Sent from Herbert Edward Soper
7 Aug 1913
Description:

‘Dear Professor Pearson,

The Schedules have come and have been acknowledged with thanks to Mrs Weldon. They were made I suppose before the closer measures of pigmentation & cxolour were introduced and being in the Weldon categories cannot be used I presume.

The subject is a very fascinating one but wants a lot of studying and I am inclined to think that some visual diagrams such as I enclose [present] will suggest lines of investigation. Although the correlation coefficients of heredity take one a tremendous way these diagrams seems to call for some further lines especially in the matter of the character of the distributions. For instance if W is mated with A the offspring “M” seem to have a distribution of characters which is less like samples taken one by one from a mixture than like samples taken in handfulls [sic] from a badly mixed composite. The separate litters too “L”, seem to indicate a fluctuation towards one or other of the two distributions suggested by the aggregate “M.” On the other sheet the disposition of the individuals of the litter a b and c to heap up at two or three points (often resembling in these points the grandparents rather than the parents) is I think very marked and although it may be said that the group 0 and 100 contain big tails of Gaussians and the points fall hap hazard [sic] between, yet on looking at 6H2 6H3 6H4 and 6H5 one cannot escape the proposition that 75 and 80 are favoured percentages in offspring & parents rather beyond the expectations of chance.

If there is anything in what I say one has to face a rather complicated problem necessitating, it seems to me, a regard for the litter as a whole, or for the litters a b and c as a whole, and its resemblance to the distribution of the ancestry as a whole rather than a summing up of deviations. I can [sic] help thinking that these parents [diagram] resemble these offspring [diagram] more than they do these [diagram] or these [diagram].

However at present I feel very much in the dark and the problem will occupy some of my thoughts in my rambles.

Another fascinating pursuit is the form of the colourations. One does not get white patches in black but black patches on white. What does this mean? I imagine if the coats from 00 to 100 were set up & spun in the wheel of life one would get some suggestive ideas as to centres of growth and correlated parts in skins. I think too that perhaps other points than those chosen for colour might have been suggested. E.g. I see in the same litter [{]36.33.3[;] 39.1.1[;] 37.37.1[}] but shall find it difficult I think to fit the middle measures into correlation tables.

My married sister at Finchley says that if she were offered a pup she thinks she would be very glad to accept after she has moved house, in September. She is too busy with other matters at present.

I enclose cutting from “Daily Sketch” but Heron thinks you have already had some communication with Eskelby[?].

Thanking you for your good wishes and hoping you are enjoying the Cotswolds and with kind regards to yourself & Mrs Pearson & Miss Bell.

Yours sincerely

H.E. Soper.’