From Emma Darwin to W. D. Fox [6 May 1864]
Down Bromley | Kent
Friday
Dear Mr Fox
I wish we could have accepted your kind proposal of coming here1 but I must tell you how ill Charles has been since we were at Malvern.2 He has had almost daily vomiting for 6 months & it was becoming a great anxiety that it should be stopped. About 3 weeks ago Dr Jenner saw him for the 2nd time3 & he has succeeded in stopping the vomiting & he has been 3 weeks free from it, but I am afraid of the least exertion bringing it on till his stomach has more recovered its strength.
You know that the pleasure of seeing & talking with you wd be all the worse for him the more he enjoyed it at the time.
The day we saw you in London last spring4 has been almost the last time of his being tolerably well—
He is still in his room & goes to bed more than once in the day, but he walks out of doors & occupies himself a good deal with experiments with his flowers, so that tho’ his progress is very slow he does get on. I dare say you are enough of a Doctor to like to know what has done him so much good It is small & very frequent doses of Chalk, Magnesia & Carbonate of Ammonia5 Charles desires me to give you his kind love—
I am my dear Mr Fox | Yours very sincerely | E. Darwin
Will you remember us both to Mrs Fox6
Footnotes
Bibliography
Colp, Ralph, Jr. 1977. To be an invalid: the illness of Charles Darwin. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Summary
CD has been so ill they must discourage visit by WDF. Recovering slowly with new treatment.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4487
- From
- Emma Wedgwood/Emma Darwin
- To
- William Darwin Fox
- Sent from
- Down
- Postmark
- MY 6 64
- Source of text
- Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 143)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4487,” accessed on 17 August 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4487.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12