From William Pollard Pattison 4 December 1865
28 Guildford St: | Russell Sq:, London.1
4th. Dec: 1865.
Dear Sir,
I am about to take a liberty which I would not venture to do but for the kind way in which scientific men allow what might be their exclusive wealth to be drawn upon by all earnest enquirers. I must frankly say, however, that the object of my present enquiry is a practical one rather than the obtaining of knowledge for itself. But being on a point which not more than 4 or 5 can give any information & yourself the most valuable I have no option but to ask your kind permission to submit it to you.
In the course of my profession as an Actuary I have the following case:
The succession of certain people to a considerable property depends, with other contingencies, on issue being born to a gentleman of pure race (aged 35) to a lady (aged 35) who is a hybred—the offspring of an Englishman and an Indian lady. They have been married 21 years without issue & there have been, I believe, no indications of a power of fecundity. If the circumstances applied to two Europeans, not blood relations, a fair estimate might be formed of the probability of issue; and what I wish to ascertain is whether the failure of issue is functional & therefore impossible, or whether otherwise it is more or less probable than if both were Europeans.
Though I would highly prize your opinion, I will only ask you to name the books (kindly indicating in what parts) I should find any trustworthy information, or valuable opinion.2 I do not ask for your opinion, only because you might not wish to give it & yet at the same time would not wish to decline giving it.
I am sometimes in the neighbourhood of Down, and was half tempted to call rather than write this long letter: but a letter can be answered in the leisure hour of the day, and my call might have been in the most busy one.
Believe me, Dear Sir, | Yours faithfully & obediently | W. P. Pattison.
Charles Darwin, Esqre | Down.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Post Office London directory: Post-Office annual directory. … A list of the principal merchants, traders of eminence, &c. in the cities of London and Westminster, the borough of Southwark, and parts adjacent … general and special information relating to the Post Office. Post Office London directory. London: His Majesty’s Postmaster-General [and others]. 1802–1967.
Summary
An actuary wants to know whether the probability that a woman of English–Indian parentage will have a child after age 35 is the same as for a European woman.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4946
- From
- William Pollard Pattison
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Guildford St, 28
- Source of text
- DAR 174: 29
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4946,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4946.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 13