Ɛpsilon

From W. E. Darwin   [12 or 19 July 1877]1

Basset

Thursday

My dear Father

I was away on Friday Saturday, Sunday, Monday & on Tuesday I found the bason in which cleaned leaf was dried up having stupidly forgotten to tell them to give water. The leaf seemed all right & green except that there was a longish brown mark on one leaflet as if it was decayed, the uncleaned leaf seemed all right.2

I could start the thing again if you thought it worth while & will tell me as to cleaning.

When I got back on Monday I found poor Brindle had been taken ill moping on Saturday, & was very bad on Sunday foaming at the mouth & snapping and seemed almost dead by the evening, & on Monday morning Dick killed him— it sounds very like hydrophobia, & I see there have been mad dogs about. Mrs. C.3 says he snapped at Jet who was fastened to him on Sunday morning. So I have chained Jet up in dog kennel in back yard with a notice that no one should touch him. Mrs. C is anxious not to kill him straight off, so I shall wait & see if he mopes too much, as he is very miserable now. the back yard is more cheerful than the kennel & he is easier watched, & I think a strong chain is precaution enough with sheep hurdles to keep Dick away—

Your affect son | W. E. D

Dick does not think it was madness, but something to do with distemper his nose & face swelled up again as before

1
The date is established from the reference to Jet the dog’s possible infection with hydrophobia. In a letter to Emma Darwin of [24 July 1877] (DAR 210.5: 15, dated by a postmark), William wrote that he had killed Jet with prussic acid on the advice of a friend who thought that Jet certainly had hydrophobia. CD and Emma Darwin stayed with William until Wednesday 4 July 1877 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)). There were three Thursdays between 4 and 24 July, but given William’s own recent absence, this letter could not have been written on the first Thursday, which leaves 12 and 19 July.
2
William was probably helping CD with experiments to see whether bloom on leaves protected them from water damage (see letter to Fritz Müller, 14 May 1877 and n. 2).
3
Mrs C.: Mrs Cutting (probably Mary Ann Cutting), William’s housekeeper (letter from Sara Darwin to Emma Darwin, [3 December 1877] (DAR 210.5: 23)). Dick was William’s manservant (letter from Emma Darwin to Leonard Darwin, 12 November [1876] (DAR 239.23: 1.52)). He has not been further identified.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10743,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10743