To William Turner 29 March [1871]1
Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.
March 29th
My dear Sir
Forgive me for troubling you with one line. Since writing my P.S. I have read the part on the influence of the nervous system on the nutrition of parts in your last Edit. of Paget’s Lectures.—2 I had not read before the part in this Edit. & I see how foolish I was.— But still I shd. be extremely grateful for any hint or evidence of the influence of mental attention on the capillary or local circulation of the skin or of any part, to which the mind may be intently & long directed. For instance if thinking intently about a local eruption on the skin (not on the face for shame might possibly intervene) caused it temporarily to redden—or thinking of a tumour caused it to throb, independently of increased heart-action.—
I beg you to excuse me | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Paget, James. 1863. Lectures on surgical pathology delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 2d ed. Revised and edited by William Turner. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green.
Summary
Comments on influence of nervous system on nutrition of body parts as discussed in James Paget’s Lectures on surgical pathology [delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 3d ed. (1870)]. Asks about mental influence on capillary circulation.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7638
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Turner
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- The University of Edinburgh Centre for Research Collections (Dc.2.96.5/5)
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7638,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7638.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19