skip to content

Darwin Correspondence Project

From L. C. Wedgwood   [5 May 1870]1

I can perceive no difference between the motion of the horses ears when he turns them before kicking, and when he turns them for any other reason, (except fear which is different)2

I think you wanted to know about the babys brows.

When vext at anything & crying (without tears) he does straighten his eyebrows, raising the inner corner a very little

diagram

What is most conspicuous is a pucker on the bridge of the nose and 2 lines sloping across the forehead something like that. I have seen the same thing when he has been dazzled in the sunshine too.3

My worms have not turned up any earth since I enclosed them4

I am with many thanks for yr. letter | yr. afft. niece | Lucy Wedgwood

CD annotations

1.1 I can … different) 1.3] crossed pencil
2.1 I think … brows.] ‘(10 months)’ pencil
3.3 What … forehead 3.4] ‘Pyramidalis must here act if possible so as to smooth forehead’ pencil
4.1 My … letter 5.1] crossed pencil
Top of letter: ‘May 5— 1870’ pencil

Footnotes

The date is established by CD’s annotation.
In Expression, pp. 147–54, CD discussed facial expressions associated with crying in infants, but did not mention Wedgwood. The baby Wedgwood observed may have been her nephew, Hervey Wedgwood Williams.
A short notice on worms pulling stones to cover their burrows, written by Wedgwood, had appeared in Gardeners’ Chronicle in 1868 (see Correspondence vol. 16, letter to M. T. Masters, 21 March [1868] and n. 2).

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Expression: The expression of the emotions in man and animals. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.

Summary

Expression in horses.

Crying in babies.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-7179
From
Lucy Caroline Wedgwood/Lucy Caroline Harrison
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
unstated
Source of text
DAR 181: 60
Physical description
ALS 3pp inc †

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7179,” accessed on 19 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7179.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 18

letter