From William Ogle [10–17 November 1870]1
34 Clarges Street | Piccadilly.
Dear Mr. Darwin
Many thanks to you for your kind letter and good wishes.2
I am afraid I must plead guilty to a very stupid blunder in having attributed to the Himalayan rabbits the necessities which only beset wild breeds.3 As regards the animal with white spots which alone were affected while the colored parts escaped I had considered the case, and thought there did not seem any actual evidence that poison had anything to do with the affection, or had indeed been taken.4 I find cases recorded, in which white spots suffer, and the cause is supposed to be poison—others, in which the same effect is attributed to poison and to exposure to sunlight; and a third group, more numerous, in which the same effect is supposed to have been produced by lightning.
In none of them is there any positive evidence either of poison, or of lightning, while in all, the animals appear to have been most probably, and in some certainly, exposed to great sunlight. I fancy therefore that it is more likely that this one cause produced the similar ill effects in all the cases, than that the causes should have been so heterogeneous. In the case of the animals struck, as it was supposed, with lightning, it is expressly noted (Phil. Trans. 1776) that only the white parts on the back and flanks were affected, the equally white patches on the belly escaping as also even did white parts on the upper side if the hair in them was very long and curly.5 This is just what might be expected, if sunlight caused the ill effects; but seems unintelligible on the supposition that either poison or lightning was the origin of the mischief.
I will most certainly make a point of observing the condition of the Platysma in any cases of severe dyspnœa which I may find— I have already seen two in the Hospital since I received your letter—one a case of emphysema—the other of cardiac dyspnœa— In neither could I detect any action of this muscle. Certainly there was no transverse wrinkling of the neck, nor drawing of the skin about the corners of the mouth.6
It appears however very doubtful whether the contraction of this muscle does, as the anatomical books assert, wrinkle the skin transversely. The statement7
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Expression: The expression of the emotions in man and animals. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.
Summary
Relates instances of rabbits suffering from a condition which affects only the patches of white on their fur.
Will make observations on the platysma for CD.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7365
- From
- William Ogle
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Clarges St, 34
- Source of text
- DAR 173: 4
- Physical description
- inc †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7365,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7365.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 18