300 Previously Unpublished Darwin Letters To Be Posted Online
Darwin & Hooker Left: Photo by Leonard Darwin on Wikimedia Commons. Right: Author unknown, on Wikimedia CommonsThe letters outline the experiments Charles Darwin performed at the end of his life, to support his theory of evolution. In a move that would have been unimaginable to the Victorian-age gentleman, the University of Cambridge is undertaking the largest-yet upload of letters to and from Charles Darwin. The university will post images of 1,200 letters online, including 300 letters that were previously unpublished. The letters are between Darwin and his bff, botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker, with whom he worked out the theory of evolution, edited The Origin of Species, and talked about travel, literature, and family life. ("Did you administer the Chloroform?" Darwin asked Hooker upon hearing about the birth of Hooker's first daughter. Darwin was a fan of chloroform for both father and mother during births.) The two exchanged 1,400 letters over their...