Ɛpsilon

To H. M. Wallis   22 March 1881

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

March 22d—1881

Dear Sir

I am very much obliged for your courteous and kind note.1 The fact which you communicate is quite new to me, and as I was laughed at about the tips to human ears, I shd. like to publish in Nature sometime your fact.2 But I must first consult Eschricht & see whether he notices this fact in his curious paper on the Lanugo on human Embryos;3 and secondly I ought to look to monkeys & other animals which have tufted ears and observe how the hair grows— This I shall not be able to do for some months, as I shall not be in London until the autumn so as to go to the Zoolog. Gardens.4

But in order that I may not hereafter throw away time will you be so kind as to inform me whether I may publish your observation if on further search it seems desirable— If you give your permission, may I say that “Mr. Wallis on carefully examining the ears of an infant, observed that the hairs were directed &c & &c”.

Or would you prefer my say that “a gentleman on carefully examining &c. &”.

Will you be so good as to send me a line in answer, and I remain | Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin.

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2
CD had discussed what he termed the ‘Woolnerian tip’ in Descent 1: 22–3, and in greater detail in Descent 2d ed., pp. 15–17. CD did not communicate Wallis’s observation to Nature.
3
Daniel Frederik Eschricht, in a paper on the direction of hair growth on the human body, had discussed the direction of growth of the lanugo, the wool-like hair covering the human foetus at about six months (Eschricht 1837, pp. 40, 46–7). CD had referred to Eschricht’s observations on lanugo in Descent 1: 25.
4
In the event, CD was next in London from 3 to 5 August 1881 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13095,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13095