Charles and Emma (17 page)

Henrietta, c. 1852

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Geroge, 1851

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Emma and Lenny, c. 1854

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Title page,
The Origin of Species,
first edition

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Emma and Charles Waring, c. 1857

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From left to right: Leonard, Henrietta, Horace, Emma, Elizabeth, Frances, and a visitor at Down House

B
Y PERMISSION OF THE
S
YNDICS OF
C
AMBRIDGE
U
NIVERSITY
L
IBRARY
(
F.9 FROM
DAR.
219.12
)

The Sandwalk

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Down House (present-day photograph)

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Charles Darwin, 1880

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Darwin's signature on an 1879 letter: It was unusual for him to sign his full name.

C
OURTESY OF
G
EORGE
B
ECCALONI

 

Chapter 20

A Fretful Child

 

Her sensitiveness appeared extremely early in life, & showed
itself in crying bitterly over any story at all melancholy; or on
parting with Emma even for the shortest interval.

—C
HARLES, ON
A
NNIE
, 1851

 

O
ther than losing Mary Eleanor as an infant, nothing terrible had happened to the Darwin family. They had had the usual bouts with childhood illness, including the recent scarlet fever, but nothing out of the ordinary. Still, Charles could be an anxious and worried father. His own health was so bad, he was afraid he had passed it on to his children. He now worried that Annie had inherited his wretched digestion.

It was hard for Charles to concentrate on work with Annie being listless and weak, so unlike her usual energetic, engaged, cheerful self. He gave her and Etty a canary, hoping it would cheer Annie up. He watched as his daughters played with the bird and taught it how to sing. In the Galapagos, the finches from the different islands were less like each other
than birds on the mainland. The birds had evolved because of their island environments. It was those birds that had given him one of his eureka moments about natural selection. He would use them in his argument. But now he focused mainly on the barnacles splayed out in front of him. He was describing them in minute detail, so as to understand the similarities and differences between the different species.

He could not understand or even describe Annie's condition in such detail as he could describe the barnacles. It was frustrating that she didn't have clear symptoms that could point to a particular illness. It could have been consumption or tuberculosis; Erasmus seemed to be a consumptive, always weak and lacking in energy. But he wasn't acutely ill, and no such diagnosis was made with Annie. Since sea bathing was a sort of cure-all for delicate children and invalids, Charles and Emma decided to give that a try. It wasn't as extensive and exhausting as the water cure. But people felt plunging into the ocean was good for the body, promoting good circulation and overall health. And the hope was that sea breezes and fresh air would do Annie good.

So in October, Miss Thorley, their young governess, took Annie and Etty to Ramsgate, which was on the easternmost point of the Kent coast. Ramsgate was a popular seaside town; Queen Victoria had spent holidays there as a child. Being so close to mainland Europe—a short sail to France—it had been a point of embarkation for British troops during the Napoleonic wars earlier in the century. In 1850, as Annie and her entourage arrived, the construction of the Royal Harbour was just being completed.

Two weeks later, Emma and Charles joined them. When they arrived at the train station, Annie greeted them with a bright face and happy step. The family walked on the pier
together, and they went into the water twice. It was a nice holiday.

But two days later, Annie developed a fever and a headache. Charles and Emma dragged a mattress into their room so she could sleep with them. A storm hit the next morning, and Charles and the others left for home, while Emma stayed with Annie until she was well enough to travel a few days later.

Back at home, Charles and Emma thought about consulting Dr. Gully, Charles's water cure doctor. Although Charles now was having some success with the treatments, he didn't entirely trust Gully. He was a traditionally trained doctor, but he also believed in things Charles thought were nonsense, such as diagnostic clairvoyance and spiritualism. So they decided to consult Dr. Henry Holland, in London, who had attended Annie's birth and had become their family doctor since Charles's father died. Emma took Annie to London to see Dr. Holland a few times. But he couldn't be of much help.