Ɛpsilon

From Francis Darwin   [before 30 June 1872]1

New University Club, | St. James’s Street. S.W.

Dear Father

I managed to catch Garrod this morning at the Gardens—2 He doesn’t seem inclined to give a definite opinion even though quoted with all possible caution   All he says is that it does not necessarily follow that the heart shall be doing more work when it is beating quickly— He thinks that something can be made out by taking a sphygmograph of a person in a state of fright, & he promises to do it as soon as he can—3 I send a photo of Joe, the pouting one is a failure I find, as the lips are all blurred, will you ask Bessy to put it in my book when people have looked at it4

Yrs affec | F Darwin

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from A. H. Garrod to Francis Darwin, 30 June [1872].
2
Alfred Henry Garrod was prosector to the the Zoological Society of London; the society’s gardens were in Regent’s Park (ODNB).
3
Garrod had recently published a theory of the regulation of the frequency of the pulse (Garrod 1872), and as a student at Cambridge had made improvements to the sphygmograph, an instrument used to record pulse beats (ODNB). See also letter from A. H. Garrod to Francis Darwin, 30 June [1872] and n. 6.
4
CD had been asking for information on pouting in children for Expression (see Correspondence vol. 19, letter to W. E. Darwin, 11 February [1871]; Expression, pp. 234–5). Question 14 in CD’s Queries about expression was, ‘Do children when sulky pout and greatly protrude their lips?’ (see Correspondence vol. 19, Appendix VII). Joe was possibly Josiah Clement Wedgwood, born on 16 March 1872 (ODNB); the photograph has not been found. Francis also refers to his sister Elizabeth Darwin.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8365,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8365