186 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



DESCENT OF MAN — EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS — EARTH- 

 WORMS (1871-81). 



The work on " The Descent of Man " was begun as 

 soon as Darwin had sent the manuscript of " Animals 

 and Plants" to the printers, although notes on the 

 subject had been collected from time to time during 

 the previous thirty years — in fact, ever since Darwin 

 had come to definite conclusions on evolution. 



The book was published February 24th, 1871, but, 

 as in the case of his other publications, continuous 

 work upon the manuscript had been impossible. The 

 volume attracted great interest, and 5^000 copies were 

 printed in 1871 in addition to the first 2,500. 



The full title of the book is "The Descent of 

 Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex," and, as this 

 title almost implies, it is made up of two distinct 

 works, which might well have been issued separately. 

 The first part, dealing with man, is far shorter than 

 the other. Darwin had from the first considered 

 that his theory of evolution • by natural selection 

 would involve man as well as the other animals, and, 

 that no one might accuse him of want of candour, he 

 had said in the " Origin " that by this work " light 

 would be thrown on the origin of man and his 



