To L. C. Wedgwood 8 June [1867–72]1
Down
June 8th
My dear Lucy
I hear that your Dog is a barker: please observe for me whether the (upper) lips are at all retracted or everted when he barks & just before he barks. My impression is that if you open a dog’s mouth lips almost hide teeth; but that they are much more exposed, when he barks, which implies some contraction or eversion.
You are so good an observer that I know I can trust your conclusion. The Bark ought not to be a savage one, as that wd give tendency to snarl— a joyful bark or bark of good spirits wd. be best.—2
Think of any fact about expression of any emotion in any of your birds.—3
Yours affect. | C. Darwin
Our Polly4 will not bark except as she rushes away to some supposed enemy in forest.
Footnotes
Summary
Asks her to observe whether her dog exposes his teeth when barking and to think of any facts about expression in her birds.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7223
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Lucy Caroline Wedgwood/Lucy Caroline Harrison
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- CUL (Add 4251: 334)
- Physical description
- 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7223,” accessed on 22 January 2021, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-LETT-7223.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 20
