<span>Darwin encourages Galton to carry out investigation [of spiritualism]. However, his own health is too uncertain to accept Daniel Dunglas Home’s offer. Discusses possibility of reproducing Crookes’s apparatus for sale. Transcription: "Ap. 21st c1870 Down, Beckenham, Kent. My dear Galton I have considered your proposition well. It seems to me highly desirable that the subject ch be [], + thiat it is a sort of duty in [] one who can do so to aid. I have consulted my wife, + she thinks even more strongly than I do, that it wd be impossible for me. It is my case that I can canvass with anyone + be in any way excited for an hour: my [] then [] to [] + all power of attention then is lost. I am, also, so often too unwell to go out, that I shd frequently break any appointment. Moreover, odd as it may seem, as extreme desire to be well on any particular day, or rather evening, is </span><span>vy apt to make me bad. I regret it much, but I dare not accept Mr. [] remarkably liberal offer. Do not give up yourself. Can you not get some man known for physical science to join you? If Mr. [] succeeds in making his [], + can get some [] maker to sell it, then [] could be one + try for himself- This would settle the question at once, whether any power does [] out of the human body of certain [] individuals. This wd undoubtedly be a vy grand discovery. With very sincere thanks for your letter yours vy truly Ch. Darwin I regret my decision deeple, but I am sure it is unavoidable. Only those who live with me can know how strange + [] I am in health. I never pass 24 hours, without fainting several times, where I can do nothing whatever. Not even read a line." Letter sent from Down, Beckenham, Kent, EnglandThe Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscripts</span>
