48 CHARLES DARWIN. 



Huxley considered it "curious that so much 

 importance should be attached to this supplementary 

 idea. It seems obvious that the theory of the origin 

 of species by natural selection necessarily involves the 

 divergence of the forms selected " (" Obituary/' 1888, 

 reprinted in " Darwiniana," 1893; see pp. 280, 281). 

 But Darwin showed that divergence might be a great 

 advantage in itself, and would then be directly (and 

 not merely incidentally and indirectly) encouraged 

 and increased by natural selection. 



As soon as the 1844 sketch was finished, Darwin 

 wrote a letter (July 5th) as his " solemn and last 

 request " that his wife would, in the case of his 

 death, devote £400, or if necessary £500, in publishing 

 it, and would take trouble in promoting it. He suggests 

 Lyell as the best editor, then Edward Forbes, then 

 Henslow (" quite the best in many respects ") , then 

 Hooker (" would be very good "), then Strickland. 

 After Strickland he had thought of Owen as "very 

 good," but added, " I presume he would not under- 

 take such a work." If no editor could be obtained, 

 he requested that the essay should be published as 

 it was — stating that it was not intended for publica- 

 tion in its present form. In August, 1854, he wrote 

 on the back of the letter : " Hooker by far best man 

 to edit my Species volume." 



All this shows how certain he felt that he 

 was on firm ground, and that his theory of 

 natural selection was of vast importance to science. 

 This same strong conviction appears clearly in the 



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