ENGLISH

The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex

By Charles Darwin

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
2009
ISBN
9780511703829, 9781108005098
DOI
10.1017/CBO9780511703829
Google Books ID
n97sPwAACAAJ
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
8 MB (8169999 bytes)
Series
Cambridge Library Collection - Life Sciences
Volume
Volume 1
Edition
1
Pages
436\436
Orientation
yes
Scanned
yes
Time added
2012-03-17 06:00:00

Description

In his introduction, Darwin reveals that for many years he had no intention of publishing his notes on this topic, 'as I thought that I should thus only add to the prejudices against my views'. By 1871, he felt that his fellow scientists would show a greater openness of mind to his arguments, even when taken to their logical conclusion and applied to the descent of man from the apes - the aspect of his theory which had been so widely mocked since the notorious question asked by Bishop Wilberforce at the Oxford debate of 1860: was it through his grandmother or his grandfather that Thomas Huxley, Darwin's champion, considered himself descended from a monkey? However, the book's focus on the area of sexual selection and the evolutionary importance of secondary sexual characteristics across the animal kingdom meant that the book was received without the public outrage that Darwin had feared.

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