From Francis Galton   26 April 1870

My dear Darwin

Two more litters & no happy results, the young being all true silver greys.¹

There ought to have been a third litter but the doe had not kindled. I shall next give a fresh infusion to every one of my old stock and hope to raise the proportion of alien blood in their bodies to at least 3 per cent of their entire weight or, say, 30 per cent of their entire blood.

I am obliged to defer all this for a week or two longer for my mother² has been lying at the verge of death for a fortnight & I am wanted by her. She is now a trifle better & her illness—the results of bronchitis—may be less acute for a while & I may be able to get back to London— We have no reasonable hope that she will ever recover even a most moderate degree of health.

Very sincerely yours | Francis Galton