DISCUSSIONI / Simone Bernardi della Rosa
Nota su L. Dumont, L’abitudine, Mimesis 2020 e W. James, Le leggi dell’abitudine, Mimesis 2019
On April 16, 1856, the English naturalist Charles R. Darwin gave his friend Lyell a full report on his ideas. Lyell was still not yet convinced, but strongly urged Darwin to publish his ideas lest he be scooped by someone else. One month later, in May 1856, Darwin began to write his most famous book, On the Origin of Species. Two years later, in June 1858, when he had completed the first draft of ten and a half chapters, Darwin received a letter from Wallace accompanied by a manuscript entitled On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type. Lyell’s words had come true with a vengeance; Wallace’s work appeared to be an excellent abstract of Darwin’s manuscript sketch. Since there seemed to be no end in sight as far as the Origin’s publication was concerned, Lyell urged Darwin to write a short abstract. This abstract was prepared between July 1858 and March 1859, and the volume was published on November 24, 1859, by John Murray. The complete edition of 1250 copies was at once subscribed to by the retail trade. There were no major revisions in the next three editions (1860-1866), quite a few changes in the fifth edition (1869), and still more, including a new chapter, in the last edition (1872).
