From Henry Holland   [10 February 1863]1

Q Anne Street2

Tuesday

My dear Charles,

After you left me yesterday I found the note, which I had sought for unsuccessfully, touching the particular form of Atavism, in alternate generations.3

It was Burdach (whose name you well know) who described this result from averages largely taken.4 My note does not go beyond this mere fact; but having the name of the observer, you will be able easily to find further information, if the point is of any value to you.

When you happen to be in Town again, let me know it, that I may have the satisfaction of talking over with you many matters of fact & thought, on this most interesting & obscure of all subjects—the hereditary transmission of physical characters, of instincts, & of mental faculties.

Ever yours affy | H Holland

1
The date is established by the reference to CD’s stay in London (see n. 3, below); the only Tuesday during this time was 10 February.
2
Holland had apparently called at Erasmus Alvey Darwin’s house, 6 Queen Anne Street, where CD was staying at that time (see n. 3, below), and left this note.
3
CD was in London from 4 to 14 February 1863. Between January and April 1863, CD wrote a draft of the chapters on inheritance for Variation (see ‘Journal’ (Correspondence vol. 11, Appendix II)).
4
Reversion, or atavism, is discussed in Variation 2: 28–61; however, the work of Karl Friedrich Burdach is not cited in this discussion, and the reference has not been identified.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3959,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3959