GHARLES DARWIN—WEISMANN. 443 
all that were born could not survive, and since the greater part of a 
species furnishes food for some other species. Thus the ceaseless 
“ struggle for existence ” became clear to him, and suggested the ques- 
tion whether it was merely a matter of chance which of the many 
born should survive and which should perish. He concluded that the 
answer to this question was, evidently, that favorable variations 
would have more prospect of survival than unfavorable, and thus he 
discovered the principle of natural selection—that principle at once 
so simple and so powerful, which alone enables us to understand the 
transmutation of organisms in adaptation to the conditions of their 
life. But it was a long time before Darwin ventured to publish this 
luminous idea. For his own satisfaction he wrote quite a short 
sketch of it in 1842, and in 1844 he expanded this to 230 pages; but it 
was not till the fifties that, urged by his friends Lyell and Hooker, 
he resolved to give his ideas to the world. Even then he might have 
delayed publication, but that in the meantime the same idea had 
occurred to Alfred Wallace, in Ternate, in the Malay Archipelago, 
and had been communicated by him, first to Darwin, and then through 
Darwin to Lyell and Hooker. Then followed the memorable meet- 
ing of the Linnean Society, London, in July, 1858, at which two 
papers were read, one written by Darwin, the other by Wallace, both 
setting forth the same far-reaching idea of evolution based upon the 
principle of selection—a beautiful example of the unenvying mag- 
nanimity of two great discoverers. 
This private communication to a scientific society made no great 
stir. But the publication in the end of 1859 of Darwin’s book, 
“The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,” attracted 
great attention. A new edition was called for on January 2, 1860, 
and during the twenty-two years between that time and 1882, the 
year of Darwin’s death, one English edition followed another, and 
more than 24,000 copies were printed. During the same period one 
German edition succeeded another, and it is doubtful whether any 
other purely scientific book has ever attained to such a circulation. 
Yet the book is simple and straightforward, never sensational in 
style, but advancing quietly and concretely from one position to 
another, each supported by a mass of carefully sifted facts. Every 
possible objection is duly considered, and the decision is never an- 
ticipated, but all the arguments on both sides are carefully and 
impartially discussed in a manner that is apt to seem to the impatient 
reader almost too conscientious and cautious. 
To readers who were acquainted with the scientific results of the 
time, who were aware of the numerous important facts that had 
been discovered, but missed the unifying idea which should gather 
them all together into a harmonious picture of life, the book came 
as a revelation. I myself was at the time in the stage of metamor- 
