On first reading Darwin's "Origin," he declared "How extremely stupid not to have thought of that!" Naturalist on HMS Rattlesnake (1846 - 1850), Huxley declared himself "Darwin's Bulldog", and said "I would go to the stake ...." in defense of the theory. Author of "Man's Place in Nature" (1863), he emphasized the relationship of Humans to other Great Apes, in contrast to Richard Owen who denied this evidence. Participated in Oxford debate on evolution (1860), where he confronted Bishop Samuel "Soapy Sam" Wilberforce. From comparison of Archeopteryx with Compsognathus (below), he concluded that birds were descended from dinosaurs.