( 245 ) 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE SPREAD Off EVOLUTION. 

 1861—1871. 



The beginning of the year 1861 saw my father engaged on the 

 3rd edition (2000 copies) of the Origin, which was largely 

 corrected and added to, and was published in April, 1861. 



On July 1, he started, with his family, for Torquay, where 

 he romained until August 27 — a holiday which he characteris- 

 tically enters in his diary as " eight weeks and a day." The 

 house he occupied was in Hesketh Crescent, a pleasantly placed 

 row of houses close above the sea, somewhat removed from 

 what was then the main body of the town, and not far from the 

 beautiful cliffed coast-line in the neighbourhood of Anstey's 

 Cove. 



During the Torquay holiday, and for the remainder of the 

 year, he worked at the fertilisation of orchids. This part of 

 the year 1861 is not dealt with in the present chapter, because 

 (as explained in the preface) the record of his life, seems to 

 become clearer when the whole of his botanical work is placed 

 together and treated separately. The present chapter will, 

 therefore, include only the progress of his work in the direction 

 of a general amplification of the Origin of Species — e.g., the 

 publication of Animals and Plants and the Descent of Man. 

 It will also give some idea of the growth of belief in evolutionary 

 doctrines. 



With regard to the third edition, he wrote to Mr. Murray in 

 December, 1860 :— 



" I shall be glad to hear when you have decided how many 

 copies you will print off — the more the better for me in all 

 ways, as far as compatible with safety ; for I hope never again 

 to make so many corrections, or rather additions, which I have 

 made in hopes of making my many rather stupid reviewers at 

 least understand what is meant. I hope and think I shall 

 improve the book considerably." 



An interesting feature in the new edition was the "His- 



