In 1798 English economist and ordained minister, Thomas Malthus wrote "Essay on the Principle of Population." The central theme of Malthus' work was that populations increase at a faster rate than resources do. Malthus recognized that in non human population size is always limited by the amount of available food and water. He also believed that hunger and disease were aspects of life implemented by God to stop populations from exploding. Those that were less able would die out, leaving the stronger and the ones with more desirable traits to survive. Darwin read Malthus' work and developed his theory of natural selection. He applied Malthus' ideas to populations of all species and came up with the idea of "survival of the fittest."
Malthus' work demonstrated how resources are limited, how the planet does not have enough resources for any organism/species to over produce/populate and survive.
Darwin was influenced by many. But it was after he read Malthus' works that he came up with a theory that he could work by, making Malthus the most influential person to Darwin.
Darwin didn't publish his hypothesis right away. For one he didn't think he had enough data to support it. But his most pressing reason for not publishing was that his work was controversial for the time. There were strong religious convictions and his evolutionary theory went against the churches' beliefs.
http://evolution.about.com/od/Darwin/tp/People-Who-Influenced-Charles-Darwin.htm
For the most part, good background on Malthus' work. With regard to this statement:
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Malthus didn't make that particular leap of logic. That was Darwin's doing, using Malthus work as a starting point.
I agree with your choice of bullet point, though I would have added the point about exponential growth to that as well.
I agree with your conclusions regarding Malthus' importance to Darwin, though I would actually rank both Malthus and Lyell up there together, equally.
I agree that Darwin delayed both for scientific and for personal reasons. With regard to personal reasons, what worried him? What repercussions did he fear might result from publishing his theory? Was he just worried about himself or about his family as well?