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From John Lubbock   26 July [1870]1

House of Commons

26 July

My dear Mr. Darwin

We persuaded Bruce to support your amendment, & some good men spoke for it, but as you will see all in vain.2

Do not you think you might get most of what you want by an enquiry at one or two of the largest idiot asylums?3

I am, dear Mr Darwin, | Yours most sincerely | John Lubbock

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to John Lubbock, 17 July 1870.
2
Lubbock refers to Henry Austin Bruce and the Census Bill of 1870. See letter from William Farr, 16 July 1870 and n. 2. As well as Bruce, Lyon Playfair, Donald Dalrymple, and William Rathbone spoke in favour of the amendment concerning cousin marriage (Hansard parliamentary debates 3d ser. vol. 203 (1870), cols. 1007–10).
3
CD had hoped to gather information on possible negative effects on the progeny of marriages between cousins (see letter to William Farr, 17 July [1870]).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7288,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7288