Dodging the rays of publicity was necessary for another reason. After his return from his world travels, Darwin was plagued by ill health. As with so many aspects of his life and work, there are a million expert opinions as to why. Tropical infection picked up in South America? Psychosomatic anxiety about the implications of his theory? Gastro-intestinal troubles?

What we do know is that he vomited, sometimes for 10 or 12 days in a row; that he felt exhausted if he conversed even with his own children for too long; that he excused himself early from the dining table all the time because of flatulence; that he had appalling eczema. He felt dreadful and dreadfully awkward about the whole business. He tried spas, among other things, but by his 50s he looked and felt like an old man.

From the 1860s onwards, the idea of leading a glitzy social life, attending balls in distant London or whatever, was out of the question. He became a hermit ... wsj

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The wicked man will see and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing. (Psalm 112:10)