RECORD: Darwin, C. R. [c. 1876]. Draft fragment of Darwin's Autobiography "I gained much by the delay". CUL-DAR53.2.140. (John van Wyhe ed., 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed from the manuscript by Kees Rookmaaker and John van Wyhe, edited by John van Wyhe 9.2009. Remainder transcribed by John van Wyhe 6.2025. 140v transcribed by John van Wyhe 2.2026. RN5
NOTE: Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volume CUL-DAR53.2 contains drafts, notes & clippings for Darwin's book The expression of the emotions (1872) and notes to correct a further edition.
This document is written in ink on blue paper measuring 22 x 33 cm. The lower left corner is excised.
This is part of a rough draft of Darwin's Autobiography. A fair copy, also in Darwin's hand, is in CUL-DAR26. The same passage as drafted here is found on f. 96 here. It is interesting to note that when originally drafting this sentence Darwin appears to have written: "I gained much by the delay in the publishing from 1839 by what to me...I lost nothing by the delay" (emphasis added) — wording different from that in the fair copy and in the published Autobiography: "I gained much by my delay in publishing from about 1839, when the theory was clearly conceived, to 1859; & I lost nothing by it". The original wording is supportive of the conclusion that Darwin was not referring to withholding his theory has intepreted by some late 20th-century historians. See van Wyhe, Mind the gap, 2007.
140 140a
(1
(I gained much by the my my delay in the publishing from 1839, by what to me when the theory was clearly conceived, to 1859; & I lost nothing by the delay by it; Wallace's Essay for I cared very little whether men attributed most originality to me or to Mr Wallace; & his essay no doubt aided in the reception of the theory. I was forestalled in only one important point, which my vanity has always made me regret, namely the explanation of the p by means they of some glacial period of the presence of the same species of plants & of some animals on distant mountain summits & in the arctic regions. This theory pleased me so much that I had written wrote it out in extenso some years before E. Forbes published; & in [excised]
[excised] in which we differed I think that I was the [excised]
[excised] of course, even alluded in print [illeg] to [excised]
[excised] out the subject. theory the theory subject )
[excised] at my work on the Origin,
[excised] gave me so much satisfaction, work on the embryo as I later [excised]
[excised] the wide difference between the embryo & to [excised]
[excised] any class, & of the resemblance of the [excised]
[excised] class. No notice of this point was [excised]
[excised] reviews of the Origin & I remember nothing making explan & probably of [illeg]
[The lower left corner of the page is excised]
140v
[Draft of Cross fertilisation, pp. 19-20, fair copy.]
(52)
Chapter D
than counter balanced by the inherent superior constitutional vigour of crossed seedlings. (With respect to the rate of germination of seeds from crossed nad self fertilised flowers I made many observations, but could not arrive at any definite result. In most cases crossed seeds, especially those fromm a cross with a fresh stock, germinated before the self-fertilised. Nevertheless on several occasions it appeared tolerably clear that small light seeds germinated before bulkier ones. Thus some extremely small seeds from self fertilised and diseased plants of Iphomoea grew at first with extraordinary precosity & vigour, though ultimately conquered by their crossed competition. [excised]
that small and light seeds germinate [excised]
of matter having to undergo chemica [excised]
on the same principle that the small [excised]
developed before the larger ones.
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 5 February, 2026