Ɛpsilon

From J. I. Rogers   12 October 1876

119, Cannon Street, | London, | E.C

12th October/76.

Dear Sir,

My brother George Rogers of 5 Fancy Lane, Calcutta, asks me to send you the following which he thinks may interest you:—

“One of my Palanquin bearers1 has his hands divided like a cow’s foot. The middle fingers and metacarpal bones (that is the bone at the back of the hand) are entirely wanting & the hands are as I say divided right down the centre as far as the wrist bone. The man was of course born that way & the skin is perfect. There appears to be a small lump which may be a rudimentary middle finger inside the forefinger, but I should have thought that the rudimentary fin⁠⟨⁠gers⁠⟩⁠ (if any there be) would be found attached to the wrist bone. The man will be burned when he dies so there will be no chance of securing the hands for a museum but in the meantime I could get any examination made that Mr Darwin would like.”2

My brother’s commission must be my excuse for trespassing on your time, | And believe me to be, | Dear Sir, yours obdtly | J Innes Rogers

C. Darwin Esq F.RS. | Beckenham.

1
A palanquin is a covered conveyance carried on horizontal poles by multiple bearers (OED).
2
On the importance of cremation in Hindu burial practices, see Olson 2007, pp. 99–100. Cremation was legalized in England in 1885 (see Davies and Mates 2005, p. 137).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10640,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10640