Reactions to On the Origin of Species Reactions to On the Origin of Species The immediate reactions to "On the Origin of Species", the book in which Charles Darwin described evolution by natural selection, included international debate, though the heat of controversy was less than that over earlier works such as "Vestiges of Creation". Darwin monitored the debate closely, cheering on Thomas Henry Huxley's battles with Richard Owen to remove clerical domination of the scientific establishment. While Darwin's illness kept him away from the public debates, he read eagerly about them and mustered support through correspondence. Religious views were mixed, with the Church of England's scientific establishment
On the Origin of Species only the last chapter still to write. In September the main title still included ""An essay on the origin of species and varieties"", but Darwin now proposed dropping "varieties". With Murray's persuasion, the title was eventually agreed as "On the Origin of Species", with the title page adding "by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life". In this extended title (and elsewhere in the book) Darwin used the biological term ""races"" interchangeably with ""varieties"", meaning varieties within a species. He used the term broadly, and as well as discussions of "the several