From R. H. Tiddeman 23 March 1871
Ibstone Rectory | Stokenchurch | Oxon
March 23rd 1871
Dear Sir
I take the liberty of communicating to you a fact which I think may be of some interest to you. I have been lately reading with much pleasure your ‘Descent of Man’ and was talking about it to an unscientific friend of mine at Lancaster last Sunday. Amongst other subjects I was speaking of reversion and mentioned the occasional existence of supernumerary mammæ in women— He said “You know Charlie—”1 alluding to a young man in North Lancashire with whom I have only a slight acquaintance, “he has two pairs” He said that he had often seen them when bathing with him that the second pair were below the usual pair about a finger’s length, that they were altogether similar except in size, being smaller In other respects he is a well made man and belongs to a good looking family. It would be interesting to know whether this peculiarity exists in other members of the family. Unfortunately from my acquaintance only being very slight and also from the delicacy of the subject I am unable to glean further particulars. I presume such a structure in man, where utility as a preservative would be wholly excluded, might be referred with greater confidence to reversion than the previously recorded cases in women
Permit me to take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude for the great pleasure and interest which I have found in your works
With the greatest respect | I am yours faithfully | R H Tiddeman H.M. Geological Survey
Charles Darwin Esqre. FRS etc
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Summary
On the case of a male acquaintance with two pairs of mammae.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7614
- From
- Richard Hill Tiddeman
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Ibstone
- Source of text
- DAR 87: 141–2
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7614,” accessed on 26 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7614.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19