l8 THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE ' ORIGIN OF SPECIES/ 



" If there should be any difficulty in getting an editor who 

 would go thoroughly into the subject, and think of the bearing 

 of the passages marked in the books and copied out of scraps 

 of paper, then let my sketch be published as it is, stating 

 that it was done several years ago * and from memory without 

 consulting any works, and with no intention of publication in 

 its present form." 



The idea that the Sketch of 1844 might remain, in the 

 event of his death, as the only record of his work, seems to 

 have been long in his mind, for in August 1854, when he had 

 finished with the Cirripedes, and was thinking of beginning 

 his " species work," he added on the back of the above letter, 

 " Hooker by far best man to edit my species volume. August 

 1854."] 



* The words " several years ago and," seem to have been added at a 

 later date. 



