186 Life and Letters of Francis Gallon 



only wanting a little hospital patient discipline to make it perfect. Now my pre- 

 scriptions are : 



1st. That the Hospital Patient do on no occasion feel his pulse. 



2nd. That the H. P. do never look in the glass to see whether his eyes are red. 



3r<l. That the ]f. P. do never examine his own health with a view to self-doctoring. 



4th. That the H. P. do make improvements at Claverdon, and commit prisoners 

 at Leamington when so inclined, but that he never attend canal-meetings, nor put 

 himself to inconvenience or anxiety. 



5th. That the H. P. do henceforth enjoy an "otium cum dignitate " and leave 

 hard work to younger heads for whom it is a duty. 



And now my dear Father I have finished doctoring for the present, but shall go on 

 writing doctor's letters until I hear that you obey my rules, and that you treat your own 

 constitution with the respect it deserves for having brought you through asthma, hard 

 work at banking and anxieties of all sorts for so long. Indeed it is a highly meritorious 

 constitution and fairly deserves rest. — I hope to be with you in alwut a fortnight 

 but the exact time is not yet fixed, however I shall know before another three days, 

 when I will write. At present I still continue full work at medicine. I am reading 

 Hippocrates and Aretaeus in which we are examined for the M.B. degree. It is now 

 my lecture time, and so not to lose a post I send my letter unfinished but will write 

 again on Monday. 



Your very affectionate Son, 



Fr.\s. Galton. 



During the Easter Vacation following Francis Galton went to 

 visit his uncle Dr Robert Darwin and there is a letter dated Shrews- 

 bury, Wednesday, and endorsed by Tertius Galton, April 10, 1844\ 



At 3 p.m. yesterday I arrived at my Uncle's gates ; the palms of my hands were 

 decidedly moist — the courage was oozing. The fly drove up to the door and I was 

 heartily welcomed by my cousin Susan. I made many apologies which were directly 

 stopped short as everything was made up and excused. And then I was taken into 

 the dining room to eat luncheon and then in came my uncle who welcomed me if 

 possible 5 times more heartily and who also stopped short all apologies, having, how- 

 ever, first shewn me the delinquent letter, which was wonderful free from all dates. 

 Not a word have I heard of my iniquities since then up to the present time. And 

 they have all been as goodnatured and as warm-hearted as possible. They wanted me 

 much to stay, but I thought I had better not, lest my uncle should feel the excite- 

 ment too much^, and also because they wanted me to ha\'e some amusements all day, 

 and Shrewsbury does not afford any, and so I fear they may be afraid that they are 



' There is a letter from Violetta Galton to her son Francis from about March of 

 this year, saying how the health of both Tertius and herself has failed: "I dare not 

 make any positive engagement to take you to Shrewsbury, but if I cannot do so, 

 I propose, as soon as you come home, to write to my Brother and say how anxious I 

 am to introduce my youngest son to him." 



^ Dr Darwin was then 78 years of age; he died four years later. 



