The first edition of Robert Chambers ' Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation was published anonymously in 1844 . It contained a tree like diagram in the chapter ` Hypothesis of the development of the vegetable and animal kingdoms ' . The first edition of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation , which was published anonymously in 1844 in England , contained a tree like diagram ( p. 212 ) in the chapter ` Hypothesis of the development of the vegetable and animal kingdoms ' .