Ɛpsilon

To Lewin Hill   23 March [1871]1

Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.

March 23d

Dear Sir

Though you are so considerate as to tell me not to write (& in truth my correspondence is very heavy) I must thank you for your very curious case of the peculiar form of quasi inheritance, where many descendants from the same parents are similarly affected.—2 This holds good in a remarkable manner with the deaf- & dumb; & is, I believe, quite inexplicable.—3

Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Lewin Hill, 17 March 1871 (Correspondence vol. 19).
2
Lewin Hill had written to CD that ten out of the thirty members of his generation of his father’s family had a defective right knee joint (Correspondence vol. 19, letter from Lewin Hill, 17 March 1871).
3
See Variation 2: 22.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 Beckenham] interl before del ‘Bromley.’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7613F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7613F