Darwin was hesitant to publish his theory because it was so heretical, but competition acted as a spur, as often happens in the history of science. In 1858, Alfred Russel Wallace, a younger naturalist, sent Darwin a draft of a paper that proposed a similar theory. Darwin rushed to get a paper of his own ready for publication, and they agreed that they would present their work on the same day at an upcoming meeting of a prominent scientific society.
