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Show moreLetter to Robert Stecher to answer his inquiries about some Darwin prints. Kaynes tells of visit to Harvey vault in Hampsted Church. Transcription: "8 May 1960 Lammas House, Brinkley Neismarket, Suffolk Dear Dr. Stecher, Very many thanks for returning my Darwin prints with interest! I am afraid I can't help you with any of your queries. I have no clue at all as to the origins of my nos. 2 and 3. As to no. 4, I think [] meant the gentleman shaking hands with the gorilla at the top to be a likeness of Darwin; but the likeness is approximate only. It is the original pen drawing that I have, but I know nothing more about it. It carries no identification at all. I am sure Quentin must have been most interested in your collections. He is due here in a few days, + he will tell me about it. And he shall be delighted to see you + your wife here in the autumn if we are at home. We plan to go to Rome for a fortnight Sept-Oct. but dates are not yet fixed. Henry Viets is staying here at the moment. + I took him this afternoon to see Harvey's monument in [Harpsted?] church, not for from here. The Harvey [] happened to be open, having no door owing to repairs that are being made to be wandered in a Harvey [], surrounded by dozens of bodies '[]'. Rather a grisly sight. W.H. Runself is up in the church in a great marble sarcophagus. near the bust. Yours sincerely Geoffrey Keynes" Letter, signed by sender. Sent from Lammas House, Brinkley, Newmarket, Suffolk.
The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscripts
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Show moreLetter to Robert Stecher discussing possible reasons for Charles Darwin's bad health. Transcription: "15/3/1948 Dear Dr. Stecher, It was a great pleasure to get your letter + to read the interesting excerpt from Dr. Alvarez's work. How good of you to have it typed, so that I can keep it with other reports I have of me grandfather's ill-health. Very many thanks. The doctors do not yet agree on this topic; Dr. Douglas Hubble (The Lancet Jan. 30-1943) considers that Charles' fear of his father, Robert, was an important factor in the neurosis to which he attributes his 40 years of ill-health. Dr. Buckstone Browne considers it a simple matter of stomach trouble which could have been cured by dieting! I think Dr. Alvarez's approach the right one; + have always seen in Rom Wedgwood (who, by the way was Emma's uncle, not brother) a neurotic state which together with the Darwin contribution through Dr. Erasmus, could be made to account too much. But without much more work it is impossible to say very definitely, + there are almost always stray uncles + aunts in every family tree to account for oddities! But if it is true that a poor nervous heredity came in on both sides of the family, it is indeed remarkable that with the frequent cousin marriages that took place for three generations, no more cases of nervous instability occurred. It is curious too to consider, that Tom Wedgwood, A brilliant mental endowment well above the average, infused into hopeless inertia, as did C.O's brother, Erasmus. But in C.O himself + two of his sons + one daughter. any nervous trouble that existed seems to have affected the stomach, + not to have impaired the will to work. I hope you will get your collection of caricatures + cartoons together; + what about the baldness? Perhaps you will be visiting England [], in which case I trust you will let us know, as it would be a great pleasure to see you again Yours Sincerely Nora Barlow Dr. Robert M. Stecher City Hospital Cleveland USA" Letter, signed by sender. Envelope included. Sent from Boswells, Wendover, Aylesbury.
The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscripts
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Show moreLetter to Robert Stecher answering inquiries about Charles Darwin's health. Transcription: "Dr. Robert M. Stecher Metropolitan general Hospital 3395 Scranton Rd. Cleveland 9 Ohio USA Sender's name and address: N. Barlow Boswells Werdover Boswells, Werdover March 18, 1960 Dear Dr. Stecher, I was delighted to hear from you after all these years, and to know of your further Darwin activities. This will only be an interim letter to answer the immediate questions which do not need further enquiry. I am so glad your interest seems as keen as ever. all these matters, and I wonder whether you have kept abreast of the spate of literature about C.D. on both sides of the Atlantic in these centenary years? - Eisely, Himmelfarb, Gavin de Beer + the rest. I will take the questions in order. Starting with 1); I shall have no objection to your quoting my letter to you of 1948, if, as I hope, you get your discourse of March 3 this year printed. I look forward to reading what you said in your discourse, + hope you "[]" with approval + were a great success. 2); Baldness. I remember no suggestion that my grandmother was bald - I do not think that her cap was to conceal this; but merely the fashion of the day. She did have a very high forehad, as is shown in all photographs of her. 3)Health. I have just received a letter from Dr. Alvarez + his recent study of Darwin's health, + I expect you have also. I still think it rather inconclusive to harp on the inheritance. A "bad genes" from both sides, though I agree that the illness was probably largely psycho-somatic. His childrens' peculiarities did not prevent them from living active full lives - except in the case of Aunt [Effy?], Mrs Litchfield. But in the question of C.D's health, a newer suggestion has cropped up, which I like to think may be true, to remove C.D from these constant speculations of psychic disorder. (See Lancets-1934, i. p.129;1953, ii, p.1351;1054,i,pp.106, 414,467. [][ LXXX,1946,p.74. Biology of Human Affairs, Oct 1954,referring to these matters by Hubble, Good + myself.) The new suggestion comes from Dr. Adler, OBE, FRCP, FRS, Hebrew-University; Israel, who recently visited S. America, + was impressed by the similarity of the symptoms of the chronic Chagas disease caused by the triatomed bug, Triatoma intestans, with C.D's illnesses. The description C.D. gives of allowing the bug of [Meadga?] to bite him, was in march 1835, + therefore unless he had been previously infected, this rules out the Chagas disease accounting for the first serious illness in S. America in 1834. You will find an account of this in Nature Autumn 1959, but I can't lay my hands on the exact reference, Unfortunately one date is given wrongly*. The further questions I am pursuing are A) The origin of the unidentified cartoon; + B) The whereabouts of the certificate of C.D's [] membership to the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow, 1870. I will write again if I can gain any information on these points. With all Good Wishes Yours Sincerely Nora Barlow *This will be under Gavin de Beer's name." Airmail letter, signed by sender. Sent from Boswells, Wendover.
The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscripts
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Show moreLetter to Robert Stecher to request list of Darwin's Letters in the Stecher collection. Transcription: "By Air Mail Par Avion Air Letter Aerogramme Dr. Robert M. Stecher Metropolitan General Hospital 3395 Scranton Road Cleveland 9 Ohio U.S.A. Sir Gavin de Beer 39 Shrewsbury House Cheyne Walk London SW3 England The Royal Society Burlington House, London, W.1 Regent 3335 As from 39 Shrewbury House, Cheyne Walk, London S W 3 28 October 1960 Dear Dr Stecher, I am writing to thank you again for your kindness in taking time and trouble to telephone to me on your way through London when you only had so very little time to spare. I look forward very much to a meeting and longer conversation next time. In one of the letters which you wrote to me earlier, you very kindly offered to let me have a list of the Darwin letters in your magnificent collection. I should be extremely grateful if you could do this, because I am about to stack up me card- index of every dateable event in Darwin's life, and letters with their dates and the places from which they were written, the names of their addressees, and a very brief statement of the subject treated, are the material from which the man's running thoughts can be followed better than from any other source, If dates, place, addressee, and brief statement of subject, I think that I could make a real contribution to Darwinian studies, thanks to you. I might also be able to date undated letters for you, and to find the names of addressees where no specified. Even trivia are very valuable for these purposes With best wishes Yours sincerely [Cravin du Bur??]" Air letter, signed by sender. Sent from The Royalty Society, Burlington House, London.
The Robert M. Stecher Collection of Charles Darwin Books and Manuscripts
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