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Robert Chambers and the Nebular Hypothesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie
Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon 97207, U.S.A.
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Extract

The role of Robert Chambers's anonymous Vestiges of the natural history of creation in popularizing evolutionary ideas establishes it as a significant work in the history of science even though its intrinsic scientific value is not great. Its fascinating subject, a universally applicable developmental hypothesis, piqued the curiosity of the nineteenth-century reading public. The clientele to whom the book especially appealed was not too concerned with errors in fact and unsupported generalizations, but instead was attracted by the smoothness of its literary style and the glibness of its pronouncements. These same characteristics caused it to be an anathema to both scientists and clergymen, who joined together to voice their disapproval; they agreed that the ideas in it were potentially harmful to those untrained in scientific procedures and unaware of the book's inherent religious heresies.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , November 1975 , pp. 214 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © British Society for the History of Science 1975

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References

REFERENCES

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