From Francis Galton to Francis Darwin   7 April 1871

My dear Darwin

Your letter saying that your father will kindly take care of the 8 little rabbits, was most grateful. If you will fill up the enclosed note addressed to him & fix a day not earlier than Tuesday, not later than Thursday next week, I am sure that Fraser will pack them off safely.¹

There is one thing, note, to attend to, that is exceptional with this breed of rabbits; namely, a strong tendency to scurf (eczema) on the nose, muzzle, eye-lids, and legs. This is apt to become a most serious evil but is infallibly checked by tobacco-water (an infusion of strong pig-tail tobacco) rubbed well in. I use a soft tooth brush. They squeal very much, sometimes, and they are usually narcotised afterwards, but it all goes off;—pain, narcotism & scurf.

These 8 rabbits are, 6 of them by one doe, & 2 by another—both thoroughly x circulated. Their father was the same &, in addition he is the son of a pair who had both been injected with defibrinized blood.² My paper will come out in the next n^o. of the R Soc: Proceedings & I will send your father a copy, with their pedigree, marked.³

I sh^d. propose that these rabbits be kept to grow & strengthen till the end of July (when they will all be more than 6$\frac{1}{2}$ months old) Then I w^d. put all the does to the bucks, and get perhaps 20 young from them, and I would not put the does again to the bucks but let them thoroughly recover & let them & the bucks be operated on early in Sept^r; thus—

As regards the 20(?) young which are to be expected, I should be inclined to operate on 10(?) of them in a new way, (into jugular vein from a supplying carotid artery) while they are quite young, say,

and the remaining 10 to be kept for further proceedings,—breeding or operations, as may be then thought advisable.

Though I shall not have my old excellent assistant Fraser, who sails this day week for Calcutta, I shall have the run of the University Coll: Physiolog: Laboratory & shall be able, I believe, to conduct all the operations there with convenience, greater than hitherto.⁴

With kindest remembrance, | Ever your sincerely yours | Francis Galton