Charles & Emma

The new Darwin biopic I mentioned in class:

Charles Darwin was a prolific writer of books, letters, journals and notes. Many of his writings have been posted online through the Darwin Correspondence Project, atwww.darwinproject.ac.uk.

A list of the pros and cons of marriage are among the notes that give insight into how the man thought.

Under the heading "Marry," Darwin listed children, a constant companion, and a home and someone to take care of it as reasons to wed.

"Object to be beloved & played with -- better than a dog anyhow," he wrote of a wife. "Charms of music & female chit-chat -- These things good for one's health -- but a terrible loss of time."

Under "Not Marry," he listed the bachelor ideals of freedom to come and go, and not being forced to visit relatives. He also listed the expense and anxiety of children, and possible fatness and idleness, as cons of marriage.

He decided marriage was the way to go.

"It is intolerable to think of spending ones whole life, like a neuter bee, working, working, & nothing after all. -- No, no won't do. --- Imagine living all one's day solitary in smoky dirty London House. -- Only picture to yourself a nice soft wife on a sofa with a good fire & books & music perhaps," he wrote, and ended the note, "Q.E.D." (Quod Erat Demonstrandum).

The Latin phrase was used in mathematics and philosophy to signal the completion of the proof.

-- Becky Wright