To Annie Dowie 16 August [1875]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
August 16th
My dear Mrs. Dowie
I was very glad to receive your last note; but alas all is of no use! The point of interest is whether additional digits possess a power of regrowth which ordinary digits or bones do not possess.2
Now Sir J. Paget has quite convinced me that the degree of regrowth observed in the case in question is nothing very unusual with bones amputated during a very early age. I must alter what I have published & confess to error, which is an unpleasant operation; but it is ten times worse to think, that had it not been primarily through your very great kindness, & secondarily through Sir J. Paget, I shd. have gone on republishing & confirming an error.3
Therefore once again allow me to thank you cordially for your assistance, & believe me | Dear Mrs. Dowie | Yours faithfully & obliged | Charles Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Variation 2d ed.: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1875.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
The question is whether additional digits possess power of regrowth beyond the ordinary. James Paget has convinced CD that they do not. CD must alter what he has published. [See Variation, 2d. ed., 2: 459.]
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10119
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Anne (Annie) Chambers/Anne (Annie) Dowie
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.473)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10119,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10119.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23