

i I. 

 X 



THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY. 



NOVEMBEK, 1901. 



ON" THE TENDENCY OF SPECIES TO FOEM VARIETIES; 



AND ON THE PEEPETUATION OF VARIETIES AND 



SPECIES BY NATURAL MEANS OF SELECTION.* 



By CHARLES DARWIN, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S., and F.G S , and ALFRED WALLACE, Esq 



Communicated by SIR CHARLES LYELL, F.R.S., F.L.S., and J. D. HOOKER, 



Esq., M.D., V.P.R.S., F.R.S., etc. 



(Read July 1,1858.) 



London, June 30th, 1858. 

 My Dear Sir: — The accoinpan5dng papers, which we have the honour 

 of communicating to the Linnean Society, and which all relate to the 

 same subject, viz., the Laws which affect the Production of Varieties, 

 Races, and Species, contain the results of the investigations of two 

 indefatigable naturalists, Mr. Charles Darwin and Mr. Alfred Wallace. 



*From Vol. III. (1858) of the 'Journal' of the Linneau Society. The 

 original announcement of the principle of the origin of species by natural selec- 

 tion made by Darwin and Wallace before the Linnean Society will be of great 

 interest to readers of this journal. It is perhaps the most important event 

 in the history of science, and the circumstances give to it a dramatic charac- 

 ter. Sir Charles Lyell and Sir Joseph Hooker explain in their letter of trans- 

 mission how it came to pass that the manuscripts were presented. In this con- 

 nection, however, the following extract of a letter from Darwin to Lyell (June 

 25, 1S58) may be reproduced: 



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 noth- 

 ing aV)out 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 



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