1860_oxford_evolution_debate

The Oxford University Museum of Natural History

The 1860 Oxford evolution debate took place at the Oxford University Museum on 30 June 1860, seven months after the publication of Charles Darwin\'s On the Origin of Species. Several prominent British scientists and philosophers participated, including Thomas Henry Huxley, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, Benjamin Brodie, Joseph Dalton Hooker and Robert FitzRoy.

The debate is best remembered today for a heated exchange in which Wilberforce supposedly asked Huxley whether it was through his grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed his descent from a monkey.Lucas, JR (June 1979), "Wilberforce and Huxley: A Legendary Encounter", The Historical Journal 22 (2): 313-330, <http://users.ox.ac.uk/~jrlucas/legend.html>. Huxley is said to have replied that he would not be ashamed to have a monkey for his ancestor, but he would be ashamed to be connected with a man who used his great gifts to obscure the truth. The encounter is often known as the Huxley-Wilberforce debate or the Wilberforce-Huxley debate.

No verbatim account of the debate exists, and there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding what Huxley and Wilberforce actually said.

Contents 1 Background 2 Debate 3 Reaction and legacy 4 See also 5 References

Background

Charles Darwin, whose theory was at the centre of the debate.

Further information: Reaction to Darwin\'s theory

The idea of transmutation of species was very controversial in the first half of the nineteenth century, seen as contrary to religious orthodoxy and a threat to the social order, but welcomed by Radicals seeking to widen democracy and overturn the aristocratic hierarchy. The anonymous publication of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation in 1844 brought a storm of controversy, but attracted a wide readership and became a bestseller. At the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting at Oxford in May 1847, the Bishop of Oxford Samuel Wilberforce used his Sunday sermon at St. Mary\'s Church on "the wrong way of doing science" to deliver a stinging attack obviously aimed at its author, Robert Chambers, in a church "crowded to suffocation" with geologists, astronomers and zoologists. The scientific establishment remained hostile to the ideas, but the book had converted a vast popular audience.Desmond, Adrian & Moore, James (1991), Darwin, London: Michael Joseph, Penguin Group, ISBN 0718134303

Charles Darwin\'s On the Origin of Species was published on 24 November 1859 to wide debate and controversy. The influential biologist Richard Owen wrote an extremely hostile anonymous review of the book in the Edinburgh Review,Owen, Richard (1860), "Darwin on the Origin of Species", Edinburgh Review (no. 111): 487-532. and also coached the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, who wrote an anonymous 17,000-word review in the Quarterly Review.*Wilberforce, Samuel (1860), "Darwin\'s Origin of Species", Quarterly Review (no. 102): 225-64.

Thomas Huxley, who was one of the small group with whom Darwin had shared his theory before publication, emerged as the main champion of evolution. He wrote a favourable review of the Origin in The Times in December 1859,Huxley, Thomas Henry (1893-94). Collected essays: vol 2 Darwiniana. London: Macmillan, 1-20.  along with several other articles and a lecture at the Royal Institution in February 1860.Foster, Michael & Lankester, E. Ray (1898-1903), The scientific memoirs of Thomas Henry Huxley. 4 vols and supplement, London: Macmillan, pp. 400, ISBN 1432640119.

The reaction of orthodox churchmen was hostile, but their attention was diverted in February 1860 by a much greater furore over the publication of Essays and Reviews by seven liberal theologians. Amongst them, the reverend Baden Powell had already praised evolutionary ideas, and in his essay he commended "Mr. Darwin\'s masterly volume" for substantiating "the grand principle of the self-evolving powers of nature".

The controversy was at the centre of attention when the British Association for the Advancement of Science convened a meeting at the new Oxford University Museum of Natural History in June 1860. On Thursday 28 June, Charles Daubeny read a paper "On the final causes of the sexuality in plants, with particular reference to Mr. Darwin\'s work...." Owen and Huxley were both in attendance, and a debate erupted over Darwin\'s theory. Wilberforce agreed to address the meeting on Saturday morning, and there was expectation that he would repeat his success at scourging evolutionary ideas as at the 1847 meeting. Huxley was initially reluctant to engage Wilberforce in a public debate about evolution, but Robert Chambers persuaded him not to desert the cause. The reverend Baden Powell would have been on the platform, but he had died of a heart attack on 11 June.

