Page "On the Origin of Species" Paragraph 32

After the meeting, Darwin decided to write " an abstract of my whole work ".

He started work on 20 July 1858, while on holiday at Sandown, and wrote parts of it from memory.

Lyell discussed arrangements with publisher John Murray III, of the publishing house John Murray, who responded immediately to Darwin's letter of 31 March 1859 with an agreement to publish the book without even seeing the manuscript, and an offer to Darwin of of the profits.

( eventually Murray paid £ 180 to Darwin for the 1st edition and by Darwin's death in 1882 the book was in its 6th edition, earning Darwin nearly £ 3000.

) Darwin had initially decided to call it An abstract of an Essay on the Origin of Species and Varieties Through natural selection, but with Murray's persuasion it was eventually changed to the snappier title: On the Origin of Species, with the title page adding by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.

Here the term " races " is used as an alternative for " varieties " and does not carry the modern connotation of human races — the first use in the book refers to " the several races, for instance, of the cabbage " and proceeds to a discussion of " the hereditary varieties or races of our domestic animals and plants ".