To William Ogle 25 December 1871
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
Christmas Day 1871
My dear Dr Ogle,
I have read your paper with the greatest possible interest.1 It strikes me as admirably done, & what labour you have bestowed on your observations. I found an old memorandum the other day written between 30 & 40 years ago; in which I inferred that a young Orang was right handed from the manner in which it transferred a spoon that I had placed in its left hand to the right hand before using it.2 I enclose a few notes, but whether they are worth sending I am doubtful, so do not trouble yourself to acknowledge them
Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
P.S | Your paper is so good it is a thousand pities it shd not be published also in some more popular periodical.—3
[Enclosure]
My father was lefthanded tho’ none of his children were. My wife is lefthanded & two of our sons are lefthanded. I expected that this wd. be the case, & therefore carefully observed my eldest son in the year 1840 when an infant.4 He is now lefthanded, but not extremely so, yet he plays billiards with his lefthand, but not cricket. Anything new & difficult he does with left-hand. Nevertheless when an infant he appeared to me to be certainly righthanded, as will appear from the following notes which I will copy as written down at the time. As I inferred he was righthanded I did not observe when the lefthanded tendency first shewed itself. The notes are as follows:—
“When exactly 11 weeks old he takes hold of his sucking-bottle with his right hand. This he does whether on the right or left arm of the nurse. He has no notion of clasping the bottle with his left hand, even when it is placed on his body.— (I suppose this means close to his left hand. He has as yet had no practice in using his arms.”
“Three or four days afterwards he used his left hand a little. When 11 weeks & 6 days old he took old of his aunt’s finger and drew it into his mouth.”
“When exactly 12 weeks old and on the following day he clasped his bottle with his left hand just like he did before with his right hand. Therefore his right hand is at least one week in advance of the left. I say at least for I am not quite sure that the first time of using the right hand was observed.”5
These are my notes, & I shd. add that I observed this baby incessantly and I think what I say may be trusted
C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Keynes, Randal. 2001. Annie’s box. Charles Darwin, his daughter and human evolution. London: Fourth Estate.
Notebooks: Charles Darwin’s notebooks, 1836–1844. Geology, transmutation of species, metaphysical enquiries. Transcribed and edited by Paul H. Barrett et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press for the British Museum (Natural History). 1987.
Ogle, William. 1871. On dextral pre-eminence. [Read 27 June 1871.] Transactions of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London 54: 279–301.
Summary
Sends notes on left- and right-handedness from observations made on his eldest son as an infant.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8120
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Ogle
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 261.5: 13 (EH 88205911)
- Physical description
- LS(A) LS(A) 3pp encl memS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8120,” accessed on 28 May 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8120.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19