Charles Darwin's Health - Hereditary Disease

Hereditary Disease

Many of Darwin's children suffered from similarly vague illnesses for much of their early lives, but it has been speculated that part of this may have been simply because he encouraged a household where sickness was a form of attention and socialization. Darwin himself—concerned with heredity—wondered if he had passed on his generally infirm condition to his children and was especially interested if his marriage to Emma Wedgwood, a cousin, was not perhaps also responsible (his concerns later in life with the effects of inbreeding were potentially motivated by this personal aspect as well).