Clark, 25 June 1875.
2
The quotation from Louis Pierre Gratiolet’s De la physionomie et les mouvements d’expression (Gratiolet [1865]) is in Expression, p. 304. The observations sent with this letter have not been found, but a note added in the second edition of Expression, which was published after CD’s death, suggests that they may have concerned a cat (Expression 2d ed., p. 321 n. 37).
3
Clark published on Drosera (sundew) in September 1875 (J. W. Clark 1875). CD had published Insectivorous plants, the first part of which was devoted to Drosera, in July 1875 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10158,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10158