Charles Darwin and the Illness that Plagued Him
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22201/ceide.16076079e.2026.27.3.10Keywords:
Retrospective diagnosis, Darwin, Evolution, Chronic illness, SymptomsAbstract
We have all heard of the famous book On the Origin of Species, or at least about the remarkable man behind it, Charles Darwin, whose work not only transformed biology but also revolutionized our understanding of life itself. Although he is best known for his theory of evolution by natural selection, many are unaware of another aspect of the naturalist’s life, one that remained with him until his final days. While developing the theory that would change the world, Darwin suffered from a chronic illness that caused him nearly forty years of pain and was never successfully diagnosed or treated. This paper examines the most consistent hypotheses regarding his illness and analyzes the epistemological and ethical limitations of these retrospective diagnoses, as none of them conclusively explain the full range of symptoms he experienced.
References
Adler, S. (1959). Darwin’s illness. Nature, 184, 1102-1103. https://doi.org/10.1038/1841102a0.
American Psychiatric Association. (2014). Manual diagnóstico y estadístico de los trastornos mentales: dsm-5 (5.ª ed.).
Ayala, F. J. (2007). Darwin’s greatest discovery: design without a designer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104 (suplemento 1), 8567-8573. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0701072104.
Aydon, C. (2003). Charles Darwin: The naturalist who started a scientific revolution. Running Press.
Bernstein, R. (1984). Darwin’s illness: Chagas’ disease resurgens. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 77(7), 608-609. https://doi.org/10.1177/014107688407700715.
Bowlby, J. (1965). Darwin’s health. British Medical Journal, 1(5440), 999.
Buchanan, R. D. (2021). Syndrome du jour: the historiography and moral implications of diagnosing Darwin. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 90, 86-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.09.006.
Campbell, A. K., y Matthews, S. B. (2005). Darwin’s illness revealed. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 81(954), 248-251. https://doi.org/10.1136/pgmj.2004.025569.
Clark, A. (1882, 17 de marzo). Letter no. 13727. Darwin Correspondence Project. https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13727.xml.
Darwin, C. (1845, 3-4 de febrero). Letter no. 821. Darwin Correspondence Project. https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-821.xml.
Darwin, C. (1862, 9 de abril). Letter no. 3500. Darwin Correspondence Project. https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3500.xml.
Darwin, C. (1878).Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle, under the Command of Captain FitzRoy. D. Appleton Company. https://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1878_Researches_F33.pdf.
Deegan, B. (2023, 28 de julio). Charles Darwin Statue, Shrewsbury [Fotografía]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Darwin_Statue,_Shrewsbury_-_geograph.org.uk_-_7554830.jpg.
Delisle, R. (2019). Charles Darwin’s incomplete revolution: The origin of species and the static worldview. Springer.
Desmond, A., Moore, J., y Browne, J. (2008). Charles Darwin. Herder.
Dennett, D. C. (1999). La peligrosa idea de Darwin: evolución y significados de la vida. Galaxia Gutenberg.
Hayman, J. (2009). Darwin’s illness revisited. bmj, 339, b4968. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b4968.
Hayman, J., Álvarez, G., Ceballos, F. C., y Berra, T. M. (2017). The illnesses of Charles Darwin and his children: a lesson in consanguinity. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 121(2), 458-468. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blw041.
Hayman, J., y van Wyhe J. (2018) Charles Darwin and the Dentists. Journal of the History of Dentistry, 66(1), 25-35. https://tinyurl.com/d73nfxtv.
Hayman, J., y Finsterer, J. (2022). Diagnoses for Charles Darwin’s illness: a wealth of inaccurate differential diagnoses. Cureus, 14(11), e32065. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.32065.
Heyse-Moore, L. (2019). Charles Darwin’s (1809–1882) illness: the role of post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Medical Biography, 27(1), 13-25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967772014555291.
Jefferies, M. (2014, 1 de abril). Dead Famous dna revealed Charles Darwin suffered from Crohn’s disease. Mirror. http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/dead-famous-dna-charles-darwin-3337775.
Kompanje, E. J. O., y Reumer, J. W. F. (2018). ‘Many bad attacks of sickness’ — did Charles Darwin suffer from chronic borreliosis? Deinsea, 18, 6-12. https://tinyurl.com/yrbyxpby.
Larner, A. J. (2019). Retrospective diagnosis: pitfalls and purposes. Journal of Medical Biography, 27(3), 127-128. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967772019868433.
Makani, R., y Parikh, T. (2017). Psychiatric comorbidities with cyclic vomiting syndrome. American Journal of Psychiatry Residents’ Journal, 12(11), 4-6. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2017.121102.
Orrego, F., y Quintana, C. (2007). Darwin’s illness: a final diagnosis. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 61(1), 23-29. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2006.0160.
Ruse, M. (2009). The Darwinian revolution: rethinking its meaning and significance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106 (suplemento 1), 10040-10047. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0901011106.
Sarukhán, J. (2013). Las musas de Darwin. Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Sheehan, W., Meller, W. H., y Thurber, S. (2008). More on Darwin’s illness: comment on the final diagnosis of Charles Darwin. Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 62(2), 205-209. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2007.0008.
Steere, A. C., Coburn, J., y Glickstein, L. (2004). The emergence of Lyme disease. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 113(8), 1093-1101. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI21681.
Stefoff, R. (1996). Charles Darwin and the evolution revolution. Oxford University Press.
Steverding, D. (2014). The history of Chagas disease. Parasites & Vectors, 7, 317. https://doi.org/10.1186/1756-3305-7-317.
wgbh/nova Science Unit y Clear Blue Sky Productions. (2001). Darwin’s Diary [1826-1827]. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/darwin/diary/1826.html.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Revista Digital Universitaria
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Revista Digital Universitaria es editada por la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México se distribuye bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional. Basada en una obra en http://revista.unam.mx/.
