What was it like living with Charles Darwin? The discovery of his wife鈥檚 diaries in a chest of drawers belonging to their family has given us some glimpses. Spanning more than 60 years, they suggest a life dominated by illness.
Emma Darwin鈥檚 diaries rarely mention her husband鈥檚 research but record instead visits from friends and relatives, trips to the dentist, the weather and a constant stream of ailments that dogged her family.
In particular, they provide agonising insights on Charles鈥檚 poor health, says Jim Moore, a historian of science at the UK鈥檚 Open University, based in Milton Keynes. The detailed documentation of his symptoms is testimony to her unwavering support for him, he says, and show just how dependent he was on her. 鈥淚t鈥檚 as close as we can get to the sacred interiors of their relationship.鈥�
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The entries reveal that the young Charles was already suffering soon after his return from the Beagle voyage and their marriage. Over the course of several months in 1840, for example, Emma described Darwin as 鈥渆xhausted鈥�, 鈥渙vertired + trembling鈥�, 鈥渓anguid鈥� and suffering 鈥済reat flatulence鈥� (which then meant burping), symptoms that plagued him until his death more than 40 years later.
鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing that we have an independent, lifelong record of the comings and goings of the Darwin family,鈥� says historian John van Wyhe of the University of Cambridge, who has made the documents available on Darwin Online ().
