Publication of Darwin's theory

The publication of Darwin's theory followed on from the development of Darwin's theory of evolution and culminated in the publication of his book On the Origin of Species. After the initial development of his theory, Darwin slowly accumulated information and experimented to test and develop his ideas. When Alfred Russel Wallace became involved, Charles Darwin's work took on a new urgency.

Struggle for existence

Alfred Tennyson wrote Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw, and Darwin worked on The Struggle for Existence. A discussion with Thomas Huxley on how jellyfish might cross-fertilise got the witty response that "the indecency of the process is to a certain extent in favour of its probability". Darwin passed Huxley's remark on to Hooker with the comment, "What a book a Devil's Chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering low & horridly cruel works of Nature!", a reference to the nickname given to the Radical Revd. Robert Taylor who had visited Cambridge on an "infidel home missionary tour" when Darwin was a student there. Working class militants were seizing on the popularity of gorillas now appearing in travelling menageries to trumpet man's monkey origins. To crush these ideas, Richard Owen as President-elect of the Royal Association announced his authoritative anatomical studies of primate brains showing that humans were not just a separate species, but a separate sub-class. Darwin wrote that "I cannot swallow Man distinct from a Chimpanzee".

Related Topics:
Alfred Tennyson - Thomas Huxley - Revd. Robert Taylor - Cambridge - Richard Owen

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Darwin pressed on, overworking, until in March 1857 illness began cutting his working day "ridiculously short". He took a fortnight's water treatment at the nearby Moor Park spa run by Dr. Edward Lane, and this revived him. Wallace had contacted Darwin earlier and was now working for him, sending domestic fowl specimens from Indonesia. Darwin wrote to Wallace from the spa "I can see that we have thought much alike & to a certain extent have come to similar conclusions...This summer will make the 20th year (!) since I opened my first note-book, on what way do species & varieties differ from each other...I am now preparing my work for publication...do not suppose I shall go to press for two years...I have slowly adopted a distinct & tangible idea,– whether true or false others must judge". On his return a cold and social pressure set back the recovery. He had to return to the spa, finishing "variation" in July and posting pages to Huxley for checking.

Related Topics:
1857 - Indonesia

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