'"[19]
Already, in addition to the mass of facts collected, Darwin was busy
with some of the experiments which he described in a letter to Sir
Joseph Hooker (in 1855) as affording the latter a "good right to sneer,
for they are so _absurd_, even in _my_ opinion, that I dare not tell
you." While a sentence in another letter (dated 1849) throws a sidelight
on all this preparatory work: "In your letter you wonder what
'ornamental poultry' has to do with barnacles; but do not flatter
yourself that I shall not yet live to finish the barnacles, and then
make a fool of myself on the subject of species, under which head
ornamental poultry are very interesting."
Somewhere about this time (1842-44), Darwin, referring to the idea of
Natural Selection which arose in his mind after reading Malthus on
"Population" four years earlier, continues: "But at that time I
overlooked one problem of great importance ... the tendency in organic
beings descended from the same stock to diverge in character as they
become modified ... and I can remember the very spot in the road, whilst
in my carriage, when to my joy the solution occurred to me.
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