Geology, Darwin, and Middle-Class Belief

I. Introduction

II. State of Religious Belief in Mid-Victorian Britain

A. 1851 Census findings

B. Challenges to Anglicanism

III. Geology: Charles Lyell

A. Education: Law vs. Geology

B. Gathering Evidence: Mt. Etna example

C. Impact of Principles of Geology

D. Friendship and Disagreements with Darwin

IV. Evolution

A. Ideas before Darwin

B. Darwin’s Early Education

C. Voyage on the HMS Beagle (1831 - 1836)

D. Forming a Theory: London in the 1830s

E. Doubts over Publication

1. Personal and Political

2. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,

or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1859)

F. Reception and Impact

V. Conclusion: Two Victorian Values Opposed

Key Terms

Charles Lyell

Principles of Geology

example of Mt. Etna

Charles Darwin

HMS Beagle
On the Origin of the Species

‘branching bush’ vs. ‘chain of being’

Thomas Malthus

Thomas Henry Huxley

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