228 DARWIXIANISM. 



The simplicity of Mr. Darwin will be apparent in all 

 this the ease with which he gives himself up to an idea. 

 He saw analogous animals, as it were, replacing each 

 other in space and in time ; and so he thought they might 

 be all due the one to the other. He tells his children 

 this quite frankly ; and that he could not proceed with his 

 idea till he was able to explain adaptations. What a joy 

 it was to him, he tells them also, the thought of the 

 selective action of the struggle for existence, and again 

 the further thought of the natural selective action, in 

 divergence. It is in this last consideration, divergence, 

 that most innocently, perhaps, his simplicity shows. 



It was in " July 1837 " that Mr. Darwin began what 

 he calls his " systematic inquiry ; " and it was fifteen 

 months afterwards, "in October 1838," that he "had at 

 last got a theory by which to work." " In June 1842," 

 he wrote an abstract of his theory ; and this abstract he 

 enlarged "in the summer of 1844." " But at that time," 

 he says, " I overlooked one problem of great importance ; 

 and it is astonishing to me, except on the principle of 

 Columbus and his egg, how I could have 1 overlooked it 

 and its solution. ... I can remember the very spot in 

 the road, whilst in my carriage, when to my joy the 

 solution occurred to me ; and this was long after I had 

 come to Down." Now the coming to Down was OH 

 "September 14, 1842." A comparison of these dates 

 will show that the express theory of natural selection, 

 complete, so far, in 1838, remained long after 1842 

 secluded to " favourable variations " and " the struggle 

 for existence." " Divergence " was the discovery of the 

 " long after " " the tendency in organic beings descended 

 from the same stock to diverge in character as they 

 become modified," or the tendency on the part of " the 

 modified offspring of all dominant and increasing forms 

 to become adapted to many and "highly diversified 



