To W. C. Tait 2 February [1869]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
Feb. 2
Dear Sir
I thank you for your very obliging letter, & am pleased to hear that you have been interested in my works.2 As you have been so kind as to offer me some notes, I shd be glad to receive any facts about which you feel positive; but I should mention that owing to having so many other subjects in hand I do not intend to follow up any further the subject of variation under domestication. With respect to the tailless dogs, there would be I fear much difficulty in determining how far the unknown causes, which occasionally lead in other countries dogs to be born without tails, have acted more energetically in Lisbon; & how far the result has followed from the cutting off of the tail; but if you cd render your case highly probable it would be very interesting.3 Since the publication of my book I have heard of several other apparent cases of inherited mutilations.4 I would beg a favour of you, if you cd get acquainted with any good botanist, viz to send me a living young plant of the rare Drosophyllum Lusitanicum, which grows in sandy places in Portugal.5 I have long wished to try a series of experiments on this plant.
With your taste for natural history, you must feel very isolated, & I can fully sympathize with you.
I am sorry to say that my health is weak, so that I have little spare strength or time to do more than to answer very briefly the numerous letters which I receive from various quarters. With every good wish pray believe me dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin
P.S. At present I am engaged on the secondary sexual differences in animals of all kinds, & shd be grateful for any information.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Summary
Discusses case of tailless dogs.
Does not intend to follow up work on variation under domestication.
Asks for specimen of Drosophyllum from Portugal.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6593
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Chester Tait
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Alan R. Tait (private collection)
- Physical description
- LS(A) 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6593,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6593.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17