284 OBITUARY X 



assistance ; but I often doubt whether the subject 

 will not quite overpower me.&quot; (II. p. 49.) 



Early in 1856, on Ly ell s advice, Darwin began 

 to write out his views on the origin of species on a 

 scale three or four times as extensive as that of the 

 work published in 1859. In July of the same 

 year he gave a brief sketch of his theory in a 

 letter to Asa Gray ; and, in the year 1857, his 

 letters to his correspondents show him to be busily 

 engaged on what he calls his &quot;big book.&quot; (II. 

 pp. 85, 94.) In May, 1857, Darwin writes to 

 Wallace : &quot; I am now preparing my work [on the 

 question how and in what way do species and 

 varieties differ from each other] for publication, 

 but I find the subject so very large, that, though 

 I have written many chapters, I do not suppose I 

 shall go to press for two years.&quot; (II. p. 95.) In 

 December, 1857, he writes, in the course of a long 

 letter to the same correspondent, &quot; I am extremely 

 glad to hear that you are attending to distribution 

 in accordance with theoretical ideas. I am a firm 

 believer that without speculation there is no good 

 and original observation.&quot; (II. p. 108.) 1 In 

 June, 1858, he received from Mr. Wallace, then 

 in the Malay Archipelago, an &quot; Essay on the 

 tendency of varieties to depart indefinitely from 



1 The last remark contains a pregnant truth, but it must be 

 confessed it hardly squares with the declaration in the Auto 

 biography, (I. p. 83), that he worked on &quot;true Baconian 

 principles. &quot; 



