To Luke Hindmarsh 3 May [1861]1
Down, Bromley, Kent. S.E.
May 3rd
Sir
I hope that you will excuse the liberty which I take in writing to you. Several years ago I was very much interested by your excellent memoir on the wild Chillingham cattle.2 I am very anxious for information on one point; but whether you still retain interest on the subject, or could spare time to give or obtain for me this information, I know not. The point is the average number of animals which are annually killed. I presume that some account is kept, and it must be known how many have been killed during the last half-dozen or dozen years. When you wrote the herd was about 80; and I should wish to know how many during any period in which the slaughtered animals have been recorded, existed. My object is to ascertain the rate of increase of these cattle relatively to those on the Pampas in S. America.3
Hoping that you will forgive the liberty which I take and grant me this favour, I beg leave to remain | Sir | Your obliged and obedt servt. | Charles Darwin
I saw a translation of the greater part of your paper lately in a French Periodical.4
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Hindmarsh, Luke. 1839. On the wild cattle of Chillingham Park. Annals of Natural History 2: 274–84.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Asks how many wild Chillingham cattle are killed each year. Interested in rate of increase.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3137
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Luke Hindmarsh
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 145
- Physical description
- C 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3137,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3137.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 9
