Many important events were happening during the Victorian period, politically, economically and socially. New legislation created new opportunities for the working class, while the poor experienced increased hardships while the gap between the classes widened. Charles Darwin published his “Origin of Species” in 1859, considered now to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Several authors wrote about their political opinions (socialism, conservative, etc.) as well as common concerns such as degeneration, vivisection, feminism, eugenics and utopia verses dystopia of the future.