Ɛpsilon

To William Ogle   29 April [1871]

Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.

April 29th

My dear Dr Ogle

I am truly obliged for all the great trouble which you have so kindly taken.— I am sure you have no cause to say that you are sorry you can give no more definite information; for you have given me far more than I ever expected to get. The action of the Platysma is not very important for me, but I believe that you will fully understand (for I have always fancied that our minds were very similar) the intolerable desire I had not to be utterly baffled. Now I know that it sometimes contracts from fear, & from shuddering, but not apparently from a prolonged state of fear such as the insane suffer.1

With very many thanks, | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

Postmark: AP 30 71

1
Ogle’s letter to CD has not been found, but may have contained Ogle’s observations of the action of the platysma in patients about to undergo an operation (see Expression, pp. 300–1, and letter to William Ogle, 25 March [1871]).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 Beckenham] before del ‘Bromley.’
1.5 (for … similar)] parentheses over commas
1.6 not] after del ‘to’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7726,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7726