IV.

Reactions to the Theory

Darwin was extremely anxious about how his theory would be received, but, a shy man, he declined to debate his work publicly. Thomas Henry Huxley (“Darwin’s Bulldog”) became his most ardent spokesman. Reaction to The Origin of Species was immediate. Some biologists argued that, since there was no laboratory proof of Darwin’s theories, it must remain a hypothesis. Others criticized Darwin’s concept of variation, pointing out that he could explain neither the origin of variations nor how they were passed between generations. This particular scientific objection was not answered until the birth of modern genetics in the early 20th century (see Mendel’s Laws). Still others believed that natural selection was not sufficiently powerful to produce the changes Darwin attributed to it. In fact, Darwin’s work convinced many scientists of the fact of biological evolution, but his theories were doubted by many until the early 20th century. The most publicized attacks on Darwin’s ideas, however, came not from scientists but from religious opponents (or scientists acting out of religious belief). The thought that living things had evolved by natural processes denied the special creation of humankind and seemed to place humanity on a plane with the animals; both of these ideas were serious challenges to orthodox theological opinion.

Huxley himself (who coined the word “agnostic” to describe his own religious opinions) was never afraid of a tussle with the theologians, most famously in 1860 with Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford. The idea of man descended from apes was already prominent by then, and Wilberforce patronizingly asked Huxley “Was it through his grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed his descent from a monkey?” Huxley replied that he would rather be related to an ape than to a man of intelligence who used his eloquence to obscure the “real point at issue”. Darwin himself was cagey about expressing himself publicly on religious matters, partly from timidity, partly to avoid causing pain to his devout wife Emma. We know from his letters and private notebooks that he gradually lost his own faith and can be said to have vacillated between atheism and agnosticism.