Het tijdschrift Isis (1872-1881) en de verspreiding van het darwinisme onder het grote publiek

Abstract

Isis (1872-1881) and the circulation of darwinism among the general public Isis (1872-1881), a nineteenth century popular scientific journal, was one of the most important Dutch periodicals supporting darwinism. Isis was a staunch and intelligent defender of Darwin's evolutionary ideas. It endorsed Darwin's major ideas, with the exception of his theory of pangenesis. The editors of Isis (D. Huizinga and H. Hartogh Heys van Zouteveen) belonged to a philosophical school shaped by the scientific materialism of Vogt c.s. and Haeckel's monism. Isis was not a very flourishing journal. Its high standard for scientific discourse, its competition (with e.g. the Album der Natuur), combined with the fact that one often shows his materialistic and atheistic preferences, contributed to this situation. The importance of Isis however, must not be underestimated. Compared with other Dutch journals it devoted a lot of space to darwinian ideas which — and this was also rather unique — were primarily treated because of their scientific merits.