70 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



explained at considerable length in order to arouse public 

 attention. 



In September 1858 I set to work by the strong advice of 

 Lyell and Hooker to prepare a volume on the transmutation of 

 species, but was often interrupted by ill-health, and short visits 

 to Dr. Lane's delightful hydropathic establishment at Moor 

 Park. I abstracted the MS. begun on a much larger scale in 

 1856, and completed the volume on the same reduced scale. 

 It cost me thirteen months and ten days' hard labour. It was 

 published under the title of the ' Origin of Species,' in Novem- 

 ber 1859. Though considerably added to and corrected in the 

 later editions, it has remained substantially the same book. 



It is no doubt the chief work of my life. It was from the 

 first highly successful. The first small edition of 1250 copies 

 was sold on the day of publication, and a second edition of 

 3000 copies soon afterwards. Sixteen thousand copies have 

 now (1876) been sold in England ; and considering how stiff 

 a book it is, this is a large sale. It has been translated into 

 almost every European tongue, even into such languages as 

 Spanish, Bohemian, Polish, and Russian. It has also, accord- 

 ing to Miss Bird, been translated into Japanese,* and is there 

 much studied. Even an essay in Hebrew has appeared on 

 it, showing that the theory is contained in the Old Testa- 

 ment ! The reviews were very numerous ; for some time I 

 collected all that appeared on the ' Origin ' and on my related 

 books, and these amount (excluding newspaper reviews) to 

 265 ; but after a time I gave up the attempt in despair. 

 Many separate essays and books on the subject have ap- 

 peared ; and in Germany a catalogue or bibliography on 

 " Darwinismus " has appeared every year or two. 



The success of the * Origin ' may, I think, be attributed in 

 large part to my having long before written two condensed 

 sketches, and to my having finally abstracted a much larger 

 manuscript, which was itself an abstract. By this means I 

 was enabled to select the more striking facts and conclusions. 



* Miss Bird is mistaken, as I learn from Prof. Mitsukuri. — F. D. 



