I am here settled in my little cottage engaged in the occupation I most enjoy—making a garden, and admiring the infinite variety and beauty of vegetable life. I am out of doors all day and hardly read anything. As the long evenings come on I shall get on with my book on the "Land Question," in which I have found a powerful ally in Mr. George.

Hoping you are well, believe me, yours most faithfully,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

* * * * *

The following is the last letter Wallace received from Darwin, who died on Wednesday, April 19, 1882, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.

Down, Beckenham, Kent. July 12, 1881.

My dear Wallace,—I have been heartily glad to get your note and hear some news of you. I will certainly order "Progress and Poverty," for the subject is a most interesting one. But I read many years ago some books on political economy, and they produced a disastrous effect on my mind, viz. utterly to distrust my own judgment on the subject and to doubt much everyone else's judgment! So I feel pretty sure that Mr. George's book will only make my mind worse confounded than it is at present. I, also, have just finished a book which has interested me greatly, but whether it would interest anyone else I know not: it is "The Creed of Science," by W. Graham, A.M. Who and what he is I know not, but he discusses many great subjects, such as the existence of God, immortality, the moral sense, the progress of society, etc. I think some of his propositions rest on very uncertain foundations, and I could get no clear idea of his notions about God. Notwithstanding this and other blemishes, the book has interested me extremely. Perhaps I have been to some extent deluded, as he manifestly ranks too high what I have done.

I am delighted to hear that you spend so much time out of doors and in your garden; for with your wonderful power of observation you will see much which no one else has seen. From Newman's old book (I forget the title) about the country near Godalming, it must be charming.

We have just returned home after spending five weeks on Ullswater: the scenery is quite charming; but I cannot walk, and everything tires me, even seeing scenery, talking with anyone or reading much. What I shall do with my few remaining years of life I can hardly tell. I have everything to make me happy and contented, but life has become very wearisome to me. I heard lately from Miss Buckley in relation to Lyell's Life, and she mentioned that you were thinking of Switzerland, which I should think and hope you will enjoy much.

I see that you are going to write on the most difficult political question, the Land. Something ought to be done—but what is to rule? I hope that you will [not] turn renegade to natural history; but I suppose that politics are very tempting.

With all good wishes for yourself and family, believe me, my dear Wallace, yours very sincerely,

CHARLES DARWIN.

* * * * *

Wallace's last letter to Darwin was written in October, 1881:

Nutwood Cottage, Frith Hill, Godalming. October 18, 1881.

My dear Darwin,—I have delayed writing to thank you for your book on Worms till I had been able to read it, which I have now done with great pleasure and profit, since it has cleared up many obscure points as to the apparent sinking or burying of objects on the surface and the universal covering up of old buildings. I have hitherto looked upon them chiefly from the gardener's point of view—as a nuisance, but I shall tolerate their presence in the view of their utility and importance. A friend here to whom I am going to lend your book tells me that an agriculturist who had been in West Australia, near Swan River, told him many years ago of the hopelessness of farming there, illustrating the poverty and dryness of the soil by saying, "There are no worms in the ground."

I do not see that you refer to the formation of leaf-mould by the mere decay of leaves, etc. In favourable places many inches or even feet of this is formed—I presume without the agency of worms. If so, would it not take part in the formation of all mould? and also the decay of the roots of grasses and of all annual plants, or do you suppose that all these are devoured by worms? In reading the book I have not noticed a single erratum.

I enclose you a copy of two letters to the Mark Lane Express, written at the request of the editor, and which will show you the direction in which I am now working, and in which I hope to do a little good.—Believe me yours very faithfully,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "While at Hertford I lived altogether in five different houses, and in three of these the Silk family lived next door to us, which involved not only each family having to move about the same time, but also that two houses adjoining each other should have been vacant together, and that they should have been of the size required by each, which after the first was not the same, the Silk family being much the larger."—"My Life," i. 32.

[2] "My Life," i. 191-2.

[3] "My Life," i. 108-111.

