From Adam Sedgwick   2 January 1850

My dear Henslow,

Thank God I am gradually recovering. My fall was very severe; & my bruises, at first, far more alarming than my broken humerus But I have recovered rapidly from my bruises & notwithstanding the wonderful prismatic colours on my body it is I trust doing well. The restoration of the right humerus to its office & the use of my right hand I can only look for after several more weeks. My nights are indeed long & dismal; for I sleep very little & such a weariness comes over my joints & limbs that I am sometimes am out of my senses & I cannot shift my position to relieve these horrible sensations; for the fracture is close to the top of this humerus & they had no room for splints; the surgeon therefore put a soft pad under my arm and then fixed it firmly to my body by a rolling bandage so I look like a mummy with one arm out. This is a sorry beginning of the New Year. Oh! that [I] could say, as my Saviour said & with the same submission; not my will but thine be done! But I fear I have too often been a wicked murmurer. God send you all a happy new year! And when you say yours prayers ask God to sanctify my illness & to make me patient

Very affectionately yours |A Sedgwick

P.S. It was a simple fracture