To W. H. Kesteven 5 June 1878
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
June 5th 1878
Dear Sir
Your view of the origin of tumbling seems to me very probable.1 Some years ago I received a letter & I believe a paper published in some Indian Journal, describing some experiments made by the author, who had punctured the skull of a pigeon which was not a tumbler, & it survived for a long time & flew in a manner closely resembling that of a tumbler.2 I cannot remember whether any fluid was injected into the skull.— I thought that I had quoted these experiments in the second edition of my Variation of Animals & Plants under Domestication, but I cannot find the passage & therefore cannot give the reference
Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin
P.S | I have just succeeded, & you will find reference in foot-note to Vol. I. p. 228 of my Var. under Dom.— Observe 2d. Edit 1875.—3
Footnotes
We do not in the least know the origin of the common Tumbler, but we may suppose that a bird was born with some affection of the brain, leading it to make somersaults in the air.
He added a note to the second edition referring to Moore’s experiments:pricking the base of the brain, and giving hydrocyanic acid, together with strychnine, to an ordinary pigeon, brings on convulsive movements exactly like those of a Tumbler. One pigeon, the brain of which had been pricked, completely recovered, and ever afterwards occasionally made somersaults.
(Variation 2d ed. 1: 228, n. 46.)Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Moore, W. J. 1873. Columbidæ. Indian Medical Gazette 8: 7–9, 35–7.
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
Feels WHK’s views on the origin of tumbling in pigeons are very likely correct.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11543
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Henry Kesteven
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 261.11: 16 (EH 88206068)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11543,” accessed on 26 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11543.xml
