1864.] ILLNESS. 27 



believe, a real good turn to the right side. Believe me, dear 

 Bentham, 



Yours very sincerely, 



Ch. Darwin. 



1864. 



[In my father's diary for 1864 is the entry, " 111 all January, 

 February, March." About the middle of April (seven months 

 after the beginning of the illness in the previous autumn) his 

 health took a turn for the better. As soon as he was able 

 to do any work, he began to w T rite his papers on Lythrum, 

 and on Climbing Plants, so that the work which now con- 

 cerns us did not begin until September, when he again set to 

 work on ' Animals and Plants.' A letter to Sir J. D. Hooker 

 gives some account of the re-commencement of the work : 

 "I have begun looking over my old MS., and it is as fresh 

 as if I had never written it ; parts are astonishingly dull, but 

 yet worth printing, I think ; and other parts strike me as very 

 good. I am a complete millionaire in odd and curious little 

 facts, and I have been really astounded at my own industry 

 whilst reading my chapters on Inheritance and Selection. 

 God knows when the book will ever be completed, for I find 

 that I am very weak and on my best days cannot do more 

 than one or one and a half hours' work. It is a good deal 

 harder than writing about my dear climbing plants." 



In this year he received the greatest honour which a scientific 

 man can receive in this country — the Copley Medal of the 

 Royal Society. It is presented at the Anniversary Meeting 

 on St. Andrew's Day (Nov. 30), the medallist being usually 

 present to receive it, but this the state of my father's health 

 prevented. He wrote to Mr. Fox on this subject : — 



" I was glad to see your hand-writing. The Copley, 

 being open to all sciences and all the world, is reckoned a 

 great honour ; but excepting from several kind letters, such 

 things make little difference to me. It shows, however, that 



