Includes bibliographical references (p. 433-466) and index.

List of Illustrations; Acknowledgments; 1. Evolution and Society: Setting the Scene; 2. Importing the New Morphology; 3. Reforming the Management of Medicine and Science: The Radical Perspective; 4. Nonconformist Anatomy in the Private Schools; 5. Accommodation and Domestication: Dealing with Geoffroy's Anatomy; 6. Science under Siege: Forging an Idealist Comparative Anatomy at the College of Surgeons; 7. Engaging the Lamarckians; 8. Embryology, Archetypes, and Idealism: New Directions in Comparative Anatomy; 9. Grasping the Nettle: Some Concluding Remarks.

Looking for the first time at the cut-price anatomy schools rather than genteel Oxbridge, Desmond winkles out pre-Darwinian evolutionary ideas in reform-minded and politically charged early nineteenth-century London. In the process, he reveals the underside of London intellectual and social life in the generation before Darwin as it has never been seen before." The Politics of Evolution is intellectual dynamite, and certainly one of the most important books in the history of science published during the past decade."--Jim Secord, Times Literary Supplement. "One of those rare boo.

Description based on print version record.