In 1842, at Lyell's suggestion, Darwin wrote a short sketch of his ideas which he, two years later, expanded into a somewhat larger account. The manuscript of these early views of the theory was completely lost and has only been recovered within the last few years. It was recently published under the editorship of Charles Darwin's son, Francis. It is astonishing to see how clearly the first short sketch states the underlying conception which all of Darwin's subsequent work amplifies. Hooker was constantly urging Darwin to write out his whole theory in the form of a book, and Darwin had begun to do so in 1856. Meanwhile, down in the Moluccas, Alfred Russell Wallace had been lying sick of a fever contracted during his exploring expedition in that neighborhood. He had been studying the distribution of the animal life of the Malay Archipelago. Overcome by sickness, as he lay in bed, he began to think over a book which he had read not long before, "Malthus on Population." Wallace had been pondering on the question of the origin of the animals of the Malay Archipelago. He had not the faintest knowledge of what Darwin was doing, but was influenced, of course, like Darwin, by what he read in Malthus. Interesting to relate, he had come to exactly the same conclusions, writing his opinions in the form of an essay. By the strangest sort of coincidence, he sent this essay to Charles Darwin, asking him to read it, and, if he thought it was not altogether too foolish, to send it to Lyell for publication by the Linnaean Society. Darwin read with utter astonishment this essay containing views so absolutely like those that had come to him from his own long series of observations and reflections. With uncommon magnanimity his first impulse was to withhold his own publication entirely, but to this Lyell and Hooker would not for a moment consent. They were determined that Darwin should give them his long series of notebooks as evidence of the independence of his work and that he present to the Linnaean Society, simultaneously with Wallace's paper, one of his own upon the same subject. In this manly form both essays were read at the next meeting of the society. The joint papers provoked instant discussion and prompt opposition. The world at large scarcely admitted a possible doubt of the fixity of species. Men generally believed the idea to be absolutely irreconcilable with their religious faith. Any question of the fact that the species of to-day exist practically as they had been handed down to the earth in the beginning by the Creator himself seemed to most men a direct blow at religion. At this time a very large number of natural scientists were clergymen, hence the opposition had abundant and influential support. The storm grew fiercer and more widespread. The publication in 1859 of Darwin's great book on "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life" added fuel to the flame.