People aren’t astonished by airplanes anymore. They’re an everyday sight. A convenience of civilization that everybody knows and accepts. But only one hundred and sixty years ago, people in Europe were in no doubt that it was God who had made all creatures on earth, in exactly the form they were then. They had never looked any different and never would. People really did believe that salamanders were created from flames, and the bird of paradise was a messenger from paradise. That’s why Darwin was reluctant to publish his theory. He was afraid of being shot down, for having an idea that didn’t
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