To Alfred Moschkau   28 March 1878

Dear Sir

I thank you for your very kind letter.¹ As temperament or mental disposition almost certainly depends on the structure of the brain, it is incredible to me that the nature of the milk, which is digested, can affect the character of the child. The case of diseases seems to me very different.² Your facts about the Starling (which in a state of nature imitates the cry & songs of other birds) are very curious; but I have become so absorbed with vegetable physiology that it is not likely I shall ever again attend to the minds of the higher animals.

Pray believe me | Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin