More on (mis)(under) diganoses. Or no diagnosis.

In Tuesday-today- WSJ,  Melinda  Beck chronicles Darwins’ illnesses based on the (new) work of Sidney Cohen, a gastroenterologist, Philadelphia. 

Poor CD, withstood-i mean really- and suffered from Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (!!) (what the heck is this?), Chagas, and Helicobacter pylori. Good Lord.

But then an unwarranted claim : “Cohen’s research on Darwin’s illness gave him a deeper appreciation of Darwin and the impact of his scientific work, despite his ailments. “It’s hard to know how it affected their work,” Mackowiak said. “But never diminished productivity.”

Oh yeah? How do you know this? It took Charles, twenty, 20, years to publish The Origin? Prompted by Wallaces’ letter?  Although Hawkings’ resilience is a great example of work under undue hardship and “productivity” (whatever that means) (but Hawking doesnt vomit the whole day). Unless he was an alien, probably, CD was miserable most of the time (how did he ever have sex?). No wonder,  he never went anywhere after the HMS Beagle voyage. More power to him.