Letters reveal Darwin's caring, comic side - in between agonising
about his theory
Correspondence database includes Beagle messages and notes to
colleagues
James Randerson, science correspondent
Thursday May 17, 2007
The Guardian
"In his own word, it was a "presumptuous" idea which - more than any
other - opened up a long-standing rift between the sciences and
religion. Now a database of Charles Darwin's correspondence with
colleagues, family and friends has made it possible to follow the
evolutionist's thinking as his ideas took shape, and he agonised about
the consequences of them. At the same time, the letters, which are
going online, give a rich and moving portrait of Darwin as a
compassionate and caring family man.
The database, which contains the full text of 5,000 letters sent to or
from Darwin up to 1865, includes correspondence home from the
five-year expedition round the world on HMS Beagle, as well as
tentative notes to colleagues in which he floated his scientific
bombshell. In one famous letter in 1844 to his close friend, the
botanist Joseph Hooker, he described coming out with the theory of
evolution as "like confessing to a murder".
"We are incredibly fortunate that so much of this material has
survived," said Alison Pearn at the Darwin Correspondence Project,
based at Cambridge University Library (Darwinproject.ac.uk). "There's
a huge interest in Darwin and one of the great things about the
letters, unlike the published work, is that they are very accessible,
so it is a very good route in for all sorts of people."
Great and good
The collection, which is part of a project started 30 years ago,
contains letters to and from many of the great and the good of
Victorian society, including public figures, thinkers and naturalists.
The list includes the eminent geologist Charles Lyell, the physician
to Queen Victoria, Henry Holland, and the novelist George Eliot.
The letters are invaluable for scholars aiming to trace the origin of
Darwin's ideas. He is constantly asking friends and colleagues for
observations and evidence that will support or refute his ideas - and
the correspondence reveals that he didn't always get it right. "There
are discussions of emerging theories, including ones that didn't
really fly," said Dr Pearn. "You can follow not just the things that
worked that we all know about, but the things that didn't work."
In one case he wrote an extremely embarrassed letter to the banker,
politician and naturalist John Lubbock after an idea about the
evolution of bees turned out to be wrong. In the grovelling note,
dated September 3 1862, he apologised for asking Lubbock to make
observations of clover flowers and bees for him that turned out to be
useless. "I do so hope that you have not wasted any time for my stupid
blunder - I hate myself, I hate clover and I hate bees."
On November 27 1863 he responded movingly to Hooker's letter about his
son Willy contracting scarlet fever. Both men had already lost
children to illness. "I grieve to hear about the Scarlet-Fever: my
poor dear old friend you are most unfortunate. The tide must turn soon
.... Much love much trial, but what an utter desert is life without
love."
Darwin's grandson, Randall Keyes, said that passage and many others
reveal a very different side to Darwin from the popular image of the
austere scientist whose views were interpreted by some as a cold,
"every man for himself" view of nature.
"That is Darwin speaking from the heart to his closest friend about
what matters to him more than anything, and it is completely opposite
to what people think that Darwin is about," he said. "Darwin is
remembering his feelings when his own daughter died."
In a happier moment in June 1854 Darwin jokes to Hooker when he hears
of the botanist's wife's successful labour: "Did you administer the
Chloroform? When I did, I was perfectly convinced that the Chloroform
was very composing to oneself as well as to the patient." Darwin the
cad is also there in a letter to a university mate called Charles
Whitley as he is about to embark on the Beagle voyage. He reminisces
on student high jinks at the "Glutton club" which he calls "that day
of victory and triumph and inward glorying which some call sublime".
Beagle voyage
In the same letter dated November 15 1831 he looks forward to what
would turn out to be perhaps the most significant gap break in
history. "The scheme is a most magnificent one. We spend about two
years in S America, the rest of time larking round the world."
The letters are also a great resource for anyone interested in the
concerns and politics of the Victorian age. In a letter from a
stop-off on the Beagle voyage at Rio de Janeiro in May 18 1832 he
denounces the Tories "on account of their cold hearts" and declares
that slavery is a "scandal to Christian Nations".
Along with the 5,000 letters published in full there are summaries on
the database of a further 9,000 which will be added in the future."
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