My dear Paget

You have been so kind in helping me that I think you will again.—² Can you persuade the resident Doctor in some hospital to observe a person retching violently, but throwing nothing from the stomach.— When a person vomits violently, he always contracts the orbicular muscles round the eyes, & tears often flow. I have been discussing with, or rather enquiring from, Prof. Donders of Utrecht about the relation between the spasmodic contraction of the orbicular muscles & the secretion of tears. In the case of vomiting he suspects that irritating matter is injected into the nose & thus causes tears.³ From my own personal experience I do think that this is the case. Therefore what I want to know is whether in violent retching, with nothing ejected from stomach, when the orbiculars are strongly contracted, do the eyes fill with tears or even overflow?—⁴

Pray do not acknowledge this note & believe me | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin