To [A. J. Woodhouse?] 25 January [1867?]1
Down. | Bromley.| Kent. S.E.
Jan. 25th
My dear Sir
Will you have the kindness to excuse me begging a favour of you.— I am anxious to know whether any peculiarities of any kind in the milk-teeth of man are inherited. Have you ever had a case of a child with some peculiarity & on enquiry have heard that the father or mother had same peculiarity in the milk-teeth when a child. A very old practioner would have the best chance of observing this. Would you object at the next meeting of the Dental institution asking any old & accurate practioner.—2 Mr Bell3 told me he had seen plenty of cases of inheritance of character in second teeth, & he thought he had seen cases in milk-teeth, but could not advance positive cases. I believe that your kindness will lead you to aid me if in your power.—
My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Out of idle curiosity I will ask one other question; on average or occasionally are canine teeth larger in Man, than in woman? Everything goes by gradation & therefore I shd expect some trace of this from relationship of man to the Gorilla & Coy.—4
Footnotes
Summary
Two queries on teeth: 1. Is there evidence of inherited peculiarities in milk teeth?
2. Are male incisors longer than female?
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13645
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Alfred James Woodhouse
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 261.11: 14 (EH 88206066)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13645,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13645.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24 (Supplement)