An Australian scientist believes he has identified what caused Charles Darwin’s long-standing illness.
Associate Prof. John Hayman from the University of Melbourne’s anatomy department believes Darwin probably had cyclical vomiting syndrome, which he inherited from his mother.
His findings appear in the Christmas issue of the British Medical Journal.
“People with cyclical vomiting syndrome experience abdominal, circulatory, and cerebral symptoms, including headaches and anxiety,” writes Hayward.
CBC (thanks, KirstyJ)
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If only they put a little more effort in living people’s mysterious diseases at times.
Sounds like a syndrom you dont want to have.
I remember watching an old episode of QI and they said he had Chagas disease, which isn’t very nice either… poor Darwin.
Sounds like migraine to me and yes it’s transfered genetically.
does this disprove his theory about survival of the fittest?
That mucks of my theory of evolution that Darwin was adopted!
There are quite a few theories about what Darwin’s illness actually was. Some people say that he wasn’t ill at all, and that he was just a hypochondriac (unlikely, though, as he had visible skin conditions.) Apparently he took things like salt water as a remedy.