Context

The inception of Darwin’s theory began as child, being fascinated by the natural world around him. But it wasn’t until he dropped out of medical school and set sail on a ship known as the SS. Beagle where his fascination started to take place. The Beagle was set to map the continent of South America, which Darwin saw as an opportunity to explore the world, outside the confines of his country and where he lived. On this trip is where he was exposed to much more nature then he had ever previously experienced, and eventually landed upon the Galapagos islands. These islands served as an incredible for him in pursuing the scientific method, because it allowed him to understand the workings of nature while controlling certain variables. For example, he noticed a difference in beaks of finches on a particular island within the Galapagos. And further noticed that these differences had geographic pattern because in an area where there was more an abundance of worms for example, the finches had longer tongues, whereas in area with more insects, those finches had longer beaks. Furthermore, these finches contained more differences as he traveled to the rest of the islands, and it also became clear that these finches all migrated from the same mainland where the original species of finch lived in abundance. He made all kinds of scientific discoveries while on this trip, and when he returned to England he published multiple books over the next 20-30 years around these kinds of beliefs that originated on this trip. In 1859 he finally published The Origin of Species which some would say was a culmination of his life’s work. He made several revisions to book, and even published another book on evolution after. The Origin of Species was an instrumental book in laying the groundwork for evolutionary biology. 

The purpose behind the publication of this book was simply to prove the results of his findings throughout his lifetime. As a young man, Darwin wanted to be a priest. His intentions were never to disprove religion, but he had no choice because the evidence of evolution was becoming so vast and overwhelming that it had to be true. His sole purpose was to uncover the truth about nature. 

There were many texts that had an influence on Darwin while he was developing his theory. Aristotle had originally conceived the idea that some features in creatures may appear random and not useful, but the useful features in creatures are the ones that persist over time. He quoted Aristole many times in his book, and he was also influenced by the work of Richard Owen who found that fossils always match up to organisms that can be found on the particular continent the fossil was found, proving that geographic information has an enormous effect on the lifespan of organisms. He was influenced by Thomas Malthus who had statistical arguments about human population, and Darwin drew comparisons between the way mankind’s tendencies of fight for survival to the way organisms in nature do. Darwin by no means invented the idea of evolution, but he did provide an exceptional amount of evidence which is what propelled his arguments so much further. 

This books intended audience was not just the scientific community. He wanted the book to be and understood by everyone, because truthfully, his arguments were not only rational but also provable and easy to understand. Therefore his intended audience was everyone who could read and was interested.

The book was in danger because people truly believed that Darwin was a sign of the devil. He was a seasoned scientist and well respected researcher in the community, but this book was the tipping point because of how clear he made his arguments and how his rational directly fought against the belief of god. If Darwin wasn’t as well respected as he was, the book would had the potential of being destroyed for its anti religious ideas. Instead, the book was banned by most academic institutions until the scientific community started to change their mind about the truth of Darwins findings. 

I could not find paintings or photographs that show the banning or destroying of Darwin’s book.