THE WRITING OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.'
"I have done my best. If you had all my material I am sure you
would have made a splendid book."--From a letter to Lyell, June 21,
1859.
JUNE 18, 1858, TO NOVEMBER 1859.
_C. D. to C. Lyell._ Down, 18th [June 1858].
MY DEAR LYELL--Some year or so ago you recommended me to read a paper by
Wallace in the _Annals_,[147] which had interested you, and as I was
writing to him, I knew this would please him much, so I told him. He has
to-day sent me the enclosed, and asked me to forward it to you. It seems
to me well worth reading. Your words have come true with a
vengeance--that I should be forestalled. You said this, when I explained
to you here very briefly my views of 'Natural Selection' depending on
the struggle for existence. I never saw a more striking coincidence; if
Wallace had my MS. sketch written out in 1842, he could not have made a
better short abstract! Even his terms now stand as heads of my chapters.
Please return me the MS., which he does not say he wishes me to publish,
but I shall, of course, at once write and offer to send to any journal.
So all my originality, whatever it may amount to, will be smashed,
though my book, if it will ever have any value, will not be
deteriorated; as all the labour consists in the application of the
theory.
I hope you will approve of Wallace's sketch, that I may tell him what
you say.
My dear Lyell, yours most truly.
_C. D. to C. Lyell._ Down, [June 25, 1858].
MY DEAR LYELL--I am very sorry to trouble you, busy as you are, in so
merely personal an affair; but if you will give me your deliberate
opinion, you will do me as great a service as ever man did, for I have
entire confidence in your judgment and honour....
There is nothing in Wallace's sketch which is not written out much
fuller in my sketch, copied out in 1844, and read by Hooker some dozen
years ago. About a year ago I sent a short sketch, of which I have a
copy, of my views (owing to correspondence on several points) to Asa
Gray, so that I could most truly say and prove that I take nothing from
Wallace. I should be extremely glad now to publish a sketch of my
general views in about a dozen pages or so; but I cannot persuade myself
that I can do so honourably. Wallace says nothing about publication, and
I enclose his letter. But as I had not intended to publish any sketch,
can I do so honourably, because Wallace has sent me an outline of his
doctrine? I would far rather burn my whole book, than that he or any
other man should think that I had behaved in a paltry spirit. Do you not
think his having sent me this sketch ties my hands?... If I could
honourably publish, I would state that I was induced now to publish a
sketch (and I should be very glad to be permitted to say, to follow your
advice long ago given) from Wallace having sent me an outline of my
general conclusions. We differ only, [in] that I was led to my views
from what artificial selection has done for domestic animals. I would
send Wallace a copy of my letter to Asa Gray, to show him that I had not
stolen his doctrine. But I cannot tell whether to publish now would not
be base and paltry. This was my first impression, and I should have
certainly acted on it had it not been for your letter.
This is a trumpery affair to trouble you with, but you cannot tell how
much obliged I should be for your advice.
By the way, would you object to send this and your answer to Hooker to
be forwarded to me? for then I shall have the opinion of my two best and
kindest friends. This letter is miserably written, and I write it now,
that I may for a time banish the whole subject; and I am worn out with
musing....
My good dear friend, forgive me. This is a trumpery letter, influenced
by trumpery feelings.
Yours most truly.
I will never trouble you or Hooker on the subject again.
_C. D. to C. Lyell._ Down, 26th [June 1858].
MY DEAR LYELL--Forgive me for adding a P.S. to make the case as strong
as possible against myself.
Wallace might say, "You did not intend publishing an abstract of your
views till you received my communication. Is it fair to take advantage
of my having freely, though unasked, communicated to you my ideas, and
thus prevent me forestalling you?" The advantage which I should take
being that I am induced to publish from privately knowing that Wallace
is in the field. It seems hard on me that I should be thus compelled to
lose my priority of many years' standing, but I cannot feel at all sure
that this alters the justice of the case. First impressions are
generally right, and I at first thought it would be dishonourable in me
now to publish.
Yours most truly.
P.S.--I have always thought you would make a first-rate Lord Chancellor;
and I now appeal to you as a Lord Chancellor.
_C. D. to J. D. Hooker._ Tuesday night [June 29, 1858].
MY DEAR HOOKER--I have just read your letter, and see you want the
papers at once. I am quite prostrated,[148] and can do nothing, but I
send Wallace, and the abstract[149] of my letter to Asa Gray, which
gives most imperfectly only the means of change, and does not touch on
reasons for believing that species do change. I dare say all is too
late. I hardly care about it. But you are too generous to sacrifice so
much time and kindness. It is most generous, most kind. I send my sketch
of 1844 solely that you may see by your own handwriting that you did
read it. I really cannot bear to look at it. Do not waste much time. It
is miserable in me to care at all about priority.
The table of contents will show what it is.
I would make a similar, but shorter and more accurate sketch for the
_Linnean Journal_.
I will do anything. God bless you, my dear kind friend.
I can write no more. I send this by my servant to Kew.
