My dear Fox

I was very glad to get your interesting letter which was not a word too long, & did not tell me a thing which I did not wish to hear.—¹

I opened the parcel before reading your letter & speculated much how the quasi-drawings had been made, for I saw hairs & scales on them. They are very curious & if they can be produced cheaply, they would really be very valuable & would tell anyone the names of the British Lepidoptera very quickly. I cannot conceive how they can be done, for the same butterfly or moth must I suppose serve for several copies. I do not know M^r Merrin’s address else I would write & thank him very sincerely.² Will you do this kind act for me, as I generally have such a lot of letters to write every day.— I will show the plates to any one interested in Nat. Hist. who may be here.—

I am glad to hear so good an account of yourself, & as for one’s body growing old there is no help for it, & I feel as old as Methusalem;³ but not much in mind, except that I think one takes everything more quietly, as not signifying so much. And as you say one looks backwards much more than forwards & can never expect to have nearly such keen enjoyment as in old days, as when we breakfasted together at Cambridge & shot in Derbyshire. Do I remember Brachinus?⁴ Am I alive? Poor Albert Way I did not know that he was dead: it is a good job, for I have heard that his life & mind have been wretched for some years.—⁵

Like you I always associate my Father with his gardens, & last evening was speaking to Emma about his sitting so long in the garden listening to the Birds singing. You ask about Caroline: she is aged in her body & infirm, but very brisk in mind: a few days ago, another daughter was married, & now the old pair will be left with only one nestling, & this will be dull for the House.—⁶ You ask also about myself: I have been rather better of late, but I never pass six hours without much discomfort; & I forget myself only when I am at work. I have just finished correcting new Editions of my Descent of Man & Coral Reefs; & this is very tedious work, & I am delighted to be at new investigations. I am preparing a book almost wholly on Drosera or the Sun-Dew,⁷ which is a wonderful plant under a physiological point of view, & I think I have made some curious discoveries. One of the chief new points is that it secretes a fluid analogous to gastric juice, for it contains a ferment, closely analogous to pepsine, with an acid, & can thus in a few hours dissolve the hardest cartilage, bone & meat &c. &c.—

I shall never have strength & life to complete more of the series of books in relation to the Origin, of which I have the M.S. half completed; but I have started the subject & that must be enough for me.—⁸

It will be job for you to decipher this scrawl. Farewell my dear old friend— My wife sends her very kind remembrances & do pay us a visit whenever you can. | Farewell yours affectionately | Ch. Darwin

My son’s Bank is in High St “Hawkinson, Atherley & Darwin”   it is a very flourishing concern.—⁹

My son George, I fear, is a confirmed invalid & has given up the law— My third is going to be married & will be my Secretary.— Leonard R.E. is going to N. Zealand on the Venus Expedition. Horace is working in an Engineers Workshop, but is often unwell.— Hereditary ill-health.¹⁰