[4] Darwin makes a similar comment: "I was very successful in collecting, and invented two new methods ... and thus I got some very rare species. No poet ever felt more delighted at seeing his first poem published than I did at seeing, in Stephens' 'Illustrations of British Insects,' the magic words, 'captured by C. Darwin, Esq.'"—Darwin's Autobiography, in the one-volume "Life," p. 20.

[5] "My Life," i. 194-5.

[6] There is no record in his autobiography as to the exact date when he first became acquainted with Lyell's work, though several times reference is made to it.

[7] "Travels on the Amazon," p. 277.

[8] "Voyage of the Beagle," pp. 11-12.

[9] "Voyage of the Beagle," p. 534.

[10] It is interesting to note that the careers of Sir Joseph Hooker, Charles Darwin, H.W. Bates, Alfred Russel Wallace and T.H. Huxley were all determined by voyages or journeys of exploration.

[11] "Life of Charles Darwin" (one-volume Edit.), p. 29.

[12] "Voyage of the Beagle," p. 535.

[13] This letter may have been written for publication.

[14] A reference to the loss of his earlier collection (p. 29).

[15] The original of this letter is in the possession of the Trustees of the British Museum.

[16] For the other part of this letter see "My Life," i. 379.

[17] "My early letters to Bates suffice to show that the great problem of the origin of species was already distinctly formulated in my mind; that I was not satisfied with the more or less vague solutions at that time offered; that I believed the conception of evolution through natural law so clearly formulated in the 'Vestiges' to be, so far as it went, a true one; and that I firmly believed that a full and careful study of the facts of nature would ultimately lead to a solution of the mystery."—"My Life," i. 254-7.

[18] "On the Law which has regulated the Introduction of Species."—Ann. and Mag. of Natural History, 2nd Series, 1855, xvi. 184.

[19] "Life of Charles Darwin" (one-vol. Edit.), p. 171.

[20] "Life of Charles Darwin," (one-vol. Edit.), p. 40,

[21] See post, p. 112.

[22] "My Life," i. 359.

[23] "My Life," i. 361-3.

[24] It will be remembered, that Darwin died in April, 1882, twenty-six years previously.

[25] "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin," ii. 188.

[26] "The Herbert Spencer Lecture," delivered at the Museum, December 8, 1910. (Clarendon Press, Oxford.)

[27] "My Life," ii. 23-4.

[28] "On the Law which has regulated the Introduction of New Species."—Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 1855. The law is thus stated by Wallace: "Every species has come into existence coincident both in time and space with a pre-existing closely-allied species."

[29] "The Origin of Species."

[30] "The Origin of Species."

[31] First Edit., 1859, pp. 1, 2.

[32] "On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection." By C. Darwin and A.R. Wallace. Communicated by Sir C. Lyell and J.D. Hooker. Journ. Linn. Soc., 1859, iii. 45. Read July 1st, 1858.

[33] "On the Law which has regulated the Introduction of New Species." Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 1855, xvi. 184.

[34] This seems to refer to Wallace's paper on "The Zoological Geography of the Malay Archipelago," Journ. Linn. Soc., 1860.

[35] Dr. Samuel Wilberforce.

[36] Now Major Leonard Darwin.

[37] The last sheet of the letter is missing.

[38] Wallace's paper was entitled "Remarks on the Rev. S. Haughton's Paper on the Bee's Cells and on the Origin of Species." Prof. Haughton's paper appeared in the Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 1863, xi. 415. Wallace's was published in the same journal.

[39] For March, 1864.

[40] Reader, April 16, 1864. An abstract of Wallace's paper "On the Phenomena of Variation and Geographical Distribution, as illustrated by the Papilionidae of the Malayan Region," Linn. Soc. Trans., xxv.

[41] Anthropolog. Rev., 1864.

[42] Nat. Hist. Rev., 1864, p. 328.

[43] "Read June, 1864."—A.R.W.

[44] "June 8, 1864."—A.R.W.

[45] "Referring to my broken engagement."—A.R.W.

