Indeed a storm of protest came but Darwin soon got support from the side of the scientists.
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| The book came out on November 24, 1859 and the complete edition of 1250
copies was sold out in one day. It became a bestseller. It is striking that
Darwin had discussed all objections which could be brought up against his
theory, and that he had refuted them in the book itself. About the origin
of mankind Darwin said almost nothing. He avoided this subject to cause as
little excitement as possible. After all, by far most people believed that
God had created the world with all its species in six days from October 23
of the year 4004 before Christ. Only at the end of the book Darwin says that
'if his theory would be accepted, light would be thrown on the origin of
man and his history'. Indeed a storm of protest came but Darwin soon got support from the side of the scientists. |
In 1860, one year after the publication of The Origin of Species, a debate was organized in the newly built museum in Oxford, the University Museum (both photos on the top). Speakers included the Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, who was very anti-Darwin and who had already written an article against his theory, and Thomas Huxley, who was a fierce defender of the theory and who was given the nickname 'Darwin's Buldog'. |
Darwin 41 |