The joint paper[150] of Mr. Wallace and my father was read at the
Linnean Society on the evening of July 1st. Mr. Wallace's Essay bore
the title, "On the Tendency of Varieties to depart indefinitely from the
Original Type."
My father's contribution to the paper consisted of (1) Extracts from the
sketch of 1844; (2) part of a letter, addressed to Dr. Asa Gray, dated
September 5, 1857. The paper was "communicated" to the Society by Sir
Charles Lyell and Sir Joseph Hooker, in whose prefatory letter a clear
account of the circumstances of the case is given.
Referring to Mr. Wallace's Essay, they wrote:--
"So highly did Mr. Darwin appreciate the value of the views therein set
forth, that he proposed, in a letter to Sir Charles Lyell, to obtain Mr.
Wallace's consent to allow the Essay to be published as soon as
possible. Of this step we highly approved, provided Mr. Darwin did not
withhold from the public, as he was strongly inclined to do (in favour
of Mr. Wallace), the memoir which he had himself written on the same
subject, and which, as before stated, one of us had perused in 1844, and
the contents of which we had both of us been privy to for many years. On
representing this to Mr. Darwin, he gave us permission to make what use
we thought proper of his memoir, &c.; and in adopting our present
course, of presenting it to the Linnean Society, we have explained to
him that we are not solely considering the relative claims to priority
of himself and his friend, but the interests of science generally."
Sir Charles Lyell and Sir J. D. Hooker were present at the reading of
the paper, and both, I believe, made a few remarks, chiefly with a view
of impressing on those present the necessity of giving the most careful
consideration to what they had heard. There was, however, no semblance
of a discussion. Sir Joseph Hooker writes to me: "The interest excited
was intense, but the subject was too novel and too ominous for the old
school to enter the lists, before armouring. After the meeting it was
talked over with bated breath: Lyell's approval and perhaps in a small
way mine, as his lieutenant in the affair, rather overawed the Fellows,
who would otherwise have flown out against the doctrine. We had, too,
the vantage ground of being familiar with the authors and their theme."
Mr. Wallace has, at my request, been so good as to allow me to publish
the following letter. Professor Newton, to whom the letter is addressed,
had submitted to Mr. Wallace his recollections of what the latter had
related to him many years before, and had asked Mr. Wallace for a fuller
version of the story. Hence the few corrections in Mr. Wallace's
letter, for instance _bed_ for _hammock_.
_A. R. Wallace to A. Newton._ Frith Hill, Godalming, Dec. 3rd, 1887.
MY DEAR NEWTON--I had hardly heard of Darwin before going to the East,
except as connected with the voyage of the _Beagle_, which I _think_ I
had read. I saw him _once_ for a few minutes in the British Museum
before I sailed. Through Stevens, my agent, I heard that he wanted
curious _varieties_ which he was studying. I _think_ I wrote to him
about some varieties of ducks I had sent, and he must have written once
to me. I find on looking at his "Life" that his _first_ letter to me is
given in vol. ii. p. 95, and another at p. 109, both after the
publication of my first paper. I must have heard from some notices in
the _Athenaeum_, I think (which I had sent me), that he was studying
varieties and species, and as I was continually thinking of the subject,
I wrote to him giving some of my notions, and making some suggestions.
But at that time I had not the remotest notion that he had already
arrived at a definite theory--still less that it was the same as
occurred to me, suddenly, in Ternate in 1858. The most interesting
coincidence in the matter, I think, is, that I, _as well as Darwin_, was
led to the theory itself through Malthus--in my case it was his
elaborate account of the action of "preventive checks" in keeping down
the population of savage races to a tolerably fixed, but scanty number.
This had strongly impressed me, and it suddenly flashed upon me that all
animals are necessarily thus kept down--"the struggle for
existence"--while _variations_, on which I was always thinking, must
necessarily often be _beneficial_, and would then cause those varieties
to increase while the injurious variations diminished.[151] You are
quite at liberty to mention the circumstances, but I think you have
coloured them a little highly, and introduced some slight errors. I was
lying on my bed (no hammocks in the East) in the hot fit of intermittent
fever, when the idea suddenly came to me. I thought it almost all out
before the fit was over, and the moment I got up began to write it
down, and I believe finished the first draft the next day.
I had no idea whatever of "dying,"--as it was not a serious
illness,--but I _had_ the idea of working it out, so far as I was able,
when I returned home, not at all expecting that Darwin had so long
anticipated me. I can truly say _now_, as I said many years ago, that I
am glad it was so; for I have not the love of _work_, _experiment_ and
_detail_ that was so pre-eminent in Darwin, and without which anything I
could have written would never have convinced the world. If you do refer
to me at any length, can you send me a proof and I will return it to you
at once?
Yours faithfully
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
_C. D. to J. D. Hooker._ Miss Wedgwood's, Hartfield, Tunbridge Wells
[July 13th, 1858].
MY DEAR HOOKER--Your letter to Wallace seems to me perfect, quite clear
and most courteous. I do not think it could possibly be improved, and I
have to-day forwarded it with a letter of my own. I always thought it
very possible that I might be forestalled, but I fancied that I had a
grand enough soul not to care; but I found myself mistaken, and
punished; I had, however, quite resigned myself, and had written half a
letter to Wallace to give up all priority to him, and should certainly
not have changed had it not been for Lyell's and your quite
extraordinary kindness. I assure you I feel it, and shall not forget it.
I am _more_ than satisfied at what took place at the Linnean Society. I
had thought that your letter and mine to Asa Gray were to be only an
appendix to Wallace's paper.
We go from here in a few days to the sea-side, probably to the Isle of
Wight, and on my return (after a battle with pigeon skeletons) I will
set to work at the abstract, though how on earth I shall make anything
of an abstract in thirty pages of the Journal, I know not, but will try
my best....
I must try and see you before your journey; but do not think I am
fishing to ask you to come to Down, for you will have no time for that.
You cannot imagine how pleased I am that the notion of Natural Selection
has acted as a purgative on your bowels of immutability. Whenever
naturalists can look at species changing as certain, what a magnificent
field will be open,--on all the laws of variation,--on the genealogy of
all living beings,--on their lines of migration, &c. &c. Pray thank Mrs.
Hooker for her very kind little note, and pray say how truly obliged I
am, and in truth ashamed to think that she should have had the trouble
of copying my ugly MS. It was extraordinarily kind in her. Farewell, my
dear kind friend.
Yours affectionately.
P.S.--I have had some fun here in watching a slave-making ant; for I
could not help rather doubting the wonderful stories, but I have now
seen a defeated marauding party, and I have seen a migration from one
nest to another of the slave-makers, carrying their slaves (who are
_house_, and not field niggers) in their mouths!
_C. D. to C. Lyell._ King's Head Hotel, Sandown, Isle of Wight. July
18th [1858].
... We are established here for ten days, and then go on to Shanklin,
which seems more amusing to one, like myself, who cannot walk. We hope
much that the sea may do H. and L. good. And if it does, our expedition
will answer, but not otherwise.
I have never half thanked you for all the extraordinary trouble and
kindness you showed me about Wallace's affair. Hooker told me what was
done at the Linnean Society, and I am far more than satisfied, and I do
not think that Wallace can think my conduct unfair in allowing you and
Hooker to do whatever you thought fair. I certainly was a little annoyed
to lose all priority, but had resigned myself to my fate. I am going to
prepare a longer abstract; but it is really impossible to do justice to
the subject, except by giving the facts on which each conclusion is
grounded, and that will, of course, be absolutely impossible. Your name
and Hooker's name appearing as in any way the least interested in my
work will, I am certain, have the most important bearing in leading
people to consider the subject without prejudice. I look at this as so
very important, that I am almost glad of Wallace's paper for having led
to this.
My dear Lyell, yours most gratefully.
The following letter refers to the proof-sheets of the Linnean paper.
The 'introduction' means the prefatory letter signed by Sir C. Lyell and
Sir J. D. Hooker.
_C. D. to J. D. Hooker._ King's Head Hotel, Sandown, Isle of Wight.
July 21st [1858].
MY DEAR HOOKER--I received only yesterday the proof-sheets, which I now
return. I think your introduction cannot be improved.
I am disgusted with my bad writing. I could not improve it, without
rewriting all, which would not be fair or worth while, as I have begun
on a better abstract for the Linnean Society. My excuse is that it
_never_ was intended for publication. I have made only a few corrections
in the style; but I cannot make it decent, but I hope moderately
intelligible. I suppose some one will correct the revise. (Shall I?)
Could I have a clean proof to send to Wallace?
I have not yet fully considered your remarks on big genera (but your
general concurrence is of the _highest possible_ interest to me); nor
shall I be able till I re-read my MS.; but you may rely on it that you
never make a remark to me which is lost from _inattention_. I am
particularly glad you do not object to my stating your objections in a
modified form, for they always struck me as very important, and as
having much inherent value, whether or no they were fatal to my notions.
I will consider and reconsider all your remarks....
I am very glad at what you say about my Abstract, but you may rely on it
that I will condense to the utmost. I would aid in money if it is too
long.[152] In how many ways you have aided me!
Yours affectionately.
The "Abstract" mentioned in the last sentence of the preceding letter
was in fact the _Origin of Species_, on which he now set to work. In his
_Autobiography_ (p. 41) he speaks of beginning to write in September,
but in his Diary he wrote, "July 20 to Aug. 12, at Sandown, began
Abstract of Species book." "Sep. 16, Recommenced Abstract." The book was
begun with the idea that it would be published as a paper, or series of
papers, by the Linnean Society, and it was only in the late autumn that
it became clear that it must take the form of an independent volume.
_C. D. to J. D. Hooker._ Norfolk House, Shanklin, Isle of Wight.
[August 1858.]
MY DEAR HOOKER,--I write merely to say that the MS. came safely two or
three days ago. I am much obliged for the correction of style: I find it
unutterably difficult to write clearly. When we meet I must talk over a
few points on the subject.
You speak of going to the sea-side somewhere; we think this the nicest
sea-side place which we have ever seen, and we like Shanklin better than
other spots on the south coast of the island, though many are charming
and prettier, so that I would suggest your thinking of this place. We
are on the actual coast; but tastes differ so much about places.
If you go to Broadstairs, when there is a strong wind from the coast of
France and in fine, dry, warm weather, look out and you will _probably_
(!) see thistle-seeds blown across the Channel. The other day I saw one
blown right inland, and then in a few minutes a second one and then a
third; and I said to myself, God bless me, how many thistles there must
be in France; and I wrote a letter in imagination to you. But I then
looked at the _low_ clouds, and noticed that they were not coming
inland, so I feared a screw was loose, I then walked beyond a headland
and found the wind parallel to the coast, and on this very headland a
noble bed of thistles, which by every wide eddy were blown far out to
sea, and then came right in at right angles to the shore! One day such a
number of insects were washed up by the tide, and I brought to life
thirteen species of Coleoptera; not that I suppose these came from
France. But do you watch for thistle-seed as you saunter along the
coast....
_C. D. to J. D. Hooker._ [Down] Oct. 6th, 1858.
... If you have or can make leisure, I should very much like to hear
news of Mrs. Hooker, yourself, and the children. Where did you go, and
what did you do and are doing? There is a comprehensive text.
You cannot tell how I enjoyed your little visit here. It did me much
good. If Harvey[153] is still with you, pray remember me very kindly to
him.
... I am working most steadily at my Abstract [_Origin of Species_], but
it grows to an inordinate length; yet fully to make my view clear (and
never giving briefly more than a fact or two, and slurring over
difficulties), I cannot make it shorter. It will yet take me three or
four months; so slow do I work, though never idle. You cannot imagine
what a service you have done me in making me make this Abstract; for
though I thought I had got all clear, it has clarified my brains very
much, by making me weigh the relative importance of the several
elements.
He was not so fully occupied but that he could find time to help his
boys in their collecting. He sent a short notice to the _Entomologists'
Weekly Intelligencer_, June 25th, 1859, recording the capture of
_Licinus silphoides_, _Clytus mysticus_, _Panagaeus 4-pustulatus_. The
notice begins with the words, "We three very young collectors having
lately taken in the parish of Down," &c., and is signed by three of his
boys, but was clearly not written by them. I have a vivid recollection
of the pleasure of turning out my bottle of dead beetles for my father
to name, and the excitement, in which he fully shared, when any of them
proved to be uncommon ones. The following letter to Mr. Fox (Nov. 13th,
1858), illustrates this point:--
"I am reminded of old days by my third boy having just begun collecting
beetles, and he caught the other day _Brachinus crepitans_, of immortal
Whittlesea Mere memory. My blood boiled with old ardour when he caught a
Licinus--a prize unknown to me."
And again to Sir John Lubbock:--
"I feel like an old war-horse at the sound of the trumpet when I read
about the capturing of rare beetles--is not this a magnanimous simile
for a decayed entomologist?--It really almost makes me long to begin
collecting again. Adios.
"'Floreat Entomologia'!--to which toast at Cambridge I have drunk many a
glass of wine. So again, 'Floreat Entomologia.'--N.B. I have _not_ now
been drinking any glasses full of wine."
_C D. to J. D. Hooker._ Down, Jan. 23rd, 1859.
... I enclose letters to you and me from Wallace. I admire extremely the
spirit in which they are written. I never felt very sure what he would
say. He must be an amiable man. Please return that to me, and Lyell
ought to be told how well satisfied he is. These letters have vividly
brought before me how much I owe to your and Lyell's most kind and
generous conduct in all this affair.
... How glad I shall be when the Abstract is finished, and I can
rest!...
_C. D. to A. B. Wallace._ Down, Jan. 25th [1859].
MY DEAR SIR,--I was extremely much pleased at receiving three days ago
your letter to me and that to Dr. Hooker. Permit me to say how heartily
I admire the spirit in which they are written. Though I had absolutely
nothing whatever to do in leading Lyell and Hooker to what they thought
a fair course of action, yet I naturally could not but feel anxious to
hear what your impression would be. I owe indirectly much to you and
them; for I almost think that Lyell would have proved right, and I
should never have completed my larger work, for I have found my Abstract
[_Origin of Species_] hard enough with my poor health, but now, thank
God, I am in my last chapter but one. My Abstract will make a small
volume of 400 or 500 pages. Whenever published, I will, of course, send
you a copy, and then you will see what I mean about the part which I
believe selection has played with domestic productions. It is a very
different part, as you suppose, from that played by "Natural Selection."
I sent off, by the same address as this note, a copy of the _Journal of
the Linnean Society_, and subsequently I have sent some half-dozen
copies of the paper. I have many other copies at your disposal....
I am glad to hear that you have been attending to birds' nests. I have
done so, though almost exclusively under one point of view, viz. to show
that instincts vary, so that selection could work on and improve them.
Few other instincts, so to speak, can be preserved in a Museum.
Many thanks for your offer to look after horses' stripes; if there are
any donkeys, pray add them. I am delighted to hear that you have
collected bees' combs.... This is an especial hobby of mine, and I think
I can throw a light on the subject. If you can collect duplicates at no
very great expense, I should be glad of some specimens for myself with
some bees of each kind. Young, growing, and irregular combs, and those
which have not had pupae, are most valuable for measurements and
examination. Their edges should be well protected against abrasion.
Every one whom I have seen has thought your paper very well written and
interesting. It puts my extracts (written in 1839,[154] now just twenty
years ago!), which I must say in apology were never for an instant
intended for publication, into the shade.
You ask about Lyell's frame of mind. I think he is somewhat staggered,
but does not give in, and speaks with horror, often to me, of what a
thing it would be, and what a job it would be for the next edition of
_The Principles_, if he were "perverted." But he is most candid and
honest, and I think will end by being perverted. Dr. Hooker has become
almost as heterodox as you or I, and I look at Hooker as _by far_ the
most capable judge in Europe.
Most cordially do I wish you health and entire success in all your
pursuits, and, God knows, if admirable zeal and energy deserve success,
most amply do you deserve it. I look at my own career as nearly run out.
If I can publish my Abstract and perhaps my greater work on the same
subject, I shall look at my course as done.
Believe me, my dear Sir, yours very sincerely.
In March 1859 the work was telling heavily on him. He wrote to Fox:--
"I can see daylight through my work, and am now finally correcting my
chapters for the press; and I hope in a month or six weeks to have
proof-sheets. I am weary of my work. It is a very odd thing that I have
no sensation that I overwork my brain; but facts compel me to conclude
that my brain was never formed for much thinking. We are resolved to go
for two or three months, when I have finished, to Ilkley, or some such
place, to see if I can anyhow give my health a good start, for it
certainly has been wretched of late, and has incapacitated me for
everything. You do me injustice when you think that I work for fame; I
value it to a certain extent; but, if I know myself, I work from a sort
of instinct to try to make out truth."
_C. D. to C. Lyell._ Down, March 28th [1859].
MY DEAR LYELL,--If I keep decently well, I hope to be able to go to
press with my volume early in May. This being so, I want much to beg a
little advice from you. From an expression in Lady Lyell's note, I fancy
that you have spoken to Murray. Is it so? And is he willing to publish
my Abstract?[155] If you will tell me whether anything, and what has
passed, I will then write to him. Does he know at all of the subject of
the book? Secondly, can you advise me whether I had better state what
terms of publication I should prefer, or first ask him to propose
terms? And what do you think would be fair terms for an edition? Share
profits, or what?
Lastly, will you be so very kind as to look at the enclosed title and
give me your opinion and any criticisms; you must remember that, if I
have health, and it appears worth doing, I have a much larger and full
book on the same subject nearly ready.
My Abstract will be about five hundred pages of the size of your first
edition of the _Elements of Geology_.
Pray forgive me troubling you with the above queries; and you shall have
no more trouble on the subject. I hope the world goes well with you, and
that you are getting on with your various works.
I am working very hard for me, and long to finish and be free and try to
recover some health.
My dear Lyell, ever yours.
P.S.--Would you advise me to tell Murray that my book is not more
_un_-orthodox than the subject makes inevitable. That I do not discuss
the origin of man. That I do not bring in any discussion about Genesis,
&c. &c., and only give facts, and such conclusions from them as seem to
me fair.
Or had I better say _nothing_ to Murray, and assume that he cannot
object to this much unorthodoxy, which in fact is not more than any
Geological Treatise which runs slap counter to Genesis.
_Enclosure._
AN ABSTRACT OF AN ESSAY ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES
AND VARIETIES THROUGH NATURAL SELECTION
BY CHARLES DARWIN, M.A.
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL, GEOLOGICAL, AND LINNEAN SOCIETIES.
LONDON: &c. &c. &c. &c. 1859.
_C. D. to C. Lyell._ Down, March 30th [1859].
MY DEAR LYELL,--You have been uncommonly kind in all you have done. You
not only have saved me much trouble and some anxiety, but have done all
incomparably better than I could have done it. I am much pleased at all
you say about Murray. I will write either to-day or to-morrow to him,
and will send shortly a large bundle of MS., but unfortunately I cannot
for a week, as the first three chapters are in the copyists' hands.
I am sorry about Murray objecting to the term Abstract, as I look at it
as the only possible apology for _not_ giving references and facts in
full, but I will defer to him and you. I am also sorry about the term
"natural selection." I hope to retain it with explanation somewhat as
thus:--
"Through natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races."
Why I like the term is that it is constantly used in all works on
breeding, and I am surprised that it is not familiar to Murray; but I
have so long studied such works that I have ceased to be a competent
judge.
I again most truly and cordially thank you for your really valuable
assistance.
Yours most truly.
_C. D. to J. D. Hooker._ Down, April 2nd [1859].
... I wrote to him [Mr. Murray] and gave him the headings of the
chapters, and told him he could not have the MS. for ten days or so; and
this morning I received a letter, offering me handsome terms, and
agreeing to publish without seeing the MS.! So he is eager enough; I
think I should have been cautious, anyhow, but, owing to your letter, I
told him most _explicitly_ that I accept his offer solely on condition
that, after he has seen part or all the MS. he has full power of
retracting. You will think me presumptuous, but I think my book will be
popular to a certain extent (enough to ensure [against] heavy loss)
amongst scientific and semi-scientific men; why I think so is, because I
have found in conversation so great and surprising an interest amongst
such men, and some 0-scientific [non-scientific] men on this subject,
and all my chapters are not _nearly_ so dry and dull as that which you
have read on geographical distribution. Anyhow, Murray ought to be the
best judge, and if he chooses to publish it, I think I may wash my
hands of all responsibility. I am sure my friends, _i.e._ Lyell and you,
have been _extraordinarily_ kind in troubling yourselves on the matter.
I shall be delighted to see you the day before Good Friday; there would
be one advantage for you in any other day--as I believe both my boys
come home on that day--and it would be almost impossible that I could
send the carriage for you. There will, I believe, be some relations in
the house--but I hope you will not care for that, as we shall easily get
as much talking as my _imbecile state_ allows. I shall deeply enjoy
seeing you.
... I am tired, so no more.
P.S.--Please to send, well _tied up_ with strong string, my Geographical
MS. towards the latter half of next week--_i.e._ 7th or 8th--that I may
send it with more to Murray; and God help him if he tries to read it.
... I cannot help a little doubting whether Lyell would take much pains
to induce Murray to publish my book; this was not done at my request,
and it rather grates against my pride.
I know that Lyell has been _infinitely_ kind about my affair, but your
dashed [_i.e._ underlined] "_induce_" gives the idea that Lyell had
unfairly urged Murray.
_C. D. to J. Murray._ Down, April 6th [1859].
MY DEAR SIR,--I send by this post, the Title (with some remarks on a
separate page), and the first three chapters. If you have patience to
read all Chapter I., I honestly think you will have a fair notion of the
interest of the whole book. It may be conceit, but I believe the subject
will interest the public, and I am sure that the views are original. If
you think otherwise, I must repeat my request that you will freely
reject my work; and though I shall be a little disappointed, I shall be
in no way injured.
If you choose to read Chapters II. and III., you will have a dull and
rather abstruse chapter, and a plain and interesting one, in my opinion.
As soon as you have done with the MS., please to send it by _careful
messenger, and plainly directed_, to Miss G. Tollett,[156] 14, Queen
Anne Street, Cavendish Square.
This lady, being an excellent judge of style, is going to look out for
errors for me.
You must take your own time, but the sooner you finish, the sooner she
will, and the sooner I shall get to press, which I so earnestly wish.
I presume you will wish to see Chapter IV.,[157] the key-stone of my
arch, and Chapters X. and XI., but please to inform me on this head.
My dear Sir, yours sincerely.
On April 11th he wrote to Hooker:--
"I write one line to say that I heard from Murray yesterday, and he says
he has read the first three chapters of [my] MS. (and this includes a
very dull one), and he abides by his offer. Hence he does not want more
MS., and you can send my Geographical chapter when it pleases you."
Part of the MS. seems to have been lost on its way back to my father. He
wrote (April 14) to Sir J. D. Hooker:--
"I have the old MS., otherwise the loss would have killed me! The worst
is now that it will cause delay in getting to press, and far worst of
all, I lose all advantage of your having looked over my chapter,[158]
except the third part returned. I am very sorry Mrs. Hooker took the
trouble of copying the two pages."
_C. D. to J. D. Hooker._ [April or May, 1859.]
... Please do not say to any one that I thought my book on species would
be fairly popular, and have a fairly remunerative sale (which was the
height of my ambition), for if it prove a dead failure, it would make me
the more ridiculous.
I enclose a criticism, a taste of the future--
_Rev. S. Haughton's Address to the Geological Society, Dublin._[159]
"This speculation of Messrs. Darwin and Wallace would not be worthy of
notice were it not for the weight of authority of the names (_i.e._
Lyell's and yours), under whose auspices it has been brought forward. If
it means what it says, it is a truism; if it means anything more, it is
contrary to fact."
Q. E. D.
_C. D. to J. D. Hooker._ Down, May 11th [1859].
MY DEAR HOOKER,--Thank you for telling me about obscurity of style. But
on my life no nigger with lash over him could have worked harder at
clearness than I have done. But the very difficulty to me, of itself
leads to the probability that I fail. Yet one lady who has read all my
MS. has found only two or three obscure sentences; but Mrs. Hooker
having so found it, makes me tremble. I will do my best in proofs. You
are a good man to take the trouble to write about it.
With respect to our mutual muddle,[160] I never for a moment thought we
could not make our ideas clear to each other by talk, or if either of us
had time to write _in extenso_.
I imagine from some expressions (but if you ask me what, I could not
answer) that you look at variability as some necessary contingency with
organisms, and further that there is some necessary tendency in the
variability to go on diverging in character or degree. _If you do_, I do
not agree. "Reversion" again (a form of inheritance), I look at as in no
way directly connected with Variation, though of course inheritance is
of fundamental importance to us, for if a variation be not inherited, it
is of no signification to us. It was on such points as these I _fancied_
that we perhaps started differently.
I fear that my book will not deserve at all the pleasant things you say
about it, and Good Lord, how I do long to have done with it!
Since the above was written, I have received and have been _much
interested_ by A. Gray. I am delighted at his note about my and
Wallace's paper. He will go round, for it is futile to give up very many
species, and stop at an arbitrary line at others. It is what my father
called Unitarianism, "a featherbed to catch a falling Christian."...
_C. D. to J. Murray._ Down, June 14th [1859].
MY DEAR SIR,--The diagram will do very well, and I will send it shortly
to Mr. West to have a few trifling corrections made.
I get on very slowly with proofs. I remember writing to you that I
thought there would be not much correction. I honestly wrote what I
thought, but was most grievously mistaken. I find the style incredibly
bad, and most difficult to make clear and smooth. I am extremely sorry
to say, on account of expense, and loss of time for me, that the
corrections are very heavy, as heavy as possible. But from casual
glances, I still hope that later chapters are not so badly written. How
I could have written so badly is quite inconceivable, but I suppose it
was owing to my whole attention being fixed on the general line of
argument, and not on details. All I can say is, that I am very sorry.
Yours very sincerely.
_C. D. to J. D. Hooker._ Down [Sept.] 11th [1859].
MY DEAR HOOKER,--I corrected the last proof yesterday, and I have now my
revises, index, &c., which will take me near to the end of the month. So
that the neck of my work, thank God, is broken.
I write now to say that I am uneasy in my conscience about hesitating to
look over your proofs,[161] but I was feeling miserably unwell and
shattered when I wrote. I do not suppose I could be of hardly any use,
but if I could, pray send me any proofs. I should be (and fear I was)
the most ungrateful man to hesitate to do anything for you after some
fifteen or more years' help from you.
As soon as ever I have fairly finished I shall be off to Ilkley, or some
other Hydropathic establishment. But I shall be some time yet, as my
proofs have been so utterly obscured with corrections, that I have to
correct heavily on revises.
Murray proposes to publish the first week in November. Oh, good heavens,
the relief to my head and body to banish the whole subject from my mind!
I hope you do not think me a brute about your proof-sheets.
Farewell, yours affectionately.
The following letter is interesting as showing with what a very moderate
amount of recognition he was satisfied,--and more than satisfied.
Sir Charles Lyell was President of the Geological section at the meeting
of the British Association at Aberdeen in 1859. In his address he
said:--"On this difficult and mysterious subject [Evolution] a work will
very shortly appear by Mr. Charles Darwin, the result of twenty years
of observations and experiments in Zoology, Botany, and Geology, by
which he has been led to the conclusion that those powers of nature
which give rise to races and permanent varieties in animals and plants,
are the same as those which in much longer periods produce species, and
in a still longer series of ages give rise to differences of generic
rank. He appears to me to have succeeded by his investigations and
reasonings in throwing a flood of light on many classes of phenomena
connected with the affinities, geographical distribution, and geological
succession of organic beings, for which no other hypothesis has been
able, or has even attempted to account."
My father wrote:--
"You once gave me intense pleasure, or rather delight, by the way you
were interested, in a manner I never expected, in my Coral Reef notions,
and now you have again given me similar pleasure by the manner you have
noticed my species work. Nothing could be more satisfactory to me, and I
thank you for myself, and even more for the subject's sake, as I know
well that the sentence will make many fairly consider the subject,
instead of ridiculing it."
And again, a few days later:--
"I do thank you for your eulogy at Aberdeen. I have been so wearied and
exhausted of late that I have for months doubted whether I have not been
throwing away time and labour for nothing. But now I care not what the
universal world says; I have always found you right, and certainly on
this occasion I am not going to doubt for the first time. Whether you go
far, or but a very short way with me and others who believe as I do, I
am contented, for my work cannot be in vain. You would laugh if you knew
how often I have read your paragraph, and it has acted like a little
dram."
_C. D. to C. Lyell._ Down, Sept. 30th [1859].
