From W. R. Grove [5–8 July 1871]1
out & may not the arm &c & the direction of the hair on it be due to the same cause, of course it is transmitted hereditarily & in time becomes connected with the general organization.2 I once burned my fore finger terribly with Phosphorus & when the new flesh had granulated & the old skin was cut away I noticed the same creases beautifully marked on the new flesh—
As I am boring you with a letter I will mention a few points which occurred to me in reading the ‘Descent of Man’
1st In speaking of the teats in the male p 210. 211.3 you do not seem to have noticed the curious fact that the male teats yield milk or a secretion like it at the period of puberty. I have often seen boys at school from 14 to 15 years of age squeezing milk from their teats & have done it myself. The teats are very sore at that period & something like a button can be felt in them—
2d do you give enough credit to natural selection as to the beards & manes of animals?4 They generally occur in those which fight with the teeth & more in the male than the female eg Lions Men, &c protecting the glandular & delicate parts— Horses when fighting bite at the upper part of the neck, perhaps to nip the spine & there the wild horse or welch pony has a protection on both sides & not on one as our combing has made the mane grow—
3 I think you mention somewhere the induced but now hereditary habit of the pointer or setter standing to game5 I can give you positive personal testimony to a young setter whom I reared myself not only pointing but backing another dog the first time he was ever taken into the field & when less than a year old—6
4 Shooting one day at Ramsay Island St Davids Head,7 the birds puffins guillemots &c flew about us within 10 to 20 yds for an hour or two but gradually kept increasing this distance & in the afternoon seemed to have learned accurately the distance at which they were safe, how did they learn this? the dead told no tales & the wounded generally flew out far to sea—
5 Is the habit of dogs running & barking after carriages the remains of their progenitors habit of chasing large beasts? & do Cows sheep &c all unite & turn & face dogs now from a similar original habit of defence
6 I once took a young spaniel 5 miles in the pocket of my shooting coat on Horseback, lost her & in the evening I found she had got home she had never been beyond the garden before, whence or what this faculty?
Ever yours sincerely | W R Grove
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent 2d ed.: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. London: John Murray. 1874.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Handyside, P. D. 1872. Notice of quadruple mammae,–the lower two rudimentary,–in two adult brothers. Journal of Anatomy and Physiology 7: 56–9, 380–5.
OED: The Oxford English dictionary. Being a corrected re-issue with an introduction, supplement and bibliography of a new English dictionary. Edited by James A. H. Murray, et al. 12 vols. and supplement. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1970. A supplement to the Oxford English dictionary. 4 vols. Edited by R. W. Burchfield. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1972–86. The Oxford English dictionary. 2d edition. 20 vols. Prepared by J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1989. Oxford English dictionary additional series. 3 vols. Edited by John Simpson et al. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1993–7.
Summary
Mammae in human males.
The role of natural selection in the development of beards and manes of animals.
Hereditary pointing in setters.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7854
- From
- William Robert Grove
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 87: 190–2
- Physical description
- ALS 6pp inc †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7854,” accessed on 15 May 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7854.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19