Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 1

Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters
and Reminiscences, Vol. 1

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Title: Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Author: James Marchant
Release Date: June 7, 2005 [EBook #15997]
Language: English
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[Illustration]

Alfred Russel Wallace

Letters and Reminiscences
By
James Marchant
_With Two Photogravures and Eight Half-tone Plates_
IN TWO VOLUMES
Volume I
CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD
London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
1916

To the Memory of
ANNIE WALLACE

PREFACE
These two volumes consist of a selection from several thousands of
letters entrusted to me by the Wallace family and dating from the dawn
of Darwinism to the second decade of the twentieth century,
supplemented by such biographical particulars and comments as are
required for the elucidation of the correspondence and for giving
movement and continuity to the whole.
The wealth and variety of Wallace's own correspondence, excluding the
large collection of letters which he received from many eminent men
and women, and the necessity for somewhat lengthy introductions and
many annotations, have expanded the work to two (there was, indeed,
enough good material to make four) volumes. The family has given me
unstinted confidence in using or rejecting letters and reminiscences,
and although I have consulted scientific and literary friends, I alone
must be blamed for sins of omission or commission. Nothing has been
suppressed in the unpublished letters, or in any of the letters which
appear in these volumes, because there was anything to hide.
Everything Wallace wrote, all his private letters, could be published to
the world. His life was an open book--"no weakness, no contempt,
dispraise, or blame, nothing but well and fair."
The profoundly interesting and now historic correspondence between
Darwin and Wallace, part of which has already appeared in the "Life
and Letters of Charles Darwin" and "More Letters," and part in

Wallace's autobiography, entitled "My Life," is here published, with
new additions, for the first time as a whole, so that the reader now has
before him the necessary material to form a true estimate of the origin
and growth of the theory of Natural Selection, and of the personal
relationships of its noble co-discoverers.
My warmest thanks are offered to Sir Francis Darwin for permission to
use his father's letters, for his annotations, and for rendering help in
checking the typescript of the Darwin letters; to Mr. John Murray,
C.V.O., for permission to use letters and notes from the "Life and
Letters of Charles Darwin" and from "More Letters"; to Messrs.
Chapman and Hall for their great generosity in allowing the free use of
letters and material in Wallace's "My Life"; to Prof. E.B. Poulton, Prof.
Sir W.F. Barrett, Sir Wm. Thiselton-Dyer, Dr. Henry Forbes, and
others for letters and reminiscences; and to Prof. Poulton for reading
the proofs and for valuable suggestions. An intimate chapter on
Wallace's Home Life has been contributed by his son and daughter, Mr.
W.G. Wallace and Miss Violet Wallace.
J.M.
_March, 1916._

CONTENTS
Volume I
INTRODUCTION

PART I
I. WALLACE AND DARWIN--EARLY YEARS
II. EARLY LETTERS (1854-62)

PART II
I. THE DISCOVERY OF NATURAL SELECTION

II. THE COMPLETE EXTANT CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN
WALLACE AND DARWIN (1857-81)
Volume II

PART III
I. WALLACE'S WORKS ON BIOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHICAL
DISTRIBUTION
II. CORRESPONDENCE ON BIOLOGY, GEOGRAPHICAL
DISTRIBUTION, ETC. (1864-93)
III. CORRESPONDENCE ON BIOLOGY, GEOGRAPHICAL
DISTRIBUTION, ETC. (1894-1913)

PART IV
HOME LIFE

PART V
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL VIEWS

PART VI
SOME FURTHER PROBLEMS

I. ASTRONOMY
II. SPIRITUALISM

PART VII
CHARACTERISTICS
APPENDIX: LISTS OF WALLACE'S WRITINGS
INDEX

LIST OF PLATES IN VOLUME I
A.R. WALLACE (1912)
A.R. WALLACE (SINGAPORE, 1862)
A.R. WALLACE'S MOTHER
A.R. WALLACE SOON AFTER HIS RETURN FROM THE EAST

Alfred Russel Wallace
Letters and Reminiscences

INTRODUCTION
In Westminster Abbey there repose, almost side by side, by no
conscious design yet with deep significance, the mortal remains of
Isaac Newton and of Charles Darwin. "'The Origin of Species,'" said
Wallace, "will live as long as the 'Principia' of Newton." Near by are
the tombs of Sir John Herschel, Lord Kelvin and Sir Charles Lyell; and
the medallions in memory of Joule, Darwin, Stokes and Adams have
been