Darwin on embryonic development, 19th-century illustrations. Here, Darwin is comparing a human embryo (top) with a dog embryo (bottom). This is page 15 on 'Embryonic Development' from chapter 1 ('The Evidence of the Descent of Man from some Lower Form') of volume one of 'The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex' (1871) by British naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882). In volume one of this work ('On The Descent of Man'), Darwin wrote on aspects of his evolutionary theory, including the differences and similarities between human and animal embryos. Darwin also discussed evolutionary psychology, evolutionary ethics, and differences in human races and sexes. Darwin's most famous work, 'On the Origin of Species', had been published in 1859 and had caused a storm of controversy with Christian orthodoxy. By the time of this later work, Darwin's theories were more widely accepted. |