GENERAL DISCUSSIONS. 211 



but the large work was not in condition for 

 publication. An abstract of it was made; and 

 this abstract was the " Origin of Species." He 

 had written two condensed sketches, and finally 

 abstracted a much larger manuscript which was 

 itself an abstract. 1 Probably no work was ever 

 better tempered and tested before it reached 

 the public eye. 



1 Life and Letters, Vol. I. p. 70. 



