Ɛpsilon

From W. E. Darwin   20 April [1876]1

Basset, | Southampton.

Ap 20.

My dear Father,

I expected Frank & Ruck to breakfast when I should have given them this pamplet, but they have not appeared.2

I also send Col. Gordon’s testimonial.3

Dr Maclean has just come back from Rome where he has cured himself of an attack of Roman fever by it.4

I should like it back some time.

I do not believe in a company for such a thing except perhaps as an advertisement.

I shall like to hear about Henrietta, & hope Dr Clarke gave you a good account.5

Your affect son | W E Darwin

1
The year is established by the references to William Campbell Maclean’s trip to Italy (see n. 4, below), and Henrietta Emma Litchfield’s illness (see n. 5, below).
2
Francis Darwin and one of his wife, Amy’s, brothers. The pamphlet has not been identified.
3
The testimonial of Charles George Gordon was for Warburg’s tincture (see n. 4, below); it has not been found. Gordon had used the tincture to obtain relief from acute chest pains while serving as governor-general of Sudan (Boulger 1896, 1: 11; see also Maclean 1886, p. 71).
4
In an article on the prevalence of typhoid in Naples hotels, William Campbell Maclean stated that, after travelling to Rome, he had contracted Roman fever, which he suspected to be a hybrid of typhoid and malaria. Maclean reported that he cured himself with Warburg’s tincture (Hampshire Advertiser, 15 April 1876, p. 7). He later praised the remedy in a lecture on remittent fever (Maclean 1886, pp. 69–72).
5
Henrietta Emma Litchfield, who was visiting Down, was ill with pain and fever from 17 to 21 April 1876. Andrew Clark visited her on the evening of 19 April 1876. (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242); letter to J. D. Hooker, 19 April [1876].)

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10458F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10458F