Commenting on this situation, the New York Times reported: “The study of evolution has undergone a major change in the last 10 years, with the principles of evolution, as laid down by Darwin and others, being challenged and new theories being proposed. The field is in an uproar.”

An editor of The Washington Monthly, Tom Bethell, made a similar investigation. He was amazed to find so much confusion and debate among evolutionists. He said: “It is surprising that so little of [the debate] has leaked out, because it seems to have been one of the most important academic debates of the 1960s, and as I see it the conclusion is pretty staggering: Darwin’s theory, I believe, is on the verge of collapse.”

Mr. Bethell noted: “Darwin, I suggest, is in the process of being discarded, but perhaps in deference to the venerable old gentleman . . . it is being done as discreetly and gently as possible, with a minimum of publicity.”