Gizmodo: New Theory Suggests Charles Darwin Suffered from Lyme Disease
During his lifetime, Charles Darwin complained of so many different ailments that it’s no small miracle the pioneering evolutionary biologist got any work done. Historians have struggled to understand the exact nature of his illness or illnesses, but new research suggests one potentially obvious malady has been overlooked: Lyme disease….
Many of these afflictions started when Darwin was a student, and continued until his death in 1882.
“Charles Darwin’s strange collection of symptoms defied the medical experts of his day for an explanation,” Jeffrey M. Marcus, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba’s Department of Biological Sciences, told Gizmodo. “Desperate for relief, he tried all sorts of treatment, some that was legitimate—though perhaps inappropriate—and some that was undeniable quackery. Because his symptoms did not conform to any recognizable diagnosis, many, both in Darwin’s day and now, suspected that hypochondria was playing a role in causing Darwin’s miseries.”