To G. H. Darwin   22 January 1873

My dear old George—

I have been very sorry to hear of your miserable suffering, & it was a great relief to know today that you were at Cannes.1 Try & keep up your courage: I think this extreme badness may be connected with your cold.

I wish you had travelled all the way in the coupé2—do not regard expence—you know that I shall be always glad to pay for extras.— The warmer climate, I trust may do you some good.

My love to Horace & I hope he may find or make some acquaintances, so as not, to be very dull, & that the place may suit his health. Farewell my two dear sons. How it will rejoice us to have a better account of you.—

Your affect | C. D.

Jan. 22d. 73

We shall soon have finished the “Contemporary” & send it, & afterwards the “Fortnightly.”3

My mixture consists of equal parts of “Oxley’s Essence of Ginger” & of the “Tincture of Cayenne”.— I mix them with 4 or 5 times as much brandy, I take from 15 to 20 drops.—4 I add the Brandy solely to make the dropping in measuring glass easier, as I shd require only 4 or 5 drops of the pure mixture.—

1
George and Horace Darwin had left for France on 10 January 1873 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).
2
A coupé was a four-wheeled carriage with inside seats for two.
3
CD refers to the Contemporary Review and the Fortnightly Review.
4
Ginger was valued for its beneficial effects on the stomach; cayenne, derived from species of Capsicum, was used for the treatment of gout and flatulence (Beasley 1865, pp. 161, 537). See also Correspondence vol. 14, letter to H. B. Jones, 3 January [1866], for CD’s use of these medicines.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.2 always] interl
3.1 or make] interl
7.4 pure] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8747,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8747