Ɛpsilon

From T. H. Noyes   19 November 1878

85 Gloucester Road NW

19.11.78

Dear Sir

Your family I know to be investigators of Wallace & Crookes & Varleys occult philosophy1 & you ought to be if you are not, for were you to become a friend of Celestials disincarned your bodily ailments would vanish like the chaff before the wind and you would be set free to enjoy life once more & utilise your great talents for the good of this woeful world of ignorance prejudice & guile. I am one of those much maligned sinners called Mediums & as I am a graduate in honors of Ch Ch & nephew of an Arch Bishop & a friend of one two Primates & allied to many of our ducal families and heir male of one of the most ancient ducal families in Gt Britain myself,2 if I am not wrongly informed, I think I am entitled to be believed & esteemed a Credible witness when being the author of that logical Theological work ‘Hymns of Modern Man’3 I affirm that I receive direct & conscious inspiration from celestials who seem to be as nearly omniscient as they are supposed to be. I have by their favour the gift of healing all occult diseases in man & Beast & Bird—and if the great Naturalist will only condescend to follow the example of numberless sick bodies unable to find relief at the hands of the Royal College of empirics who claim to be Physicians and are Quacks & ignorami & impostors 9 times out of 10 in all difficult & obscure ailments, Health shall supersede disease, & Platinum 15 grams & Osmium 5 grams & Indium 3 grams sponge Powder given in small doses in guava Jelly: as above notes if taken regularly & daily & every day fasting for 7 weeks will remove all distressing symptoms, & if this Rosicrucean course of Tonic be commenced by a Course of saturated Tincture of Rum Tox, as made by Field & Co of Holborn, with Rum instead of Spirits of Wine, on 4 Teaspoonful doses, given in Port wine negus sweetened with Honey &, before Breakfast, for 7 weeks, without missing a single day, no hale sexagenarian in Europe will enjoy better health than the revived Naturalist C.W D.4

faithfully yours | T H Noyes

1
Alfred Russel Wallace and Cromwell Fleetwood Varley had a shared interest in spiritualism (see Correspondence vol. 17, letter from A. R. Wallace, 18 April [1869] and n. 6). CD’s cousin Francis Galton had attended séances at the home of William Crookes, who investigated the claims of mediums (see Correspondence vol. 20, letter from Francis Galton, 28 March 1872, and letter from Francis Galton, 19 April 1872); his son George had also attended one (Correspondence vol. 21, letter from G. H. Darwin to Emma Darwin, [before 24 November 1873]). CD had been briefly present at a séance in the home of Erasmus Alvey Darwin in January 1874 (see Correspondence vol. 22, letter to J. D. Hooker, 18 January [1874]).
2
Noyes was a graduate of Christ Church, Oxford; his great-uncle on his mother‘s side was Richard Whately, archbishop of Dublin (T. H. Noyes 1857, p. 31).
3
T. H. Noyes 1872.
4
Noyes presumably meant to give CD’s full initials, ‘CRD’. The Rosicrucians were an esoteric alchemical sect (OED). Field & Co., homoeopathic chemists, had premises at 267 High Holborn (Post Office London directory 1878). Rhus tox. is a homoeopathic remedy.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11749,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11749