Correftpondeiice with CharUit Danoin 197 



hand I n'tnomi)er having in former yi-ars iM»«>n Hcort* or hundreds of dead womi« after heavy 

 rain. I cannot |MiM>tilily Inilii'vc that worms are drowned in the course of even 3 or 4 days 

 immersion; iiiul I am inclined to conclude that the death of sickly (perhaps with paranitea) 

 worms is thus hastened. I will n(hl a few wonls to what I have said alxiut their tracks, after 

 stating that I found only a very few dead oncH. Occasionally worms suffer from epidemics (of 

 what nature I know not) and die hy the million on the surface of the ground. 



Your ruby paper answers capitally, hut I suspect thiit it is ordy hy dimming the light, and 

 I know not how to illuniiiiiite worni.s hy the sjime inU-nsity of liijht, and yet of a colour which 

 permits the actinic ray.s to pn.ss. I have triwl drawing the angle of damp |>ap4>r through a small 

 cylindrical hole, ii.s you sugi,'e.stcd, and I can discover no source of error. Nevertheless I am 

 becoming more doubtful alK)ut the intelligence of worms. The worst job is that they will do 

 their work in a slovenly inannt-r when kept in jMits, ami 1 iini Iwyond means perplexed to judge 

 how far such observations are trustworthy. 



Ever iiiv ili'iir nMlt.in Viiui-s most sincerely, Ch. Darwin. 



42, Rutland Gatb, Oct. 9/81. 



My dear Darwin, Pray accept my best thanks for the worm book, which I have read, as 

 1 read all your works, with the greatest inUirest and instruction. I wish the worms were not 

 such disagreeable creatures to handle and keep by one, otherwise they woultl become popular 

 pets, owing to your lM>ok, and many persons would try and make out more ooneeniing their 

 strange intelligence. Once again very best thanks and Ix-lieve me. 



Ever sincerely yours, Fbancis Qalton. 



Down, Beckenham. March 22nd [1882] 



Mv deahGalton, — T have thought that you might possibly like to read enclosetl which has 

 interested me .somewhat, and which you can burn. — I have been on the sick-list, but am im- 

 proving. Ever my dear Gallon, yours very sincerely, Ch. Dakwin. 



Such, a month hefore his death, was the last letter of Darwin to Galtoii. 



42, Rutland Gate, March 23/82. 

 My dear Darwin, Best thanks for the American article, which is certainly suggestive, 

 where paratlo.xical. It is delightful to find that virtue mainly resides in large and business-like 

 families, fond of science and of arithmetic! It eminently hits off the character of your own 

 family and in some fainter degree of my brothers and .sisters, and of all Quakerism. 

 I hope you are quite well again. With our kindest remembrances, 



Ever yours, Francis Galton. 



Down, Thursday, 20th April 1882. 



Dear Mr Galton, My mother asks me to write to you and tell you of my dear father's 

 death. He died yesterday afternoon alxiut 4. He was taken ill in the middle of Tue-vlay night 

 and remained in a great state of faintness, sutTering terribly from deep nausea and a most dis- 

 tres-sing sense of weakness. He wius conscious till within a J hr. of his death. He gradually 

 became more and more pallorless and at last became suddenly worse. I cannot help saying how 

 often I have heard him speak with affection of you', Yours affectionately, Francis Darwin. 



I forgot to say what I especially meant to, that my mother bears it wonderfully, she is very 

 quiet and calm. 



' Mrs Litchfield, Darwin's daughter, tells me that her Father had a great admiration for 

 Galton 's acuteness and she has also a memory of her Father saying what fun (Salton was. 

 Miss Elizalx'th Darwin recalls a visit of Galton when they were all children, and his talking of 

 mesmerising tliem, but it was not attemptwl in cAse it should frighten them. After Miss 

 Henrietta l>arwin's marriage. Galton told her he was sure he could mesmerise her, but that it 

 would not be good for her. In his Miinorii-n, p. 80, Galton tells us that he learnt the art in 

 Austria during his undergraduate days, and mesmeri.sed some 80 persons, but "it is an unwhole- 

 some procedui-e, and I ha\e never attempted it since." By experiment, however, he demonstrated 

 that the exerci.se of will power by the operator is unnecessary, it is a purely subjective 

 operation. 



