Henry becomes increasingly interested in contemporary methods of science, foreshadowing his later attempts to apply scientific method to the study of history. The works of two Englishmen are especially important to Henry at this point in his education. Naturalist Charles Robert Darwin has recently (1859) published his seminal work, On the Origin of Species, arguing for a theory of evolution. Geologist Sir Charles Lyell, a friend of Darwin, a frequent visitor to the Legation, and eventually a friend of Henry’s, has supported Darwin’s theory in his Antiquity of Man (1863) and the tenth edition of his Principles of Geology (1866). Henry is somewhat skeptical of evolution but influenced by the scientific approach.
