67 



CHAPTER III. 



_ji 



THE UNFINISHED BOOK. ' 

 MAY 1856 TO JUNE 1858. 



[IN the Autobiographical chapter (Vol. I. p. 84) my father 

 wrote : " Early in 1856 Lyell advised me to write out my 

 views pretty fully, and I began at once to do so on a scale 

 three or four times as extensive as that which was afterwards 

 followed in my ' Origin of Species ; ' yet it was only an 

 abstract of the materials which I had collected." The letters 

 in the present chapter are chiefly concerned with the prepara- 

 tion of this unfinished book. 



The work was begun on May I4th, and steadily continued 

 up to June 1858, when it was interrupted by the arrival of 

 Mr. Wallace's MS. During the two years which we are now 

 considering, he wrote ten chapters (that is about one-half) of 

 the projected book. He remained for the most part at home, 

 but paid several visits to Dr. Lane's Water-Cure Establish- 

 ment at Moor Park, during one of which he made a pilgrimage 

 to the shrine of Gilbert White at Selborne.] 



LETTERS. 



C. Darwin to C. Lyell. 



May 311856]. 



. . . With respect to your suggestion of a sketch of my 

 views, I hardly know what to think, but will reflect on it, but 



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