What is Man's Place in Nature?
{{italictitle}} {{Infobox Book | name = Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature | image = Huxley - Mans Place in Nature.jpg | image_caption = Frontispiece to Huxley's Evidence as to ''Man's Place in Nature'' (1863) | author = [[Thomas Henry Huxley]] | country = England | language = English | series = | subject = Human evolution | genre = | publisher = Williams & Norgate | release_date = 1863 | english_release_date = | media_type = | pages = 159 | isbn = }} '''''Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature''''' is an 1863 book by [[Thomas Henry Huxley]], in which he gives evidence for the [[evolution]] of [[homo sapiens|man]] and [[apes]] from a common ancestor. It was the first book devoted to the topic of [[human evolution]], and discussed much of the [[Anatomy|anatomical]] and other evidence. Backed by this evidence, the book said that evolution applied as fully to man as to all other life. == Precursors of the idea == In the 18th century [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] and others had classified man as a [[primate]], but without drawing evolutionary conclusions. It was [[Lamarck]], the first to develop a coherent theory of evolution, who discussed human evolution in this context.<ref>Lamarck J.B. 1914 [1809]. ''Zoological philosophy: an exposition with regard to the natural history of animals''. Translated by Hugh Elliot. Macmillan, London. p169–173</ref> [[Robert Chambers (journalist)|Robert Chambers]] in his anonymous ''[[Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation|Vestiges]]'' also clearly made the point.<ref>[Chambers, Robert] 1844. ''Vestiges of the natural history of creation''. p217–218</ref> The book came five years after [[Charles Darwin]] and [[Alfred Russel Wallace]] announced their theory of [[evolution]] by means of [[natural selection]],<ref>Darwin C. & Wallace W.R. 1858. On the tendency of species to form varieties; and on the perpetuation of varieties and species by natural means of selection. ''Journal of the Proceed