Ɛpsilon

From Marie McElroy   1 April 1881

Clydehaugh House, | Glasgow.

1st. April, 1881.

Sir,

From my limited observations of animals I concluded that, the lower animals have no blue eyes. Since then, in reading your able work.—The Origin of Species.—I noticed that in speaking of cats, you said, that, “white cats with blue eyes are always deaf”.1

Is it an anomaly in nature to find blue eyes in cats? Are blue eyes peculiar to the human species?2

Sir, I have the honour to be, | Respectfully yours, | Marie Mc.Elroy.

1
CD stated in the early editions of Origin that cats with blue eyes were invariably deaf (Origin, p. 12); but in Origin 4th ed., p. 12, and later editions, he changed the text to: ‘cats which are entirely white and have blue eyes are generally deaf.’
2
In Variation 1: 27, CD had mentioned a description of Cuban feral dogs with light-blue eyes.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13105,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13105