Samuel is asking for some advice as to whether the offspring of consanguineous relationships are more likely to be mentally and physically impaired than the offspring of unrelated parents. He has in his possession correspondence with the Zoological Society in London (of which he is a Fellow) regarding the practice of inbreeding amongst the animals, while his interests lie more with inbreeding in consanguineous human relationships. He questions whether they are not a violation of nature and cites evidence provided by Huth (possibly from his book The Marriage of Near kin Considered with Respect to the Laws of Nations) as being unsatisfactory.