Darwin sought to not only produce a new scientific truth, but also to put an end to polygenism, the current scientific discourse on human origins that gave tacit and at times explicit support for slavery: ‘... when the principle of evolution is generally accepted, as it surely will be before long, the dispute between the monogenists and polygenists will die a silent and unobserved death.’ (Charles Darwin, Descent of Man, p. 235)
"If Darwin could have taken a scoop of seafloor mud he would have been able to compare it with a scoop of Cudham pond mud. A mere handful of seafloor mud may contain as many species as are found in a square meter of tropical rainforest."
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