The Early Response to "On the Origin of Species"

The book sold well. It was immediately evident that Darwin's ideas contradicted orthodox Christian teaching on creation. Opposition therefore came from most clerics (although a minority not only had no problem with Darwinism but actually championed it), but the hypotheses advanced in the book also met with criticism from many scientists as well. Prominent naturalists and biological scientists such as Louis Agassiz and Rudolf Virchow disdained Darwin's ideas.

But Darwinism found a true friend in Thomas Henry Huxley, who is perhaps only second to Darwin himself as the most remarkable figure in the story of Darwinism in later 19th-century Britain. Huxley was an autodidact--having essentially no formal education, through reading he became one of the most learned men in the country. He had particular expertise in invertebrate physiology. He was one of a select few who knew of Darwin's work prior to the publication of Origin. Although not entirely convinced of its scientific merits, for he was not sure natural selection had the power required of it under the theory, he was perhaps the theory's foremost public proponent. Early in the 1860s he formed an association with seven other intellectuals, chiefly scientists, called the "X Club." Originally it was more of a social club but because of the members' mutual interests it became a speakers' and writers' bureau for the popularization of topics in science, particularly Darwinism. He formally styled himself an agnostic--in fact, he is credited with coming up with the concept, as opposed to atheism--but there is no secret that one of his prime motives for championing Darwinism was the perceived damage it did to the authority of the church and the Bible.