To George Howard Darwin [1866]
Dear George
Can you or any of your friends answer me this.1 In a family of 10 5 of the children squinted & 5 did not & they came alternately—.2 But you must understand it is indifferent whether a squinter or a non squinter comes first. What I want to know is what are the chances against their coming alternately.3
Yours affec | Ch. Darwin | Ch. Darwin | Ch. Darwin4
P.S This case of the squinting & other such cases are real.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Alum. Cantab.: Alumni Cantabrigienses. A biographical list of all known students, graduates and holders of office at the University of Cambridge, from the earliest times to 1900. Compiled by John Venn and J. A. Venn. 10 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1922–54.
Sedgwick, William. 1861. On sexual limitation in hereditary disease. British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review n.s. 27: 477–89; 28: 198–214.
Streatfield, J. F. 1857–9. Seven cases of strabismus in one family. Ophthalmic Hospital Reports and Journal of the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital 1: 260–2.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Asks GHD what the chances are against squinting and non-squinting children coming alternately in a family of ten.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4961
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- George Howard Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 210.1: 1
- Physical description
- L(S) 3pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4961,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4961.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 14