Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation is an 1844 work of speculative natural history and philosophy by Robert Chambers. Published anonymously in England, it brought together various ideas of stellar evolution with the progressive transmutation of species in an accessible narrative which tied together numerous scientific theories of the age.
Skeleton of an extinct mammoth. One of over a hundred woodcut illustrations introduced in the 10th edition of Vestiges published in 1853.
Robert Chambers, the anonymous author of Vestiges
Thomas Henry Huxley was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
HMS Rattlesnake by the ship's artist Oswald Brierly
Australian woman: Pencil drawing by Huxley