The Hornet

Charles Darwin as an orangutan

"A Venerable Orang-outang." That was the title of this cartoon poking fun at naturalist Charles Darwin, published in 1871 in the satirical magazine The Hornet. ("Orang-outang" was the old-time spelling of orangutan.) Darwin's book The Descent of Man was published that same year. People found his theories easy to make fun of, but Darwin had the last laugh.

See our biography of Charles Darwin