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Darwin Correspondence Project

From John Lubbock   26 July [1870]1

House of Commons

26 July

My dear Mr. Darwin

We persuaded Bruce to support your amendment, & some good men spoke for it, but as you will see all in vain.2

Do not you think you might get most of what you want by an enquiry at one or two of the largest idiot asylums?3

I am, dear Mr Darwin, | Yours most sincerely | John Lubbock

Footnotes

The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to John Lubbock, 17 July 1870.
Lubbock refers to Henry Austin Bruce and the Census Bill of 1870. See letter from William Farr, 16 July 1870 and n. 2. As well as Bruce, Lyon Playfair, Donald Dalrymple, and William Rathbone spoke in favour of the amendment concerning cousin marriage (Hansard parliamentary debates 3d ser. vol. 203 (1870), cols. 1007–10).
CD had hoped to gather information on possible negative effects on the progeny of marriages between cousins (see letter to William Farr, 17 July [1870]).

Bibliography

Hansard parliamentary debates: http://hansard.millbanksystems.com

Summary

Some good men spoke for CD’s amendment, but in vain.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-7288
From
John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
House of Commons
Source of text
DAR 170: 77
Physical description
ALS 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7288,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7288.xml

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

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