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Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature

First published: 1863
Pages: 61

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About this book

Darwin left the human question mostly alone in 1859. Huxley did not. Published in 1863, this short book was the first devoted entirely to human evolution, and it argues from bones rather than speculation. Huxley compares the skulls, brains, hands, and embryos of people and the great apes, and finds that the gap between gorilla and gibbon is wider than the gap between gorilla and man. He also sets out what Europeans then knew of the man-like apes, and examines the fossil skulls, including the Neanderthal remains, that had recently come to light. Written with the bluntness that earned him the name Darwin's bulldog, it made an argument polite Victorian society preferred not to hear. Available free in PDF and EPUB.

About the author

Thomas Henry Huxley

Thomas Henry Huxley was a Victorian biologist, comparative anatomist, educator, and prominent defender of evolutionary science. Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature, published in 1863, brought together essays comparing humans with other primates and considering fossil evidence.