It did prevail, by about 1870 or so.
Also, we have come to expect dishonest debate from the anti scientists. Soundbutes, sophistry, equivocation, drug-induced perjury, ...
To be completely fair, scientists are equally capable of such shenanigans (e.g. the recent Korean stem-cell debacle) - and scientists are equally capable of fraud. However, the very nature of science causes it to self-correct over time - research that yields inconsistent or fraudulent results will either not be duplicable or will not fit in the paradigm once future research is done.
I'll be the first to admit that the process sometimes drags its feet in its self-corrections, but important info that is wrong is bound to get called out eventually, and has done so repeatedly in the past and will continue to do so.