MY YEAR OF DARWIN (#YEAROFDARWIN)

10 Jan 2014: "I had the bump of reverence developed enough for ten priests" Darwin autobiography

Darwin was leaving medical school at Edinburgh for a BA of divinity at Cambridge. The move was not immediate. He took a year off to catch up on his Greek and to convince himself that becoming a parson was acceptable. Which he did with the help of a private tutor. During this time his father died and there's no discussion of this in the autobiography. 

Later in life, Darwin sent a photograph to German phrenologists. Phrenology is the study of the shape of head and the once-believed link to abilities. Phrenology is classic pseudoscience; science jargon is used and plausible statements are made but there is either no support for these statements or there is contradictory evidence. Other popular practices I consider pseudoscience include homeopathy, subluxation-based chiropractic, chemtrails, bigfoot, intelligent design, and so on. 

MY YEAR OF DARWIN (#YEAROFDARWIN)

9 Jan 2014: "my father perceived, or he heard from my sisters, that I did not like the thought of being a physician, so he proposed that I should become a clergyman" Darwin autobiography

Darwin did not enjoy dissection of animals, was horrified by surgery, and was bored by most of his professors. Being a medical student was not for him. Once his father knew his unhappiness, he transferred CD to Cambridge where he was to study divinity. Darwin had to do something useful. Darwin's father was "vehement against my turning into an idle sporting man, which seemed my probably destination." 

MY YEAR OF DARWIN (#YEAROFDARWIN)

7 Jan 2014: "saw two very bad operations, one on a child, but rushed away before they were complete" Darwin autobiography

Darwin enrolled as a medical student at Edinburgh University. Bored by his anatomy professor and disgusted by dissection, it was not looking good for his career as a doctor. Moreover, he was figuring out that his inheritance would allow him to live comfortably without working so there was little incentive to push himself at his studies. One could not be idle but there was no rush. 

After watching, almost watching, an operation on a child, Darwin never returns to the surgery room. At the time patients were held down and cut open "before the blessed days of chloroform."

Hot water pipe is frozen. Blow driers going like mad on the basement pipes. Coffee maker works and the internet is functional. We're good.