From Arthur Mostyn-Owen 28 May 1873
Woodhouse, | Shrewsbury.
28 May 73
Dear Darwin
I have received your book for which I am much obliged & shall read it as soon as it comes to my turn but several have bespoke it before me in this house.1 As you say you have one of your own likenesses I shall not send the one that is here—but hang it up along side one of your fathers which is also here—2 You enquire after my eye & the shot in it—3 for some few years after it got there it used to give me occasionally some slight pain but eventually came to the surface where it is now & never gives me any trouble— I may say that it was frequently of much service to me in India for when I wanted a month or two’s leave of absence I could generally get it by rubbing a pinch of cayenne pepper into the eye & then showing it to the local doctor who gave me a certificate that it required the attention of an occulist who of course resided where I wished to go for the term of my leave. Many times I got leave of absence when it was all my eye—4
I am sorry to hear you complain of not having good health I knew you were ailing after your voyage in the Beagle but I thought you had entirely got over that— I never trouble the Doctors I am glad to say and am thankful to be out of their hands— people tell me I ought to have the gout as my father had & my brothers have5—but remedy is very simple Whenever I am the least out of sorts, in any way I take a spoonful of charcoal in half a tumbler of water—& that is sure to set me all right— you had better try it— I have prescribed it to many very poorly patients with invariable good results—some of them miraculous equal to Holloways pills6 &c &c
Some day when in London I will certainly take train & pay you a morning visit for you are very well within a mornings train from London. I have never made the acquaintance of your son, though I have heard of him7
Believe me | yours truly | A Mostyn Owen
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
OED: The Oxford English dictionary. Being a corrected re-issue with an introduction, supplement and bibliography of a new English dictionary. Edited by James A. H. Murray, et al. 12 vols. and supplement. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1970. A supplement to the Oxford English dictionary. 4 vols. Edited by R. W. Burchfield. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1972–86. The Oxford English dictionary. 2d edition. 20 vols. Prepared by J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1989. Oxford English dictionary additional series. 3 vols. Edited by John Simpson et al. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1993–7.
Summary
He will keep the portrait of CD.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8926
- From
- Arthur Mostyn Owen
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Woodhouse, Shrewsbury
- Source of text
- DAR 173: 43
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8926,” accessed on 25 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8926.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21