'ORIGIN OF SPECIES.' 85 



then in the Malay archipelago, sent me an essay " On 

 the Tendency of Varieties to depart indefinitely from 

 the Original Type ; " and this essay contained exactly 

 the same theory as mine. Mr. Wallace expressed the 

 wish that if I thought well of his essay, I should send 

 it to Lyell for perusal. 



The circumstances under which I consented at the 

 request of Lyell and Hooker to allow of an abstract 

 from my MS., together with a letter to Asa Gray, 

 dated September 5, 1857, to be published at the same 

 time with Wallace's Essay, are given in the ' Journal 

 of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,' 1858, p. 45. 

 I was at first very unwilling to consent, as I thought 

 Mr. Wallace might consider my doing so unjustifiable, 

 for I did not then know how generous and noble was 

 his disposition. The extract from my MS. and the 

 letter to Asa Gray had neither been intended for 

 publication, and were badly written. Mr. Wallace's 

 essay, on the other hand, was admirably expressed 

 and quite clear. Nevertheless, our joint productions 

 excited very little attention, and the only published 

 notice of them which I can remember was by Professor 

 Haughton of Dublin, whose verdict was that all that 

 was new in them was false, and what was true was 

 old. This shows how necessary it is that any new 

 view should be 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 



