Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" Published 150 Years Ago Today

Posted on 24 November, 2009

One hundred and fifty years ago today, on November 24, 1859, Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published by Murray of London. British readers were waiting to grasp Darwin's most flimsy and esoteric ideas, to convert them into a new "scientific" theology, and to apply this new thought to every area of British culture. Every copy in the first printing sold on that first day.

The fruit of Darwin's faith is seen 150 years later in every layer of British culture. Social Darwinism did not create the expected social paradise, but the hellish conditions known as British welfarism. But the British are not willing to admit Darwin's error. Rather, they celebrate his contribution to modernism. Geoffrey Botkin commented on the year of Darwin earlier this year in his article, What Hath Darwin Wrought?