Many separate essays and books on the subject have
appeared; and in Germany a catalogue, or bibliography, on "Darwinismus"
has appeared every year or two.
The success of the _Origin_ may, I think, be attributed in large part to
my having long before written two condensed sketches, and to my having
finally abstracted a much larger manuscript, which was itself an
abstract. By this means I was enabled to select the more striking facts
and conclusions. I had also during many years followed a golden rule,
namely, whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought, came
across me which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum
of it without fail and at once; for I had found by experience that such
facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape from the memory than
favorable ones. Owing to this habit, very few objections were raised
against my views which I had not at least noticed and attempted to
answer.
It has sometimes been said that the success of the _Origin_ proved "that
the subject was in the air," or "that men's minds were prepared for it.
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