CHAPTER XII. 



THE UNFINISHED BOOK. 

 May 1856 to June 1858. 



[In the Autobiographical chapter (page 69,) my father 

 wrote: — "Early in 1856 Lyell advised me to write out my 

 views pretty fully, and I began at once to do so on a scale 

 three or four times as extensive as that which was afterwards 

 followed in my ' Origin of Species ; ' yet it was only an ab- 

 stract of the materials which I had collected." The letters 

 in the present chapter are chiefly concerned with the prepara- 

 tion of this unfinished book. 



The work was begun on May 14th, and steadily continued 

 up to June 1858, when it was interrupted by the arrival of 

 Mr. Wallace's MS. During the two years which we are now 

 considering he wrote ten chapters (that is about one-half) of 

 the projected book. He remained for the most part at home, 

 but paid several visits to Dr. Lane's Water-Cure Establish- 

 ment at Moor Park, during one of which he made a pilgrim- 

 age to the shrine of Gilbert White at Selborne.] 



LETTERS. 



C. Darwin to C. Lyell. 



May 3 [1856J. 



. . . With respect to your suggestion of a sketch of my 



views, I hardly know what to think, but will reflect on it, but 



it goes against my prejudices. To give a fair sketch would be 



absolutely impossible, for every proposition requires such an 



