Ɛpsilon

To John Ball   26 June 1874

Down | Beckenham, Kent.

June 26th 1874

My dear Mr Ball

I am much obliged for your extremely kind letter.1 My nephew got into the club with flying colours.2

The book about the Beaver is no doubt that by Mr Morgan, and is quite excellent.3

I have just printed a new edit. of my Descent of Man,4 and I do not think it is likely that I ever again shall treat of the intelligence of the Dog, so pray do not give yourself any trouble in collecting new facts for me.5

Believe me very faithfully yours | Ch Darwin.

Typewritten copy

1
See Correspondence vol. 22, letter from John Ball, 25 June [1874].
2
Earlier in the year, CD had been canvassing support for his nephew Henry Parker, who was proposed for membership of the Athenaeum Club in March 1874 (see Correspondence vol. 22, letter to George Bentham, 9 March [1874]).
3
CD’s annotated copy of Lewis Henry Morgan’s account of the American beaver (Morgan 1868) is in the Darwin Library–CUL (see Marginalia 1: 602).
4
Descent 2d ed.
5
In his letter of the 25 June [1874] (Correspondence vol. 22), Ball had offered to supply CD with evidence on the intelligence of dogs from an unidentified French friend.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9517G,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9517G