In January 839, 30-year-old Darwin married his cousin Emma who was one year older. Darwin had previously hesitated to get married, and wrote down the advantages and disadvantages of marriage in his notebook to compare. "Children" are ranked first in the benefits of marriage. At the end of the year of marriage, the Darwins had their first son. From then on until Emma was 48 years old, they gave birth to 10 children together. Three of them died: the second daughter Mary only lived for 3 weeks, the younger son Charles died of scarlet fever at the age of 2, and the eldest daughter Anne died of tuberculosis at the age of 10.
Someone later blamed the death of Darwin's children on the marriage of close relatives. This is unreasonable. In Darwin’s era, the death of children was part of daily life. In the UK at the time, about one in five babies did not live to be one year old. Even for children between 10 and 15 years old, the death rate is as high as five per thousand, which is 25 times the current rate. Scarlet fever was a common infectious disease that was fatal to children at the time. Darwin's friend Thomas Huxley, later known as "Darwin's Pitbull", also had a son who died of scarlet fever when he was three years old. As for tuberculosis, it was a terrible incurable disease that was not admitted to the hospital at that time, and it ranked first among the causes of death.
The marriage of close relatives did not bring a higher mortality rate to Darwin's children, nor did it affect their physical and mental health. The two daughters and five sons who did not die are long-lived (67-93 years old). The eldest son is a banker, the second son is a mathematician and a professor at the University of Cambridge, the third son is a botanist and a professor at the University of Cambridge, the fourth son is an engineer and the president of the Royal Geographical Society, and the fifth son is a scientific instrument designer and mayor of Cambridge And members of the Royal Society are all successful. The youngest son who died at only 2 years old was judged by Darwin’s observation records and photos. It was a genetic disease that was not known at the time-a patient with Down syndrome (congenital stupidity), but this was obviously due to Emma's super-old age. Of pregnant women: the probability of giving birth to a baby with Down syndrome is as high as 1 in 30 for pregnant women over 45 years of age.
Darwin regarded his children as objects of scientific observation. He began to observe and record their every move in detail from birth, and collect evidence from them to prove that human emotions are not essentially different from animals. They must have evolved through evolution. Not created by God. In his view, the death of a child is also a natural event, not God's arrangement. Medicine may one day discover the natural factors and treatments of diseases, but religion is useless for this.
Emma is a devout Christian, facing the death of her children, especially the death of her and Darwin’s favorite eldest daughter Anne. Like most people at the time, she sought comfort from her religious beliefs: I hope Anne can go to heaven and wait for herself. See you in heaven with her after death. But she also couldn't understand the purpose of God taking Anne from her. She treasured some of Annie's relics and put them in a book box. They are still in the hands of the descendants of Darwin.
Darwin had made it clear to Emma that although he was a student at Cambridge Theological Seminary, he did not believe in Christianity. He has carefully considered the doctrine of Christianity and found that there is no evidence or reason for him to accept Christianity. But he also went to church with Emma and his children to attend the service. After Anne's death, Darwin completely said goodbye to Christianity and stopped attending worship services. He sent his family to church on Sundays, and stayed outside to wait for them. To comfort him, only the fond memories left by Anne-a week after Anne's death, he wrote a memoir of Anne.
There was no clear record of what illness Annie got, and the cause of her death was simply "fever." However, from the perspective of its onset and symptoms, it is generally believed that Anne had tuberculosis. At the time, there was no medicine that could really treat tuberculosis. In fact, there were no really effective drugs for most diseases at that time. Most of the popular drugs contained heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic, or drugs such as opium. Not only could they not cure diseases, they could cause further harm to the body.
After Anne fell ill, Darwin gave Anne a "hydrotherapy" every day according to the advice of a famous doctor, such as wrapping the patient's body with a damp cloth and rubbing it vigorously for 5 minutes. After the treatment at home failed, Darwin sent Anne to the nursing home of the famous doctor for hydrotherapy under his guidance. Annie died there a month later. In the last few days of Anne's life, Darwin was by her side day and night, writing letters every day to report to Emma who was staying at home due to pregnancy, leaving a detailed record, which was sad to read.
Annie died in 1851. At that time, the medical profession knew nothing about the cause of tuberculosis. Some believed it was caused by indigestion, and some thought it was a genetic disease. This made Darwin, who was often sick, feel more guilty. In fact, nothing was known about the causes of infectious diseases at that time. Twenty-six years later, German doctor Koch discovered Bacillus anthracis, proving for the first time that the infectious disease was caused by the bacteria. After reading Koch’s paper, Darwin commented: “I still clearly remember that I told myself two to thirty years ago that if the origin of infectious diseases can be proved, it would be the greatest victory of science; and now I I am very happy to see this victory." Five years later, Koch discovered Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In 1921, a vaccine (BCG) to prevent tuberculosis appeared accordingly. But it was not until the advent of streptomycin in 1944 that there was a drug that could really cure tuberculosis.
A child is the best gift a parent can get, and the child’s death also brings the greatest pain to the parent. We should be grateful that the advancement of modern medicine has greatly reduced the possibility of such suffering, which is unimaginable by people in the Darwin era. It is indeed one of the greatest victories of science.
2007.11.18.
("China Youth Daily" 2007.11.21)
(XYS20071121) For
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