176 EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW. 



ascendancy in private society. . . . When he heard 

 that my father was bilious, he suspected that this must 

 be the consequence of his having, since his residence in 

 Ireland, and in compliance with the fashion of the 

 country, indulged too freely in drinking. His letter, I 

 remismber, concluded with, ' Farewell, my dear friend ; 

 God keep you from whisky — if He can.' " * 



On the other hand. Dr. Darwin seems to have been a 

 very large eater. " Acid fruits with sugar, and all sorts 

 of creams and butter were his luxuries ; but he always 

 ate plentifully of animal food. This liberal alimentary 

 regimen he prescribed to people of every age where 

 unvitiated appetite rendered them capable of following 

 it; even to infants." 



Dr. Dowson writes : — 



" I have mentioned already that he had in his car- 

 riage a receptacle for paper and pencils, with which he 

 wrote as he travelled, and in one corner a pile of books ; 

 but he had also a receptacle for a knife, fork, and 

 spoon, and in the other comer a hamper, containing 

 fruit and sweetmeats, cream and sugar. He provided 

 also for his horses by having a large pail lashed to his 

 carriage for watering them, as well as hay and oats to 

 be eaten on the road, Mrs. Schimmelpenninck says 

 that when he came on a professional visit to her father's 

 house they had, as was the custom whenever he came, 

 ' a luncheon-table set out with hothouse fruits and West 

 India sweetmeats, clotted cream, stilton cheese, &c. 

 While the conversation went on, the dishes in his 

 vicinity were rapidly emptied, and what,' she adds, 

 * Dr. Dowson'ti 'Sketch of Dr. Erasmus Darwin,' p. 50. 



