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From G. H. Darwin   [before 9 May 1878]1

Dear Father

I’ve received a letter from Kőrosi Director of the Statistical Bureau at Pest.2 He says that Dr. Bőke examined the parentage of 60 deaf-mutes—3 Out of 16 born so none were children of consang. parents— out of 44 who acquired the deficiency 6 were offspring of consang. marriages. This seems very extraordinary & just contrary to what one wd. expect if consang. marriages tend to deaf mutism—unless there are two wholly distinct causes for the complaint Do you think that it wd be worth sending to Nature.4

I heard some more about the Election to the R.S— 13 were elected right off & Prof. Smith stuck up very strongly for Symons the meteorologist & Rayleigh & Hind (the astronomer) appealed whether he wd’nt rather have me— however they ended by taking Symons.5 I hear Hooker spoke up for me—tho’ of course it could have been only in a general sort of way.6 Somebody reveals secrets with considerable freedom but that is’nt my affair

Yours affec | G H Darwin

Footnotes

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to G. H. Darwin, 9 May 1878.
2
József Kőrösy was the director of the statistical office at Budapest (International encyclopedia of the social sciences). The city of Budapest was formed by the unification of Buda and Óbuda with Pest in 1873.
3
Gyula Bőke was a Hungarian otologist.
4
No article or letter from George to Nature on the subject of consanguinity of parents of deaf children has been identified.
5
George had first been proposed for fellowship of the Royal Society of London in November 1877. George’s name was put forward again on 7 March 1878, 6 March 1879, and 1 May 1879 (Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 27 (1878): 156, 28 (1878–9): 379, 29 (1879): 1); he was elected on 12 June 1879 (Record of the Royal Society of London). George James Symons, first nominated in 1872, was elected on 6 June 1878 (ibid.). Henry John Stephen Smith was Savilian Professor of geometry at Oxford (ODNB). George also refers to John William Strutt (the third Baron Rayleigh), and John Russell Hind.
6
Joseph Dalton Hooker was president of the Royal Society.

Bibliography

International encyclopedia of the social sciences. Edited by David L. Sills. Assistant editor, V. N. Ponomarev. 19 vols. New York: Macmillan. [1968–91.]

ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.

Record of the Royal Society of London: The record of the Royal Society of London for the promotion of natural knowledge. 4th edition. London: Royal Society. 1940.

Summary

Recounts some figures relating deaf-mutism and consanguineous marriages.

GHD has failed to be elected to the Royal Society.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-11498
From
George Howard Darwin
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
unstated
Source of text
DAR 210.2: 66
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11498,” accessed on 16 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11498.xml

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