142 Charles Darwin. 



flash of light that was, indeed, to illumine the scien- 

 tific world. Yet so cautious was he, so fearful of 

 being prejudiced, that it was not until 1842 that he 

 gave himself the pleasure of even writing out his 

 theory in tangible shape. This copy embraced, he 

 tells us, about thirty-five pages, which was elaborated 

 in 1844 to two hundred and thirty pages. Year 

 after year facts were accumulated and added, and 

 discussions indulged in with his friends, until, in 

 1856, eighteen years later, Sir Charles Lyell advised 

 him to elaborate his previous work and prepare it 

 for publication. This suggestion was acted upon, 

 and the work was about half completed when a 

 singular incident occurred which, more than anything 

 else, shows the complete and thorough unselfishness 

 of Darwin's nature. He was at work one day when 

 a letter was received from Alfred Russel Wallace, a 

 young English naturalist, who was then travelling in 

 the Malay country. To his amazement, it contained 

 an article embodying the exact theory upon which 

 he had been labouring for so many years in com- 

 parative secret. The paper was accompanied by a 

 letter in which the young naturalist requested that 

 Darwin, if he thought the paper deserving, should 

 send it to Sir Charles Lyell for consideration at the 

 Linnaean Society. Never had a man greater temp- 

 tation, and the result shows the full measure of 

 Darwin's greatness and the breadth and scope of his 

 sense of justice. He sent the article to Sir Charles 

 Lyell, as Wallace had suggested, but Lyell and Sir 

 Joseph Hooker immediately saw the injustice to 

 Darwin which would ensue, and protested against 



