To [William Baxter or W. W. Baxter?] 10 [October 1842 – April 1882]1
A big bottle of distilled water2
2 oz of Camphorated Spirits3
Please fill Bottle with same perfume
C. Darwin
10th
Footnotes
The date range is established and the addressee conjectured from CD’s residence in Down from September 1842 onwards (Correspondence vol. 2, Appendix II). William Baxter and his son William Walmisley Baxter were chemists in Bromley with whom CD regularly did business.
CD ordered distilled water for use in photography in 1857 (see this supplement, letter to [W. W. Baxter?], [after June 1857]); he also used it frequently in his botanical work in 1873 (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 21, letter from Edward Frankland, 27 September 1873).
Camphorated spirits (camphor dissolved in alcohol) were used for topical pain relief for sprains, bruises, and rheumatism (Savory 1836, p. 19).
Bibliography
Savory, John. 1836. A companion to the medicine chest; or, plain directions for the employment of the various medicines, etc. contained in it, with the properties and doses of such as are more generally used in domestic medicine. London: John Churchill.
Summary
Orders distilled water, 2 oz of camphorated spirits, and perfume.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13776
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Baxter; William Walmisley Baxter
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection)
- Physical description
- ALS 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13776,” accessed on
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