charles_darwin

CHAPTER 4
THE RECEPTION OF
DARWIN’S THEORIES,
1859–1920
Reactions to The Origin of Species: Darwin’s
Concerns
Charles Darwin did not expect everyone who read The Origin of
Species to accept his theory. In the last chapter of the book, he surmised
that most ‘‘experienced naturalists’’ would reject his theory
and only ‘‘a few naturalists, endowed with much flexibility of mind,
and who have already begun to doubt on the immutability of species’’
would find his arguments convincing. 1 Darwin thought that
‘‘young and rising naturalists, who will be able to view both sides of
the question with impartiality’’ would be able to convince other scientists
(and the rest of the world) that his explanation of the origin
of species made sense. 2
The fact that Darwin stated his concern about the reaction of
naturalists to The Origin of Species so explicitly is important. It may
be tempting to talk about the theory of evolution and the reaction to
The Origin of Species in terms of a clash between science and religion,
but the reaction of Christians or church leaders was not Darwin’s
only concern. The confrontation between Bishop Samuel Wilberforce
(1805–1873) and Thomas Huxley at the British Association for the
Advancement of Science meeting in Oxford in 1860 and the Scopes
Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, in 1925 are two famous examples of controversy
sparked by Darwin’s ideas, but they are not representative of
the problems Darwin anticipated. A clash between the supporters of
evolution and Christian opponents of evolution sounds dramatic and
historically important, but it is not the whole story. Darwin realized