From Francis Galton   31 March 1870

42 Rutland Gate SW

March 31. 1870

My dear Darwin

Better news— decidedly better.

I opened the hutches where the young rabbits are, this morning, and found not only that the white patch on the nose, of which I spoke, had become markedly conspicuous and larger but also that a white vertical bar had begun to appear in the forehead.1

On going to the other litter, which I had never before got a proper view of, I found another young one with precisely similar marks. (The male parent was the same in both cases)

I have spent a most unsuccesful morning with new apparatus trying to inject more completely. but I have yet hopes of success by making some alterations

I will return to you Naudin & the 2 pamphlets by to-morrow’s book post.2 Very many thanks for them & for all the references. With great reluctance, I feel it would be too much for me to undertake the experiments3   I am too ignorant of gardening and, living in London with a summer tour in prospect, I dont see my way to a succesful issue: but I hope to practise my eye & get some experience this year which may be of service next year or hereafter.

I congratulate you about the Quagga. taint.4

Once more about the rabbits, very many thanks for your hints. I will try more gray blood. Bartlett takes great interest & gives much care.5 Muries assistant remains & looks after the rabbits. Murie himself looks in now & then.6

Very sincerely. F Galton

CD annotations

2.2 on the nose, of which] ‘Has Barett ever known a case’7 added pencil
2.3 the forehead 2.4] ‘(White star)’ added pencil
Top of first page: ‘Theological Review | get one of your Book’8 added ink
1
See letters from Francis Galton, 15 March 1870 and n. 2, and 22 March 1870.
2
CD may have sent Galton his copy of Naudin 1862; there is an annotated copy in the Darwin Library–CUL (see Marginalia 1: 638–9). The pamphlets have not been identified.
3
The experiments have not been identified.
4
See letter from J. J. Weir, 17 March 1870. CD must have communicated this information to Galton in a letter that has not been found.
6
Galton refers to James Murie, prosector of the Zoological Society. His assistant was Oscar Louis Fraser (see Galton 1871, p. 395).
7
CD may have meant to write ‘Bartlett’; see letter from Francis Galton, 8 April 1870.
8
A review by Frances Power Cobbe of Galton’s Hereditary genius (Galton 1869) appeared in the April issue of the Theological Review (Cobbe 1870).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7156,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7156