"
I do not think that this is strictly true, for I occasionally sounded
not a few naturalists, and never happened to come across a single one
who seemed to doubt about the permanence of species. Even Lyell and
Hooker, though they would listen with interest to me, never seemed to
agree. I tried once or twice to explain to able men what I meant by
"natural selection," but signally failed. What I believe was strictly
true is that innumerable well-observed facts were stored in the minds of
naturalists ready to take their proper places as soon as any theory that
would receive them was sufficiently explained. Another element in the
success of the book was its moderate size; and this I owe to the
appearance of Mr. Wallace's essay; had I published on the scale in which
I began to write in 1856, the book would have been four or five times as
large as the _Origin_, and very few would have had the patience to read
it. I gained much by my delay in publishing from about 1839, when the
theory was clearly conceived, to 1859; and I lost nothing by it, for I
cared very little whether men attributed more originality to me or to
Wallace; and his essay no doubt aided in the reception of the theory.
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