Part 5, Chapter 25 Summary and Analysis

In late 1859, Whitwell Elwin received an advanced reading copy of Charles Darwin's new book. Concerned that there would be a small market for the tome, he encouraged Darwin to write a volume about pigeons instead. Despite Elwin's advice and an unwieldy title, On the Origin of Sepcies by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life sold out its first edition the day it appeared. The book has never been out of print since 1859.

At 22, Darwin was invited to sail on the HMS Beagle as the dinner companion to the captain, Robert Fitzroy. In one of the greatest ironies of all time, Fitzroy had undertaken the voyage because his passion was finding literal proof of the biblical story of creation. He chose Darwin, expecting the divinity student to be sympathetic. For five...