Debate

Word spread that Bishop Wilberforce would speak against Darwin\'s theory at the meeting on Saturday 30 June 1860. Wilberforce, also known as "Soapy Sam" (this epithet was derived from a comment by Benjamin Disraeli that the Bishop\'s manner was "unctuous, oleaginous, saponaceous"), was one of the greatest public speakers of his dayNatural History Museum. Samuel Wilberforce. Retrieved on 14 February 2008. and, according to Bryson, "more than a thousand people crowded into the chamber; hundreds more were turned away."Bryson, Bill (2003). A Short History of Nearly Everything. London: Doubleday, 348-349. ISBN 0-7679-0817-1.  Darwin himself was too sick to attend.Thomson, Keith Stewart (2000). "Huxley, Wilberforce and the Oxford Museum", American Scientist, May-June 2000. Retrieved on 14 February 2008.

Caricature of Huxley published in Vanity Fair in 1871

Caricature of Wilberforce published in Vanity Fair in 1869

The discussion was chaired by John Stevens Henslow, Darwin\'s former mentor from Cambridge. It has been suggested that Owen arranged for Henslow to chair the discussion "hoping to make the expected defeat of Darwin the more complete". The main focus of the meeting was supposed to be a lecture by New York University\'s John William Draper, "On the Intellectual Development of Europe, considered with reference to the views of Mr. Darwin and others, that the progression of organisms is determined by law". By all accounts, Draper\'s presentation was long and boring. After Draper had finished, Henslow called on several other speakers, including Benjamin Brodie, the President of the Royal Society, before it was Wilberforce\'s turn.

Lucas argues that "Wilberforce, contrary to the central tenet of the legend, did not prejudge the issue". He criticised Darwin\'s theory on scientific grounds, arguing that it was not supported by the facts, and he noted that the greatest names in science were opposed to the theory. Nonetheless, Wilberforce\'s speech is generally only remembered today for his inquiry as to whether it was through his grandmother or his grandfather that Huxley considered himself descended from a monkey.

When Huxley heard this he is said to have whispered to Brodie, "The Lord hath delivered him into mine hands". Huxley then rose to defend Darwin\'s theory, finishing his speech with the now-legendary assertion that he was not ashamed to have a monkey for his ancestor, but he would be ashamed to be connected with a man who used great gifts to obscure the truth. This apparently had a tremendous effect on the audience, and a Lady Brewster is said to have fainted.

Next, Henslow called upon Admiral Robert FitzRoy, who had been Darwin\'s captain and companion on the voyage of the Beagle twenty-five years earlier. FitzRoy denounced Darwin\'s book and, "lifting an immense Bible first with both hands and afterwards with one hand over his head, solemnly implored the audience to believe God rather than man".Green, Vivian H.H. (1996). A New History of Christianity. New York: Continuum, 231. ISBN 0-8264-1227-0. 

The last person to speak was Joseph Dalton Hooker, Darwin\'s friend and botanical mentor. According to many contemporary accounts, including Hooker\'s own, it was he and not Huxley who delivered the most effective reply to Wilberforce\'s arguments. According to Hooker, "Sam was shut up—had not one word to say in reply, and the meeting was dissolved forthwith". Ruse claims that "everybody enjoyed himself immensely and all went cheerfully off to dinner together afterwards".Ruse, Michael (2001). Can a Darwinian be a Christian? The Relationship between Science and Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 5. ISBN 0-521-63716-3. 

Reaction and legacy

Summary reports of the debate were published in The Guardian, The Athenaeum and Jackson\'s Oxford Journal. Contrary to the popular view that the debate represented a major victory for the Darwinists, both sides immediately claimed victory.

Though the debate is frequently depicted as a clash between religion and science, the leading opponents of Darwin\'s theory were respected men of science: Owen was one of the most influential British biologists of his generation, Wilberforce was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and Brodie was the President of the Royal Society.

The debate has been called "one of the great stories of the history of science"Brooke, John Hedley (2001). Darwinism & Religion: A Revisionist View of the Wilberforce-Huxley Debate. Lecture delivered at Emmanuel College, Cambridge on 26 February 2001. Retrieved on 14 February 2008. and it is often regarded as a key moment in the acceptance of evolution. However, Brooke argues that "the event almost completely disappeared from public awareness until it was resurrected in the 1890s as an appropriate tribute to a recently deceased hero of scientific education".

See also

• X Club
• Huxley Memorial Debate

References

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