On the Origin of Species that nature and human society were governed by natural laws. The "Origin of Species" as a book of wide general interest became associated with ideas of social reform. Its proponents made full use of a surge in the publication of review journals, and it was given more popular attention than almost any other scientific work, though it failed to match the continuing sales of "Vestiges". Darwin's book legitimised scientific discussion of evolutionary mechanisms, and the newly coined term "Darwinism" was used to cover the whole range of evolutionism, not just his own ideas. By the mid-1870s, evolutionism was triumphant. While
On the Origin of Species Mayr summarised as follows: In later editions of the book, Darwin traced evolutionary ideas as far back as Aristotle; the text he cites is a summary by Aristotle of the ideas of the earlier Greek philosopher Empedocles. Early Christian Church Fathers and Medieval European scholars interpreted the Genesis creation narrative allegorically rather than as a literal historical account; organisms were described by their mythological and heraldic significance as well as by their physical form. Nature was widely believed to be unstable and capricious, with monstrous births from union between species, and spontaneous generation of life. The Protestant Reformation inspired a