Darwin's illness

SciTech Book News, Sept, 2008

Darwin's illness.

Colp, Ralph.

U. Press of Florida

2008

337 pages

$44.95

Hardcover

QH31

Colp, a psychiatrist who teaches at Columbia U., has written a second edition of his fascinating account of the chronic illness Darwin suffered through most of his life, offering his theories as to what it may have been (the edition, published in 1977, was titled To be an invalid; the illness of Charles Darwin). In this volume, Colp has re-written and re-thought his earlier account, and includes as an appendix Darwin's complete diary of his health. Placing the journal entries and letters of Darwin and his wife Emma together, Colp examines the idea that his bouts of illness were caused by stress. The work of other writers on the topic is analyzed as Colp discusses the possibility of diseases that include Crohn's, Chagas', adrenal disease, lupus, and systemic lactose intolerance, among others.

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