Darwin and Angola

'On 1 July 1858, Darwin's and Wallace's theory was unveiled to the world. Darwin himself was not present. On the day of the meeting, he and his wife were burying their son. The Darwin-Wallace presentation was one of seven that evening - one of the other was on the flora of Angola - and if the thirty or so people in the audience had any idea that they were witnessing the scientific highlight of the century, they showed no sign of it. No discussion followed. Nor did the event attract much notice elsewhere. Darwin cheerfully noted later that only one person, a Professor Haughton of Dublin, mentioned the two papers in print in his conclusion was that 'all that was new in them was false, and what was true was old.'

Bill Bryson