26o Charles Darwin. 



the author profited by the criticisms of others, revis- 

 ing, improving, and extending his generahsations, 

 makes each new edition seem hke a separate pro- 

 duction. Whole chapters were stricken out and 

 new ones inserted ; facts of doubtful character were 

 replaced by others of a more positive nature and 

 more recent acquisition. 



Time forbids that I should refer to the details of 

 publication of more than one work. The inquiring 

 student will find his wants satisfied in the several 

 lists which have already been published. 



I will give the history of but one work, the most 

 important of all, the " Origin of Species by Means 

 of Natural Selection." The first edition of this work 

 received the signature of the author on November 

 24, 1859, ^^''^ w^^ published the same year. The 

 second edition, which appeared soon after, " was 

 little more than a reprint of the first." " The third 

 edition was largely corrected and added to, and the 

 fourth and fifth still more largely." The sixth edi- 

 tion, which appeared in 1872, was likewise largely 

 amended, and had reached its twenty thousand in 

 1878. In the meantime foreign editions and trans- 

 lations began to appear. The American and French 

 editions at first kept pace with the English, the sec- 

 ond American being from the second English, and 

 the third French from the third English. The Ger- 

 mans, coming in a little later, published their second 

 edition from the third English, and their third 

 from the fourth English one. The last editions in all 

 these languages were derived, I believe, from the 

 sixth English one. " The Italian is from the third, 



