Zoological Retrogression

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was one of the most popular British writers of all time. Prolific in many genres, he wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography and autobiography. Wells is now best remembered for his Science Fiction novels and has been called the “Father of Science Fiction”. In addition to his fame as a writer, he was prominent in his lifetime as a forward-looking, even prophetic social critic who devoted his literary talents to the development of a progressive vision on a global scale. A futurist, he wrote a number of utopian works and foresaw the advent of aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons and satellite television. His Science Fiction imagined time travel, alien invasion, invisibility, and biological engineering before these subjects were common in the genre.

Zoological Retrogression, first published in September 1891 in The Gentleman’s Magazine, is one of Wells’ most interesting scientific studies.

In the second half of the 19th century was widespread the theory that civilization could be in decline and that the causes of the decline lay in biological change. Wells concludes his study with this caveat: «The Coming Beast must certainly be reckoned in any anticipatory calculations regarding the Coming Man».