E. Nettleship to K. Pearson, 9th Jan. 1909.- External URL
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Sent From (Definite): Edward NettleshipSent To (Definite): Karl PearsonDate: 9 Jan 1909
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Holder (Definite): University College London: Special Collections
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Sent fromEdward Nettleship
9 Jan 1909
Description:
‘My dear Pearson,
I have been putting what I could of the pedigree of my albino Pekingese. The bubble is rather pricked from the point of view of the albinism being a new departure, for I have found 15 other albinos besides the 3 I have. The consanguinities are most bewildering when put into our form, but all the albinos go back to a dog & bitch that were imported from Pekin [sic] in 1896 & of whom the lady who got them over writes that she “always thought they were brother & sister” though she has no proof. The albinos begin in the next-but-one generation to this pair. A pair of sisters had a litter of 7, all albinos; in all the other cases either one parent or both were coloured. Albino x black seems often to give what they call “sable red”; but there is evidently a great range of colour in the breed as a whole.
I expect all this is much the same cat.-par[?]: as with mice & guinea pigs & rats? The only interest, if any, is the accurate record of extremely close & frequent consanguinities. But I expect you have as accurate & much more extensive genealogies from the mice &c.? & if so probably this dog pedigree may not be worth reproducing. However, let me know – there are still one or two gaps to fill up which will take some days no doubt.
The breed generally is very interesting & without doubt very ancient. One lady has got the Chinese Minister to write to Pekin for whatever he can get on the historical & general side, & if we insert the pedigree & his yellow [sic] Excellency produces anything interesting within our limit of time a memorandum can be put in?
One of the Chinese gods, a gentleman called Fo, is obviously a monstrous charicature [sic] of these dogs, & I am told that some of the old bronze figures &c. also certainly represent them. They appear to be semi-sacred, or at least are by way of being confined to the Palace [(]the good specimens[)] & not supposed to get into any hands less than the Emperor or someone nearly an Emperor. – They therefore probably represent the result of a very exclusive artificial selection carried on for a very long time.
The whole thing is rather “a sell”; but I don’t suppose I should have discovered how common the albinos of this breed are unless one had started on the belief that they were rare;- I myself shd. not otherwise [have] got in touch with the right people.
Yrs. E. Nettleship.’
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Sent toKarl Pearson
9 Jan 1909
Description:
‘My dear Pearson,
I have been putting what I could of the pedigree of my albino Pekingese. The bubble is rather pricked from the point of view of the albinism being a new departure, for I have found 15 other albinos besides the 3 I have. The consanguinities are most bewildering when put into our form, but all the albinos go back to a dog & bitch that were imported from Pekin [sic] in 1896 & of whom the lady who got them over writes that she “always thought they were brother & sister” though she has no proof. The albinos begin in the next-but-one generation to this pair. A pair of sisters had a litter of 7, all albinos; in all the other cases either one parent or both were coloured. Albino x black seems often to give what they call “sable red”; but there is evidently a great range of colour in the breed as a whole.
I expect all this is much the same cat.-par[?]: as with mice & guinea pigs & rats? The only interest, if any, is the accurate record of extremely close & frequent consanguinities. But I expect you have as accurate & much more extensive genealogies from the mice &c.? & if so probably this dog pedigree may not be worth reproducing. However, let me know – there are still one or two gaps to fill up which will take some days no doubt.
The breed generally is very interesting & without doubt very ancient. One lady has got the Chinese Minister to write to Pekin for whatever he can get on the historical & general side, & if we insert the pedigree & his yellow [sic] Excellency produces anything interesting within our limit of time a memorandum can be put in?
One of the Chinese gods, a gentleman called Fo, is obviously a monstrous charicature [sic] of these dogs, & I am told that some of the old bronze figures &c. also certainly represent them. They appear to be semi-sacred, or at least are by way of being confined to the Palace [(]the good specimens[)] & not supposed to get into any hands less than the Emperor or someone nearly an Emperor. – They therefore probably represent the result of a very exclusive artificial selection carried on for a very long time.
The whole thing is rather “a sell”; but I don’t suppose I should have discovered how common the albinos of this breed are unless one had started on the belief that they were rare;- I myself shd. not otherwise [have] got in touch with the right people.
Yrs. E. Nettleship.’
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