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CHAPTER XII. 



THE PUBLICATION OF THE * ORIGIN OP SPECIES.' 



" Remember that your verdict will probably have more influence than 

 my book in deciding whether such views as I hold will be admitted or 

 rejected at present; in the future I cannot doubt about their admittance, 

 and our posterity will marvel as much about the current belief as we do 

 about fossil shells having been thought to have been created as we now 

 see them."— From a letter to Lyell, Sept. 1859. 



OCTOBER 3RD, 1859, TO DECEMBER 31ST, 1859. 



Under the date of October 1st, 1859, in my father's Diary 

 occurs the entry : — " Finished proofs (thirteen months and ten 

 days) of Abstract on Origin of Species ; 1250 copies printed. 

 The first edition was published on November 24th, and all 

 copies sold first day." 



In October be was, as we have seen in the last chapter, at 

 Ilkley, near Leeds : there he remained with his family until 

 December, and on the 9th of that month he was again at 

 Down. The only other entry in the Diary for this year is as 

 follows : — " During end of November and beginning of 

 December, employed in correcting for second edition of 3000 

 copies ; multitude of letters." 



The first and a few of the subsequent letters refer to proof- 

 sheets, and to early copies of the Origin which were sent to 

 friends before the book was published. 



O. Lyell to C. Darwin. October 3rd, 1859. 



My dear Darwin, — I have just finished your volume, and 

 right glad I am that I did my best with Hooker to persuade 

 you to publish it without waiting for a time which probably 

 could never have arrived, though you lived till the age of a 

 hundred, when you had prepared all your facts on which you 

 ground so many grand generalizations. 



It is a splendid case of close reasoning, and long substantial 

 argument throughout so many pages ; the condensation im- 

 mense, too great perhaps for the uninitiated, but an effective and 



