Darwin's ghosts : in search of the first evolutionists / Rebecca Stott.

Also published with subtitle: the secret history of evolution. New York : Spiegel & Grau, 2012.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Darwin's list, Kent, 1859 -- Aristotle's Eyes, Lesbos, 344 BC -- The Worshipful Curiosity of Jahiz, Basra and Baghdad, 850 -- Leonardo and the potter, Milan, 1493; Paris, 1570 -- Trembley's Polyp, The Hague, 1740 -- The Consul of Cairo, Cairo, 1708 -- The Hotel of the Philosophers, Paris, 1749 -- Erasmus underground, Derbyshire, 1767 -- The Jardin des Plantes, Paris, 1800 -- The Sponge Philosopher, Edinburgh, 1826 -- The Encyclopedist, Edinburgh, 1844 -- Alfred Wallace's fevered dreams, Malay Archipelago, 1858.

Christmas, 1859. Just one month after the publication of On the Origin of Species, Darwin received a letter that deeply unsettled him. He had expected criticism. Letters were arriving every day like swarms, some expressing praise, most outrage and accusations of heresy. But the letter from the Reverend Powell was different.