MY DEAR LYELL,--I sent off this morning the last sheets, but without
index, which is not in type. I look at you as my Lord High Chancellor in
Natural Science, and therefore I request you, after you have finished,
just to _re-run_ over the heads in the recapitulation-part of the last
chapter. I shall be deeply anxious to hear what you decide (if you are
able to decide) on the balance of the pros and contras given in my
volume, and of such other pros and contras as may occur to you. I hope
that you will think that I have given the difficulties fairly. I feel an
entire conviction that if you are now staggered to any moderate extent,
you will come more and more round, the longer you keep the subject at
all before your mind. I remember well how many long years it was before
I could look into the face of some of the difficulties and not feel
quite abashed. I fairly struck my colours before the case of neuter
insects.[162]
I suppose that I am a very slow thinker, for you would be surprised at
the number of years it took me to see clearly what some of the problems
were which had to be solved, such as the necessity of the principle of
divergence of character, the extinction of intermediate varieties, on a
continuous area, with graduated conditions; the double problem of
sterile first crosses and sterile hybrids, &c. &c.
Looking back, I think it was more difficult to see what the problems
were than to solve them, so far as I have succeeded in doing, and this
seems to me rather curious. Well, good or bad, my work, thank God, is
over; and hard work, I can assure you, I have had, and much work which
has never borne fruit. You can see, by the way I am scribbling, that I
have an idle and rainy afternoon. I was not able to start for Ilkley
yesterday as I was too unwell; but I hope to get there on Tuesday or
Wednesday. Do, I beg you, when you have finished my book and thought a
little over it, let me hear from you. Never mind and pitch into me, if
you think it requisite; some future day, in London possibly, you may
give me a few criticisms in detail, that is, if you have scribbled any
remarks on the margin, for the chance of a second edition.
Murray has printed 1250 copies, which seems to me rather too large an
edition, but I hope he will not lose.
I make as much fuss about my book as if it were my first. Forgive me,
and believe me, my dear Lyell,
Yours most sincerely.
The book was at last finished and printed, and he wrote to Mr. Murray:--
Ilkley, Yorkshire [1859].
MY DEAR SIR,--I have received your kind note and the copy; I am
infinitely pleased and proud at the appearance of my child.
I quite agree to all you propose about price. But you are really too
generous about the, to me, scandalously heavy corrections. Are you not
acting unfairly towards yourself? Would it not be better at least to
share the L72 8s.? I shall be fully satisfied, for I had no business to
send, though quite unintentionally and unexpectedly, such badly composed
MS. to the printers.
Thank you for your kind offer to distribute the copies to my friends and
assisters as soon as possible. Do not trouble yourself much about the
foreigners, as Messrs. Williams and Norgate have most kindly offered to
do their best, and they are accustomed to send to all parts of the
world.
I will pay for my copies whenever you like. I am so glad that you were
so good as to undertake the publication of my book.
My dear Sir, yours very sincerely,
CHARLES DARWIN.
The further history of the book is given in the next chapter.
FOOTNOTES:
[147] _Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist._, 1855.
[148] After the death, from scarlet fever, of his infant child.
[149] "Abstract" is here used in the sense of "extract;" in this sense
also it occurs in the _Linnean Journal_, where the sources of my
father's paper are described.
[150] "On the tendency of Species to form Varieties and on the
Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of
Selection."--_Linnean Society's Journal_, iii. p. 53.
[151] This passage was published as a footnote in a review of the _Life
and Letters of Charles Darwin_ which appeared in the _Quarterly Review_,
Jan. 1888. In the new edition (1891) of _Natural Selection and Tropical
Nature_ (p. 20), Mr. Wallace has given the facts above narrated. There
is a slight and quite unimportant discrepancy between the two accounts,
viz. that in the narrative of 1891 Mr. Wallace speaks of the "cold fit"
instead of the "hot fit" of his ague attack.
[152] That is to say, he would help to pay for the printing, if it
should prove too long for the Linnean Society.
[153] W. H. Harvey, born 1811, died 1866: a well-known botanist.
[154] See a discussion on the date of the earliest sketch of the
_Origin_ in the _Life and Letters_, ii. p. 10.
[155] _The Origin of Species._
[156] Miss Tollett was an old friend of the family.
[157] In the first edition Chapter iv. was on Natural Selection.
[158] The following characteristic acknowledgment of the help he
received occurs in a letter to Hooker, of about this time: "I never did
pick any one's pocket, but whilst writing my present chapter I keep on
feeling (even when differing most from you) just as if I were stealing
from you, so much do I owe to your writings and conversation, so much
more than mere acknowledgments show."
[159] Feb. 9th, 1858.
[160] "When I go over the chapter I will see what I can do, but I hardly
know how I am obscure, and I think we are somehow in a mutual muddle
with respect to each other, from starting from some fundamentally
different notions."--Letter of May 6th, 1859.
[161] Of Hooker's _Flora of Australia_.
[162] _Origin of Species_, 6th edition, vol. ii. p. 357. "But with the
working ant we have an insect differing greatly from its parents, yet
absolutely sterile, so that it could never have transmitted successively
acquired modifications of structure or instinct to its progeny. It may
well be asked how is it possible to reconcile this case with the theory
of natural selection?"