IO THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE 'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' 



for the odd genera with few species which stand between 

 great groups, which we are bound to consider the increasing 

 ones ? " 



The last extract which I shall quote gives the germ of his 

 theory of the relation between alpine plants in various parts 

 of the world, in the publication of which he was forestalled 

 by E. Forbes (see Vol. I. p. 88). He says, in the 1837 note- 

 book, that alpine plants, " formerly descended lower, therefore 

 [they are] species of lower genera altered, or northern plants." 



When we turn to the Sketch of his theory, written in 1844 

 (still therefore before the second edition of the ' Journal ' 

 was completed), we find an enormous advance made on the 

 note-book of 1837. The Sketch is in fact a surprisingly com- 

 plete presentation of the argument afterwards familiar to us 

 in the ' Origin of Species.' There is some obscurity as to the 

 date of the short Sketch which formed the basis of the 1844 

 Essay. We know from his own words (Vol. I. p. 184), that it 

 was in June 1842 that he first wrote out a short sketch of 

 his views.* This statement is given with so much circum- 

 stance that it is almost impossible to suppose that it contains 

 an error of date. It agrees also with the following extract 

 from his Diary. 



" 1842. May 18th. Went to Maer. 



"June 15th to Shrewsbury, and on 18th to Capel Curig. 

 During my stay at Maer and Shrewsbury (five years after 

 commencement) wrote pencil-sketch of species theory." 



Again in the introduction to the ' Origin,' p. 1, he writes, 

 "after an interval of five years' work," [from 1837, i.e. in 1842,] 

 " I allowed myself to speculate on the subject, and drew up 

 some short notes." 



Nevertheless in the letter signed by Sir C. Lyell and 

 Sir J. D. Hooker, which serves as an introduction to the joint 

 paper of Messrs. C. Darwin and A. Wallace on the ' Tendency 



* This version I cannot find, and much of his MS., after it had been 

 it was probably destroyed, like so enlarged and re-copied in 1844. 



