I am very much obliged for your courteous and kind note. The fact which
you communicate is quite new to me, and as I was laughed at about the tips
to human ears, I should like to publish in "Nature" some time your fact.
But I must first consult Eschricht, and see whether he notices this fact in
his curious paper on the lanugo on human embryos; and secondly I ought to
look to monkeys and other animals which have tufted ears, and observe how
the hair grows. This I shall not be able to do for some months, as I shall
not be in London until the autumn so as to go to the Zoological Gardens.
But in order that I may not hereafter throw away time, will you be so kind
as to inform me whether I may publish your observation if on further search
it seems desirable?


LETTER 423. TO H.M. WALLIS.
Down, March 31st, 1881.

I am much obliged for your interesting letter. I am glad to hear that you
are looking to other ears, and will visit the Zoological Gardens. Under
these circumstances it would be incomparably better (as more authentic) if
you would publish a notice of your observations in "Nature" or some
scientific journal. Would it not be well to confine your attention to
infants, as more likely to retain any primordial character, and offering
less difficulty in observing. I think, though, it would be worth while to
observe whether there is any relation (though probably none) between much
hairiness on the ears of an infant and the presence of the "tip" on the
folded margin. Could you not get an accurate sketch of the direction of
the hair of the tip of an ear?

The fact which you communicate about the goat-sucker is very curious.