XVII 



of Varieties and Spscies by Natural Means of Selection.' This was 

 followed, on Darwin's part, by the composition of a summary account 

 of the conclusions to which his twenty years' work on the species 

 question had led him. It occupied him for thirteen months, and 

 appeared in November, 1859, under the title ' On the Origin of 

 Species by means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of 

 Favoured Races in the Struggle of Life.' 



It is doubtful if any single book, except the < Principia,' ever 

 worked so great and so rapid a revolution in science, or made so deep 

 an impression on the general mind. It aroused a tempest of opposi- 

 tion and met with equally vehement support, and it must be added 

 that no book has been more widely and persistently misunderstood by 

 both friends and foes. In 1861, Darwin remarks to a correspondent, 

 " you understand my book perfectly, and that I find a very rare event 

 with my critics." (I, p. 313.) The immense popularity which the 

 ' Origin ' at once acquired was no doubt largely due to its many 

 points of contact with philosophical and theological questions in 

 which every intelligent man feels a profound interest ; but a good 

 deal must be assigned to a somewhat delusive simplicity of style, 

 which tends to disguise the complexity and difficulty of the subject, 

 and much to the wealth of information on all sorts of curious 

 problems of natural history, which is made accessible to the most 

 unlearned reader. But long occupation with the work has led the 

 present writer to believe that the ' Origin of Species ' is one of the 

 hardest of books to master-,* and he is justified in this conviction by 

 observing that although the ' Origin ' has been close on thirty years 

 before the world, the strangest misconceptions of the essential nature 

 of the theory theiein advocated are still put forth by serious writers. 



Although, then, the present occasion is not suitable for any 

 detailed criticism of the theory, or of the objections which have 

 been brought against it, it may not be out of place to endeavour 

 to separate the substance of the theory from its accidents ; and to 

 show that a variety not only of hostile comments, but of friendly 

 would-be improvements lose their raison d'etre to the careful student. 

 Observation proves the existence among all living beings of pheno- 

 mena of three kinds, denoted by the terms heredity, variation, arid 

 multiplication. Progeny tend to resemble their parents; nevertheless 

 all their organs and functions are susceptible of departing more or less 

 from the average parental character ; and their number is in excess 

 of that of their parents. Severe competition for the means of living, 

 or the struggle for existence, is a necessary consequence of unlimited 

 multiplication; while selection, or the preservation of favourable 



* He is comforted to find that probably the best qualified judge among all the 

 readers of the 1 Origin ' in 1859 was of the same opinion. Sir J. Hooker write* 

 " it is the very hardest book to read, to full profit, that I ever tried." (II, p. 242.) 



VOL. XLIV. C 



