The secret letters of Charles Darwin published online

Some see Charles Darwin as the stereotypical scientist —overly analytical, reclusive and cold, driven solely by his work and ambition. Today, as when he was alive, he continues to be criticized by religious fundamentalists as a godless individual, the promulgator of the theory of evolution: the notion that human beings descended from other animals. 

 

His personal letters, however, paint a different picture of him: here was a man who loved his family, cherished his friends, and experienced suffering just like any other, according to Time and BBC News.

 

Now, courtesy of the Cambridge University Library, Charles Darwin’s personal letters —over 1,400 in all— are available online in a single large publication.

 

Among the most important of his correspondences were those with Joseph Hooker, a botanist and his friend of 40 years. Not only did Hooker provide Darwin with exotic plant species, he also supported him in times of tragedy. Poignant thoughts

 

One particularly human moment can be found in a poignant letter detailing the death of his daughter-in-law. “Poor Amy had severe convulsions due to wrong action of the kidneys,” Darwin wrote. “After the convulsions she sunk into a stupor from which she never rallied.”

 

“It is an inexpressible comfort that she never suffered and never knew she was leaving her beloved husband for ever. It has been a most bitter blow to us all.” 

 

After scarlet fever took his infant son, Darwin confessed almost giving up his claim on the natural selection theory to another scientist, Alfred Russell Wallace. “It is miserable in me,” Darwin wrote, “to care at all about priority.”

 

In another letter, Darwin expressed his concern for his other son, Frank. “I never saw anyone suffer so much as poor Frank. He has gone to north Wales to bury the body in a little church-yard amongst the mountains,” he said, speaking of his son’s departed child. “I am glad to hear that he is determined to exert himself and work in every way. How far he will be able to keep to this wise resolve I know not."

 

Darwin's 'emotional bonds'

 

Darwin and Hooker met as young men and shared an interest in botany. Though their careers took them down different paths, with Hooker becoming director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and Darwin developing his theory of evolution by natural selection, their constant correspondence kept their friendship alive and strong. Paul White, editor and research associate at the Darwin Correspondence Project, believes the letters offer us a glimpse into Darwin’s emotional life.

 

“It's a wonderful set of documents not only about Victorian science but about the social bonds that could be forged in correspondence, and the emotional bonds that could flow between two men,” White said.

 

So great was Darwin’s trust in his friend that Hooker was the first person he shared his revolutionary ideas with. Darwin did not hesitate to reveal his worries, however. “At last gleams of light have come, and I am almost convinced (quite contrary to opinion I started with) that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable,” he wrote.

 

Hooker’s position at Kew enabled him to expand the reclusive Darwin’s network of scientific contacts, which was vital when Darwin was first putting forward his theory. Hooker continued to be supportive of his friend and his theories, even as Darwin gained enemies in the form of the religious who claimed his ideas were in direct opposition of their beliefs.

 

The letters “give a different picture of both Darwin and the scientific enterprise, in showing it as intensely collaborative, and that it is not divorced from private life,” to quote Paul White in an interview with BBC’s Newshour. — TJD, GMA News