The Evolution of Inanimate Objects: The Life and Collected Works of Thomas Darwin. Harry Karlinsky
material was relocated to the Rare Book Room on the closure of a small archival and teaching museum that had previously been maintained in what is now London’s Regional Mental Health Care facility.
The second crucial array of source material revolves around Thomas Darwin’s unpublished manuscript submitted to the journal Nature. As Charles Darwin’s letter to Bucke alluded to this work, I contacted the current administration at Nature’s head office in London, England. The article in question (titled, “Hybrid Artefacts and Their Role in Our Understanding of the Evolution of Inanimate Objects”) as well as a copy of its letter of rejection was eventually unearthed in an archived file.2 In what must have been an extraordinary circumstance, Thomas’s submission prompted a concerned Joseph Norman Lockyer, the Editor of Nature at that time, to write to Charles Darwin. A copy of this letter, as well as Charles Darwin’s response, was also preserved in the Nature file.
In summary, what was intended to be a (lively!) academic account of Canadian asylums circuitously and with growing momentum has evolved into a biography of Thomas Darwin and a repository for those images, letters, and manuscripts that unfold his story. Chapters 1 to 4 provide a brief sketch of Thomas’s life — from his earliest days at Down House, through school days and Cambridge to, finally, his involuntary admission and subsequent death in the London Asylum. Thomas’s known scholarly works, all related in some way to his unusual interest in eating utensils, are reproduced in Chapters 5 to 8, along with details of their critical reception. Original source material related to his psychiatric illness and his confinement in the London Asylum is presented in Chapters 9 and 10.
The concluding Epilogue is a contemporary reappraisal of Thomas’s scholarly contributions as well as his underlying illness. Thomas Darwin’s life merits such resurrection, both as a testament to his significant accomplishments and for the bittersweet depth it adds to our knowledge of Charles Darwin, eminent scientist and devoted father.
[10th October 1879]
[10th October 1879]
To Dr. William Osler
Institutes of Medicine,
McGill University,
Montreal
Dear Will,
I look forward to your imminent arrival. Here in London our committee has been hard at work, and we excitedly await those attending the Annual Meeting. Please note we commence at 10 o’clock on the 16th, and your anatomical demonstration will be the first of two morning presentations. I warn you now that Buller follows you with a talk on pilocarpine in iritis — brace yourself!
And now on to a serious matter. The spread of tuberculosis is a current concern at the Asylum. At present, three of our patients have suspected cases, one of whom is a young man whose condition worries me greatly. His name is Thomas Darwin, the youngest son of England’s celebrated Charles Darwin.
Thomas’s story is a sad one. Travelling alone, he was admitted under Warrant to our Asylum just over three months ago and, though slightly malnourished, presented as physically well. In conversation, however, he was deluded on the most peculiar of matters, all confined in some way to eating utensils. Though now more settled, his odd beliefs persist. Yet he has worked well in the gardens, and the attendants have come to respect his courteous and eloquent presence with us.
One week ago, Thomas’s breathing became more rapid. Now febrile, he refuses almost all nourishment and barely rises from his bed. Although in obvious discomfort, he speaks only of forks and knives and spoons. We have tried analgesics and sedatives — I fear prayer is next.
If your schedule allows, I would be grateful if you would examine Thomas while in London. One opportunity may be the following — at the conclusion of Buller’s lecture, we will depart en masse to the Asylum for lunch. Afterwards, I have asked Sippi to lead the members on a tour of the grounds and, if time allows, an inspection of one or two wards. We might then part from the group in order to assess Thomas. He is now in one of the Cottages, and we could rejoin the meeting once the afternoon session begins. Your diagnostic opinion and treatment recommendations would be thankfully received — no doubt by the Darwin family as well.
In closing, please apprise us of any needed assistance with respect to lodging. A reminder — reduced railway fares are available to members of the Dominion Medical Association. Finally, I would be remiss if I did not indicate my profound respect for your work and its influence on my recent publication, which I have sent by separate post. We are truly fortunate to have your expertise in our midst!
Yours most sincerely,
Richard M. Bucke
Medical Superintendent
London Asylum
ONE
DOWN HOUSE
Thomas Darwin was born on December 10th, 1857, the eleventh and last child of Charles Robert Darwin and his wife Emma (née Wedgwood). All but three of the Darwin children reached the age of majority. Mary Eleanor, third born, died in infancy in 1842 while the much-loved Annie succumbed in her tenth year in 1851. Charles Waring, born developmentally disabled one year earlier than Thomas, died at only two years of age in 1858. Of Thomas’s seven surviving siblings (William Erasmus, Henrietta Emma, George Howard, Elizabeth, Francis, Leonard, and Horace), Horace was the closest in age to Thomas, but almost seven years his senior. As a result of his much younger age, Thomas grew up in relative isolation from his older brothers and sisters, particularly during his adolescent years.
Home was Down House, a large residence sixteen miles south of London, England, located on the outskirts of the small village of Down (now spelled Downe) in the county of Kent. Charles and Emma Darwin moved to this quiet countryside some three years after their marriage, having found the social commitments of London society poorly suited to Charles’s health. After settling in Down House in 1841, and with the considerable aid of a large domestic staff, they resided there with contentment throughout their forty years of married life.
Figure 1. Down House:
Back of House from Garden with Trellises and Climbers, Summer Half of Year. CUL location-MS. DAR.219: 12.172-173. Reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library.
Oddly, the earliest accounts concerning Thomas’s infancy and toddler years are found within the scientific literature. Charles Darwin was a loving and attentive father, but a child’s arrival was also an opportunity for the close scrutiny of a domesticated species of interest. Charles studied Thomas intensely, as he had his other children, and the initial observations of his youngest son were recorded in a vellum-bound diary, still extant as Appendix IV of the Oxbridge Unabridged Correspondence of Charles Darwin.
The notes begin with a meticulous account of Thomas’s reflex actions. Thomas first yawned on the third day of his life. On day thirteen, he sneezed. Between three and four weeks of age, he began to startle at loud noises. As Thomas slowly matured, his father’s brief comments evolved into more complex observations. By carefully monitoring Thomas’s facial expressions and the circumstances in which they occurred, Charles effectively recorded Thomas’s earliest experiences of anger, fear, affection, pleasure, shyness, and even his sense of morality.
It was at four months of age that Thomas first expressed fear. Until then, Charles had delighted Thomas by playing peek-a-boo while galloping on an oversized rocking horse, a family heirloom. On the evening of April 10th, 1858, however, Charles and the horse unexpectedly toppled quite violently. Thomas’s moment of surprise quickly transformed into stupefied amazement and then fear. Charles, lying prostrate and injured, still managed to note that, as Thomas watched, powerless, from his crib, his son’s eyebrows were raised and both his eyes and mouth were widely opened. In recounting the melodrama, Charles acknowledged he had reflexively scanned the rocking horse for signs of terror, searching specifically for dilated nostrils. Subsequently, Thomas would whimper whenever his father tried to reinitiate the game and the rocking horse was soon removed from the nursery.