Ɛpsilon

From T. H. Huxley   25 March 1882

Science and Art Department, South Kensington

March 25 1882

My dear Darwin

Ever since I met Frank at the Linnean the other night I have been greatly exercised in my mind about you and I should have written sooner if it were not for a suspicion that you may rate being worried with advice about your health as much as I do—1 Never mind, I am going to do it— you ⁠⟨⁠are⁠⟩⁠ twenty miles off & I am a hundred feet up— so that you will be well out of breath by the time you reach me if you are revengeful—

What I want you to do is to get one of the cleverer sort of young London Doctors such as Brunton or Pye Smith to put himself in communication with Clark & then come & see you regularly, say once a week or so—oftener if need be—so long as your present not very satisfactory condition continues—2 I understand all the difficulties about Clark & this seems to me the only way out of them— But whether it is or it isn’t you really ought to have somebody in whom dependence can be placed to look after your machinery (I daren’t say automaton3) critically— It is just one of these cases in which a stitch in time may save not only nine but ninety and nine.

There— I have delivered my soul—

Ever Yours | T. H. Huxley

1
Huxley probably met Francis Darwin at the meeting of the Linnean Society held on 16 March 1882. CD’s papers ‘Action of carbonate of ammonia on roots’ and ‘Action of carbonate of ammonia on chlorophyll’ were read at that meeting (Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London (1880–1): 28). Francis would have told Huxley about CD’s health. CD mentioned being very unwell for several days in his letter to W. D. Crick, 10 March [1882].
2
Thomas Lauder Brunton and Philip Henry Pye-Smith were physicians with whom CD was acquainted. Andrew Clark was physician to both CD and Huxley.
3
Huxley alludes to his essay ‘On the hypothesis that animals are automata, and its history’ (T. H. Huxley 1874). The essay had been republished in Science and culture and other essays (T. H. Huxley 1881) and CD had commented on it in his letter to Huxley of 12 January 1882.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13740,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13740