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The publication of On the Origin of Species in November 1859, written here in Darwin's study,

caused quite a stir. The first print run of 1,250 copies was oversubscribed and the printers had to organize a second

run this time of 3,000 copies. As Darwin's arguments became more generally known, two factions

began to form, those four and those against an evolutionary

principle that was able to explain the development of living things without

divine intervention. While his friends and enemies battled it out, Darwin characteristically kept his distance.

When Thomas Huxley and Bishop Wilberforce clashed at the Oxford Union in June

1860, Darwin was in Richmond in a hydrotherapy pool receiving treatment

for his various ailments which included nausea, palpitation and fainting fits.

But he was kept in the picture, Both Huxley and Darwin's friend

Joseph Hooker sent him letters describing the debate in great detail. Darwin read and reread

the accounts from his watery sickbed.

As soon as he returned to the family home in Kent, Down House, here, Darwin went back to work.

He was an early riser and would usually go for a walk before breakfast. But the center of his world was

here, his study where he began work at 8 o'clock every morning, surrounded by

letters, bottles of chemicals and family portraits on the wall over the fireplace.

There's a keen sense of a personal space. and family portraits on the wall over the fireplace.

There's a keen sense of a personal space in here.

This was Darwin's room, his sanctuary.

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