Ɛpsilon

To Lawson Tait   17 January [1877]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Jan. 17th

My dear Sir

I shd. be glad to give any criticisms, but I have none to make & agree with what you say.—2 There is, however, one trifling point on which I differ; viz that I believe the high value of well-bred males is due to their transmitting their good qualities to a far greater number of offspring than can the female.—3

Yours very faithfully— | Ch. Darwin

photocopy

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Lawson Tait, 16 January 1877.
2
See letter from Lawson Tait, 16 January 1877. Tait had sent proof-sheets from his forthcoming book on diseases of women (L. Tait 1877)
3
Tait had suggested that breeders paid much higher prices for well-bred male livestock because males were more physically fit than females (see L. Tait 1877, p. 49).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 well-bred] after del ‘B’
1.3 males] above del ‘bulls &c’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10800,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10800