The Autobiography of Charles Darwin

During this autumn of 1876 I shall publish on the "Effects of Cross and Self–Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom." This book will form a complement to that on the "Fertilisation of Orchids," in which I showed how perfect were the means for cross–fertilisation, and here I shall show how important are the results. I was led to make, during eleven years, the numerous experiments recorded in this volume, by a mere accidental observation; and indeed it required the accident to be repeated before my attention was thoroughly aroused to the remarkable fact that seedlings of self–fertilised parentage are inferior, even in the first generation, in height and vigour to seedlings of cross–fertilised parentage. I hope also to republish a revised edition of my book on Orchids, and hereafter my papers on dimorphic and trimorphic plants, together with some additional observations on allied points which I never have had time to arrange. My strength will then probably be exhausted, and I shall be ready to exclaim"Nunc dimittis."