Darwin's Century Evolution and the Men Who Discovered It

Publisher: The theory of evolution did not develop in the mind of Charles Darwin alone; it was the result of the observations and thinking of many others—some preceding Darwin and some contemporary with him. In writing of evolution and the men who contributed to its enunciation as a reasonable proposition, Loren Eiseley produced this distinguished work. Originally published in 1958—the year before the centennial of the publication of On the Origin of Species—it won the 1959 Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science. Darwin’s Century contains the first recognition of the relationship between the nonprogressionist biological philosophy of Sir Charles Lyell and the geological doctrine of uniformitarianism. It throws new light on the reasons why Lyell came so infinitesimally close to Darwin’s views without taking the last step—the recognition of the significance of natural selection. It also gives extended attention to the obstacles that forced Darwin to retreat toward Lamarckianism in later life.