To W. D. Fox 22 [July 1855]
Down Farnborough Kent
22d.
My dear Fox
Many thanks for the 7 days old White Dorking & for the other promised ones.—1 I am getting quite “a chamber of horrors”.2 I appreciate your kindness even more than before; for I have done the black deed & murdered an angelic little Fan-tail & Pouter at 10 days old.—
I tried Chloroform & Ether for the first & though evidently a perfectly easy death it was prolonged; & for the second I tried putting lumps of Cyanide of Potassium in a very large damp Bottle, half-an-hour before putting in the Pigeon, & the prussic acid gas thus generated was very quickly fatal.— I find a lump of this substance kept with a little cotton-wool in small wide-mouthed Bottle, excellent for my Boys, who are ardent Lepidopterists: the gas kills quickly, sometimes almost instantly, & they most rarely revive after an hour immersion.—
Thank you for your letter about mongrels; by the way you deserve a good scolding, by ending your letter with “I will spare you anymore”— I can truly say that I never in my life received a letter from you that did not interest me,—& this particular one on the very subjects, which interest me most!!— I am never weary at marvelling with you at heredetary mental habits, tastes &c.—
I wonder whether it would be possible to get precise information on the cross of greyhound with Bull-Dog, whether as you think, there were traces of the Bull-dog, after 8 generations: I shd. be extremely glad to get such facts. Can you think of any channel? Do you know in the least who made this cross?3
I suppose & fear that it is quite impossible that you shd. have any precise evidence that the Setter is a mongrel,4 as likewise the brown Retriever &c. I observe many writers on these subjects will not believe that any mongrel is ever true to its kind.—5 I remember when you were here you told me many curious facts about Retrievers &c, &c, which I have written down.—
One more question, to the above point, do you know positively that Ld. Hill’s Dorkings were crossed with the Game, & then fetched high prices as Dorkings?6
If I were to apologise, & talk of sparing you, by Jove it would be to the point.—
My dear Fox | Most truly your’s | C. Darwin
This morning Atriplex or Orache seeds germinated after 100 days immersion!—
Footnotes
Bibliography
EB: The Encyclopædia Britannica. A dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information. 11th edition. 29 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1910–11.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Youatt, William. 1845. The dog. London.
Summary
Describes his method of putting young poultry to death.
Asks questions arising from WDF’s reply about crossed mongrels.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1728
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Darwin Fox
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 95)
- Physical description
- ALS 6pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1728,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1728.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 5