Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation

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Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation was a book published anonymously in England in 1844. It proposed a theory of evolution, modeled somewhat after that of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, and created considerable political controversy in Victorian society for its radicalism and unorthodoxy.

For many decades there was speculation as to its authorship, and it was only in 1884 revealed that it had been written by Robert Chambers, a publisher-author in Edinburgh who had himself died in 1871.

1 Theory
2 Reception
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Theory

The work put forward a cosmic theory of transmutation (which we now call evolution). It suggested that everything currently in existence had developed from earlier forms: solar system, Earth, rocks, plants and corals, fish, land plants, reptiles and birds, mammals, and finally the present species (including man). For its anti-creationist proposals, it was considered scandalous and titillating. Perhaps as a result, it was read not only by members of high society, but also — thanks to the rise of cheap publishing — the lower and middle classes.

Charles Darwin, for example, remarked several years after its publication that Vestiges had prepared the way for his own arguments. But it was not influenced by Darwin, having preceded by several years the publication of the first edition of The Origin of Species (1859). That said, it contains several comments worthy of repetition in light of more recent debates, such as regarding Intelligent Design. For example:

Not one species of any creature which flourished before the tertiary (Ehrenberg's infusoria excepted) now exists; and of the mammalia which arose during that series, many forms are altogether gone, while of others we have now only kindred species. Thus to find not only frequent additions to the previous existing forms, but frequent withdrawals of forms which had apparently become inappropriate — a constant shifting as well as advance — is a fact calculated very forcibly to arrest attention. A candid consideration of all these circumstances can scarcely fail to introduce into our minds a somewhat different idea of organic creation from what has hitherto been generally entertained (p.152).

In other words, the fact of extinction — which can be observed in the fossil layers —suggests that some designs were flawed. From this, the author concludes:

Some other idea must then come to with regard to the mode in which the Divine Author proceeded in the organic creation (p.153).

But the suggestion is not a mechanism, like Darwin proposed. The author merely notes that an active God is unnecessary:

...how can we suppose that the august Being who brought all these countless worlds into form by the simple establishment of a natural principle flowing from his mind, was to interfere personally and specially on every occasion when a new shell-fish or reptile was to be ushered into existence on one of these worlds? Surely this idea is too ridiculous to be for a moment entertained (p.154).

He furthermore suggests that this interpretation may be based upon corrupt theology:

Thus, the scriptural objection quickly vanishes, and the prevalent ideas about the organic creation appear only as a mistaken inference from the text, formed at a time when man's ignorance prevented him from drawing therefrom a just conclusion (p.156).

And praises God for his foresight in generating such wonderous variety from so elegant a method, while chastening those who would oversimplify His accomplishment:

To a reasonable mind the Divine attributes must appear, not diminished or reduced in some way, by supposing a creation by law, but infinitely exalted. It is the narrowest of all views of the Deity, and characteristic of a humble class of intellects, to suppose him acting constantly in particular ways for particular occasions. It, for one thing, greatly detracts from his foresight, the most undeniable of all the attributes of Omnipotence. It lowers him towards the level of our own humble intellects. Much more worthy of him it surely is, to suppose that all things have been commissioned by him from the first, though neither is he absent from a particle of the current of natural affairs in one sense, seeing that the whole system is continually supported by his providence (pp.156-157).[1]

Following its publication, there was a shift toward the coexistence of God and Nature, but following Natural Laws. It is perhaps for this reason that Origin of Species was accepted so readily, upon its eventual publication. On the other hand, the knowledge of its scandal also was part of what encouraged Darwin to hold off on his own publication until he felt it was sufficiently defended (but in the end, Darwin had to publish earlier than he had wanted to anyway).

[edit] Reception

The book was a best-seller for many decades after it was published, despite being publicly denounced by scientists, preachers, and statesmen. The harsh reception that Vestiges received, and the mockery which was made of its evolutionary ideas, has been cited by historians as one of the factors leading to Charles Darwin's own delay in publishing his own theory of evolution. In a letter to Thomas Henry Huxley in 1854 (five years before his own book on evolution was published but twelve years after its ideas had first been sketched out in an unpublished essay), Darwin expressed sympathy for the (still anonymous) author of Vestiges in the face of a savage review by Huxley:

"I must think that such a book, if it does no other good, spreads the taste for Natural Science. But I am perhaps no fair judge, for I am almost as unorthodox about species as the Vestiges itself, though I hope not quite so unphilosophical."[2]

However a year later, in a letter to Joseph Dalton Hooker, Darwin mentioned Vestiges in a more sober tone:

"I should have less scruple in troubling you if I had any confidence what my work would turn out. Sometimes I think it will be good, at other times I really feel as much ashamed of myself as the author of the Vestiges ought to be of himself."[3]

According to the historian James A. Secord, Vestiges out-sold The Origin of Species up until the early 20th century. Darwin himself later remarked that it was Vestiges which had prepared the world for his own theory.

In 1845, a sequel was published under the title of Explanations: A Sequel to the Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, along with the fourth edition of Vestiges, to address criticisms of the original volume.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

James A. Secord, Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001). [4]