Ɛpsilon

To John Innes1   [1848?]2

[Down]

My dear Mr Innes

I am extremely sorry to hear of your toothache.— You must not put, I think more than one drop of Chloroform on the tooth..—3 I send Tincture of Arnica4 which smarts the skin (deadly Poison) to put outside.— Mrs Darwin finds hot fomentations do best.— Many find cold water applications best.—

I have found two or three drops of Alum & Swt Spirits of Nitre5 (in bottle with a label) sometimes do my teeth great good. I was not in when your note came

Yours | C. Darwin

I send my bottles which you can return afterwards

I send Creosote,6 some find a drop of this do much good

1
Curate of Down since 1846; he became a life-long friend of the Darwin family (see Stecher 1961 and Moore 1985).
2
Stecher 1961 dates this letter 1848 but no reasons are given. The form of the salutation indicates that it is early in their friendship, but no evidence for a precise date has been found.
3
Applied externally chloroform was used as an antiseptic and local anaesthetic (Beasley 1852, p. 245).
4
Tincture of arnica was a common ingredient of mouthwashes at the time and acted primarily as a disinfectant (Court 1982).
5
Sweet spirits of nitre (ethyl nitrite) and finely-powdered alum were the ingredients of a proprietory product for toothache called ‘Mr. Blake’s tincture’ (Beasley 1852, p. 245).
6
Creosote, obtained from wood tar, was also used locally as an antiseptic; ‘it frequently affords immediate relief in toothache’ (Beasley 1854, p. 199).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 on the tooth.] interl
1.3 which smarts the skin] interl
1.3 (deadly Poison)] square brackets in MS
1.4 water] interl
2.1 two] after del ‘one dro’
2.1 with a] above del ‘without’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1141,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1141