To W. D. Fox 9 January [1861]
Down Bromley Kent
Jan 9th
My dear Fox
I received yesterday from my Brother the two Inkstands for William & myself; & we are both very much obliged for your present.
I have filled mine this morning & it seems to work capitally, but I have not yet had much writing with it, as I have been merely correcting proofs—1 The only fault is that I sometimes take too much ink, but with a little practice I shall get over this, & I have been eternally plagued with my Ink getting muddy, & if that is avoided I shall be for an equal eternity grateful to you,—as no doubt William will, who writes as detestably bad a hand as I do & my good Father did before me.—
We manage to keep Etty room of a good temperature & I do not think she suffers from the extreme & dreadful cold: she has been rather better these 4 or 5 days than usual. All my Boys are now at home & very jolly.2 Farewell my dear Fox & I hope always to keep your Inkstand, as a memorial of you by me.—
Farewell | Your affect | C. Darwin
P.S. I believe you have been a pig-Breeder. I found a strange statement in a German Book that white Sows go with young a week longer or shorter (I forget which) than piebald or black Sows.—3 I presume it is false: but many odd peculiarities are correlated with colour.—4 Have you kept any exact record? Or do you know any careful Breeder that does?—
Do not think of answering this unless you have materials to judge by.—5 It must be a cock & bull story, though given rather positively by goodish man.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Nathusius, Hermann von. 1860. Die Racen des Schweines. Eine zoologische Kritik und Andeutungen ùber systematische Behandlung der Hausthier-Racen. Berlin.
Natural selection: Charles Darwin’s Natural selection: being the second part of his big species book written from 1856 to 1858. Edited by R. C. Stauffer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1975.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Thanks WDF for an inkstand that keeps ink from getting muddy.
Asks if WDF can verify truth of a statement that white sows carry their young for a longer or shorter time (CD forgets which) than other colours. Presumes it is false, "but many odd peculiarities are correlated with colour".
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3046
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Darwin Fox
- Sent from
- Down
- Postmark
- JA 10 61
- Source of text
- Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 126)
- Physical description
- ALS 6pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3046,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3046.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 9