From G. H. Darwin   30 May 1874

Trin Coll

Sat. May 30. 74

Dear Father,

I don’t intend to give up the Descent, as I think I can stick to it however bad I am. I think it will be no use to stop Clowes sendg. proofs as I shall like to have a reserve by me, & if I shd. go abroad I might take several with me1    The MS of notes 95 Chap II & 79 Ch. III are not sent— in the latter the printers seem in doubt as to a number. You might look up the reference perhaps, p 55 note 82

Comptes rendus des Séances ? sciences—it is thus in former edit.2 I will return the proofs when done. I shall read them twice.

Thursday & yesterday were the two worst days I’ve had since March—and altho’ I had had a bad turn up of bile on Thursday morning I had another in the afternoon which was certainly the worst I have ever had—bile mucous & blood— The quantity which comes up is certainly on the increase. Except that I had to do so, I hardly know how I supported existence. As I moon about a good deal on these occasions in my room—for I ca’nt sit still, I was utterly fagged out & slept heavily— Today I’m a good deal better, tho’ I began with yellow bile before breakfast & feel very much ‘played out’. I’m getting awfully thin, as is to be expected. I suppose I shall be a little better now for a day or two, but I can’t say I expect anything from this new scheme of Dr. C’s.3

By the bye the ‘corals’ have come & I’m getting it bound.4

There is a mad cuckoo here who I suppose can’t get a mate— He is very untuneful & sings cuck cuck cuck sometimes 5 times before the ‘coo’—very staccato & not at all in good tune. Today he is singing cuckoo, both notes exceedingly staccato & quite ugly. He sings more than any other I ever heard & I heard him the other morning at 3 oclock going on with his cuck cuck cuck for ever so long.? Has’nt he failed in getting mated because he sings so badly.—

Mother’s housewife5 has come & looks very nice. The Pall Mall of last night refers to a modified childmurder amongst the Kalmuks, as they don’t take so much care of the female as of the male infants6

Yours affectly | G. H. Darwin

CD annotations

1.1 I don’t … with me 1.3] crossed red crayon
1.3 The … II 1.4] enclosed in square brackets, red crayon, ink; del ink
1.4 79 … twice. 2.2] crossed ink
1
George was working on the proof-sheets of the second edition of Descent. William Clowes & Sons were the printers used by CD’s publisher, John Murray (see letter to G. H. Darwin, [29 May 1874]).
2
In the second edition of Descent, chapter 2, note 95 (p. 60), is a reference to Variation 2d ed. 2: 280 and 282; the text was changed from ‘p. 280, 282’ in the first edition (Descent 1: 152 n. 80) to ‘pp. 280, 282’. Chapter 3, note 79 (p. 96), refers to John Lubbock’s Prehistoric times 2d ed. (Lubbock 1869). Note 82, p. 55, refers to ‘"Comptes-rendus des Sciences," &c.’ In the first edition, the journal title was given as ‘"Comptes Rendus des Séances", &c.’ (Descent 1: 146 n. 72). The full title is Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences.
3
The physician Andrew Clark evidently restricted George’s diet (see letter to G. H. Darwin, [29 May 1874]).
4
George’s name appears on CD’s presentation list for the second edition of Coral reefs (see Appendix IV).
5
Housewife (or hussif): a pocket sewing-kit.
6
The report about the Kalmouk (now Kalmyk) people in Astrakhan (south-west Russia) appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette, 29 May 1874, pp. 4–5, and stated: ‘The last census shows that the Kalmouk population is gradually diminishing, and that the mortality among the women is much greater than among the men; there were 68,000 men and only 51,000 women. This is attributed to the circumstance that much more care is taken of male than of female children.’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9475,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9475