THE CLAIM OF DARWIN'S HEALTH 59 



time, but that any one should resist sixpence 

 seemed an impossibility/ l His children followed 

 the custom of children in general in making the 

 delightful assumption that their own father's 

 work must be the work of every properly con- 

 stituted father. Thus, one of Darwin's children 

 is said to have asked in regard to a neighbour 

 4 Then where does he do his barnacles ? ' 2 Simi- 

 larly, one of my own daughters, at the fascinating 

 age when the letter * r ' is apt to be an insoluble 

 mystery, invented a little romance in which she 

 supposed herself to be the child of a shepherd. 

 A friend, who entered into the spirit of the game, 

 inquired * Then where 's your father ? ', and re- 

 ceived as the most natural answer in the world, 

 ' Oh ! he 's in his labotwy.' 



The interest of regular work was essential for 

 Darwin's health and comfort ; while his ill health, 

 by preventing work, raised a barrier against re- 

 covery. Thus for the sake of his health every- 

 thing was subordinated to work ; while for the 

 sake of the work his health was watched over 

 with a double care and anxiety. 



The inexorable claim of Darwin's precarious 

 health leads naturally to a subject which has 

 been widely misunderstood and treated with 

 much mistaken judgement. In the brief auto- 

 biography, written for the members of his family, 

 Darwin states 3 that up to the age of thirty or 



1 Life and Letters, i. 136. More Letters, i. 38. 



3 Life and Letters, i. 100 102, written in 1881. See also 33, 49, 

 and 69, written in 1876. 



