The Discovery of Natural Selection 



the whole materials for which work had been collected, 

 and to a large extent systematised, during that twenty- 

 years . 



So far back as 1844, at a time when I had hardly thought 

 of any serious study of nature, Darwin had written an out- 

 line of his views, which he communicated to his friends Sir 

 Charles Lyell and Dr. (now Sir Joseph) Hooker. The former 

 strongly urged him to publish an abstract of his theory as 

 soon as possible, lest some other person might precede him ; 

 but he always refused till he had got together the whole of 

 the materials for his intended great work. Then, at last, 

 LyelPs prediction was fulfilled, and, without any apparent 

 warning, my letter, with the enclosed essay, came upon him, 

 like a thunderbolt from a cloudless sky! This forced him 

 to what he considered a premature publicity, and his two 

 friends undertook to have our two papers read before this 

 Society. 



How different from this long study and preparation — 

 this philosophical caution — this determination not to make 

 known his fruitful conception till he could back it up by 

 overwhelming proofs — was my own conduct. 



The idea came to me as it had come to Darwin, in a 

 sudden flash of insight ; it was thought out in a few hours 

 — was written down with such a sketch of its various 

 applications and developments as occurred to me at the 

 moment — then copied on thin letter paper and sent off to 

 Darwin — all within one week. / was then (as often since) 

 the " young man in a hurry '' : he^ the painstaking and 

 patient student seeking ever the full demonstration of the 

 truth that he had discovered, rather than to achieve im- 

 mediate personal fame. 



Such being the actual facts of the case, I should have had 

 no cause for complaint if the respective shares of Darwin and 

 myself in regard to the elucidation of Nature's method of 

 organic development had been henceforth esximated as being, 

 roughly, proportional to the time we had each bestowed upon 

 it when it was thus first given to the world — that is to say, 

 as twenty years is to one week. For, he had already made it 

 his own. If the persuasion of his friends had prevailed with 

 I 113 



