To Asa Gray   5 February [1871]1

Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.

Feb. 5th

My dear Gray

It is a shame to trouble so hard-worked a man; but if you can, (which is doubtful) will you send the enclosed to any one who has charge of Laura Bridgeman, & beg for an answer, with any details, to the one query viz nor 13.— I shd very much like to know how this is. I have been reading Lieber’s paper, & I see he states that L.B. when astonished, raises both hands with fingers apart, & open palms directed towards the person causing astonishment. This has led me to enquire about the gesture of impotence, ie shrugging the shoulders with its accessories.—2

I have finished my book on the “Descent of man &c”, & its publication is delayed only by the Index: when published, I will send you a copy, but I do not know that you will care about it. Parts, as on on the moral sense, will I daresay aggravate you; & if I hear from you, I shall probably receive a few stabs from your polished stiletto of a pen.—3 Pray give my kindest remembrances to Mrs. Gray: I am now at work on my essay on Expression, & I have found her few notes of great use.4

Yours most truly | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the reference to Descent, which was published 24 February 1871 (Freeman 1977).
2
The enclosure was presumably a copy of CD’s Queries about expression (see Correspondence vol. 19, Appendix VII). Question 13 was: ‘When a man wishes to shew that he cannot prevent something being done, does he shrug his shoulders, turn inwards his elbows, extend outward his hands and open the palms; with the eyebrows raised.’ Laura Dewey Bridgman is thought to have been the first blind, deaf, and mute person to receive a formal academic education (ANB). CD refers to Francis Lieber and Lieber 1851, p. 7.
3
CD discussed the development of the intellectual and moral faculties in humans in Descent 1: 158–84.
4
CD refers to Jane Loring Gray and to Expression. See Correspondence vol. 17, letter from Asa Gray and J. L. Gray, 8 and 9 May 1869 and nn. 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, and 13.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 Beckenham] before del ‘Bromley.’
1.1 man;] altered from ‘man:’
1.2 (which is doubtful)] interl
1.4 how this is.] interl
1.7 the shoulders] ‘the’ interl
2.2 know] interl
2.3 as] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7476,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7476