Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation and Other Evolutionary Writings

Book excerpt: Originally published in 1844, Vestiges sparked one of the great intellectual controversies of the century. Integrating research in anthropology, geology, astronony, biology, economics, and chemistry, it was the first attempt to connect the natural sciences into a history of creation. The author, whose identity was not revealed until 1884, was Robert Chambers (1802-71), a leading Scottish writer and publisher. Vestiges reached a huge popular audience in Europe and America and was widely read by the social and intellectual elite. It fostered debate about natural law, setting the stage for the controversy over Darwin's Origin. In response to criticism, Chambers published Explanations: A Sequel, which offered a reasoned defense of his ideas about progressive development, castigating what he saw as the narrowness of specialist science. This volume, which also includes Chambers's earliest cosmological writings, a bibliography of reviews, and a comprehensive new index, illuminates the changing meanings of science and religion in the Victorian era and the rise of secular ideologies in Western culture. -- from back cover.