Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation

Written by Edinburgh publisher Robert Chambers but published anonymously in October 1844, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation provided a grand cosmic narrative of evolutionary change and became an immediate sensation. Its condemnation by leaders of both science and the church contributed to Charles Darwin’s delay in publishing his own evolutionary theory but also helped spread acceptance of what was then called “the transmutation of species” and “the development hypothesis.” Image: Robert Chambers, c. 1863. Reproduced from John van Wyhe, The History of Phrenology on the Web. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.