Dear Mr Fox

Thank you very much for your letter.¹ I must own it has discouraged me a good deal as to the necessity of steel traps.² I believe you are the only person in England who has energy & humanity to visit the traps at midnight & Charles tells me you once carried a toad over the Menai Bridge for fear he should come to a bad end—³

I want to ask you to do me a favour. My game keeper friend⁴ here who is so smooth spoken I suspect he chiefly tells me what he thinks I want to hear, tells me that the animals almost always break the leg in their first frantic efforts to escape— is this true according to your experience?⁵ But I want you to be so kind as to have a trap wound round with cloth or flannel over the iron teeth so as to see whether it will save much suffering to have the leg only pinched instead of torn with the teeth. I thought if it is true that the leg is broken the animal would suffer nearly as much in whatever way it is held fast.

I am going to send out papers for subscriptions & when I have got as many names as I can I must put it into the hands of the Soc. in Pall Mall, as the awarding the prize will be a difficult matter.⁶ I send you a paper to shew what sort of a beginning we have made & I am more grateful for two 5^s/ subscriptions than one at £1, for I think the number of names who take an interest in the attempt is what chiefly signifies⁷

I can give rather a better account of Charles this week but he is never long without attacks of sickness. The water cure seemed to do him harm & D^r Gully quite owned that he was not strong enough to bear it⁸   Since we came home he has consulted D^r Brinton of Guy’s Hospital & I hope mineral acid is doing him some good⁹.

He is wonderfully cheerful when not positively uncomfortable   He does not feel the least temptation to disobey orders about working for he feels quite incapable of doing any thing.

His good symptoms are losing no flesh & having a good appetite so that I fully hope that in time he will regain his usual standard of health which is not saying much for him. He desires me to remember him most kindly to you & with my very kind remembrances to Mrs Fox¹⁰ I am dear Mr Fox yours very sincerely | E. Darwin

I will trouble you with the new paper when it is printed.¹¹ I wish you had told us how you are yourself