Ɛpsilon

To R. A. Blair   27 December 1877

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

Dec 27. 1877

Dear Sir,

I am much obliged to you for kindly informing me of the case of the goose. It seems to be a remarkable case of inheritance of effects of injury & as such cases are very rare it would be quite worth while to have the parts carefully examined. If you could obtain a wing & would send it me I should be much obliged.1 The wing might be cut off at the joint with the body & dried with feathers on before a hot fire. To make the case of more value it would be very advisable to ascertain whether the goose had any offspring before the injury, & if so whether they were normal & not malformed in any way.

Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

LS

1
Blair’s letter to CD has not been found; it was later sent to William Henry Flower together with a specimen of the wing, and Flower returned the letter with a sketch of the wing drawn on the back (see Correspondence vol. 26, letter to W. H. Flower, 25 February 1878, and letter from W. H. Flower, 12 April 1878). CD was sceptical about the inheritance of injuries, but had reported some cases in Variation 2: 22–4; CD had expanded this section in Variation 2d ed. 1: 466–70.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11290,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11290