From G. H. Darwin [before 9 May 1878]1
Dear Father
I’ve received a letter from Kőrosi Director of the Statistical Bureau at Pest.2 He says that Dr. Bőke examined the parentage of 60 deaf-mutes—3 Out of 16 born so none were children of consang. parents— out of 44 who acquired the deficiency 6 were offspring of consang. marriages. This seems very extraordinary & just contrary to what one wd. expect if consang. marriages tend to deaf mutism—unless there are two wholly distinct causes for the complaint Do you think that it wd be worth sending to Nature.4
I heard some more about the Election to the R.S— 13 were elected right off & Prof. Smith stuck up very strongly for Symons the meteorologist & Rayleigh & Hind (the astronomer) appealed whether he wd’nt rather have me— however they ended by taking Symons.5 I hear Hooker spoke up for me—tho’ of course it could have been only in a general sort of way.6 Somebody reveals secrets with considerable freedom but that is’nt my affair
Yours affec | G H Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
International encyclopedia of the social sciences. Edited by David L. Sills. Assistant editor, V. N. Ponomarev. 19 vols. New York: Macmillan. [1968–91.]
ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Record of the Royal Society of London: The record of the Royal Society of London for the promotion of natural knowledge. 4th edition. London: Royal Society. 1940.
Summary
Recounts some figures relating deaf-mutism and consanguineous marriages.
GHD has failed to be elected to the Royal Society.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11498
- From
- George Howard Darwin
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 210.2: 66
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11498,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11498.xml