[46] Paper on the three forms of Lythrum.

[47] Probably the one on the Distribution of Malayan Butterflies, Linn. Soc. Trans., xxv.

[48] E.B. Tylor's "Early History of Mankind," and Lecky's "Rationalism."

[49] "Prehistoric Times."

[50] The note speaks of the "characteristic unselfishness" with which Wallace ascribed the theory of Natural Selection to Darwin.

[51] "Fuer Darwin."

[52] "On the Pigeons of the Malay Archipelago," Ibis, October, 1865. Wallace points out (p. 366) that "the most striking superabundance of pigeons, as well as of parrots, is confined to the Australo-Malayan sub-regions in which ... the forest-haunting and fruit-eating mammals, such as monkeys and squirrels, are totally absent." He points out also that monkeys are "exceedingly destructive to eggs and young birds."—Note, "More Letters," i. 265.

[53] "The Geographical Distribution and Variability of the Malayan Papilionidae," Linn. Soc. Trans., xxv.

[54] The passage referred to in this letter as needing farther explanation is the following: "The last six cases of mimicry are especially instructive, because they seem to indicate one of the processes by which dimorphic forms have been produced. When, as in these cases, one sex differs much from the other, and varies greatly itself, it may be that individual variations will occasionally occur, having a distant resemblance to groups which are the objects of mimicry, and which it is therefore advantageous to resemble. Such a variety will have a better chance of preservation; the individuals possessing it will be multiplied; and their accidental likeness to the favoured group will be rendered permanent by hereditary transmission, and each successive variation which increases the resemblance being preserved, and all variation departing from the favoured type having less chance of preservation, there will in time result those singular cases of two or more isolated and fixed forms bound together by that intimate relationship which constitutes them the sexes of a single species. The reason why the females are more subject to this kind of modification than the males is probably that their slower flight when laden with eggs, and their exposure to attack while in the act of depositing their eggs upon leaves, render it especially advantageous for them to have additional protection. This they at once obtain by acquiring a resemblance to other species which, from whatever cause, enjoy a comparative immunity from persecution."

[55] This no doubt refers to Janet's "Materialisme Contemporain."

[56] Quarterly Journal of Science, January 7, 1867. "Ice Marks in North Wales," by A.R. Wallace.

[57] I.e., the suggestion that conspicuous caterpillars or perfect insects (e.g. white butterflies) which are distasteful to birds are protected by being easily recognised and avoided.

[58] A bearded woman having an irregular double set of teeth. See "Animals and Plants," ii. 328.

[59] The letter to which this is a reply is missing. It evidently refers to Wallace's belief in the paramount importance of protection in the evolution of colour. See also Darwin's letter of February 26, 1867.

[60] Menura superba. See "The Descent of Man" (1901), p. 687. Rhynchaea, mentioned on p. 184, is discussed in the "Descent," p. 727. The female is more brightly coloured than the male and has a convoluted trachea, elsewhere a masculine character. There seems some reason to suppose that "the male undertakes the duty of incubation."

[61] Westminster Review, July, 1867.

[62] Angraecum sesquipedale, a Madagascar orchid, with a whip-like nectary, 11 to 12 in. in length, which, according to Darwin ("Fertilisation of Orchids," 2nd Edit., p. 163), is adapted to the visits of a moth with a proboscis of corresponding length. He points out that there is no difficulty in believing in the existence of such a moth as F. Mueller had described (Nature, 1873, p. 223), a Brazilian sphinx-moth with a trunk 10 to 11 in. in length. Moreover, Forbes had given evidence to show that such an insect does exist in Madagascar (Nature, 1873, p. 121). The case of Angraecum was put forward by the Duke of Argyll as being necessarily due to the personal contrivance of the Deity. Mr. Wallace shows (p. 476, Quarterly Journal of Science, 1867) that both proboscis and nectary might be increased in length by means of Natural Selection. It may be added that Hermann Mueller has shown good grounds for believing that mutual specialisation of this kind is beneficial both to insect and to plant.

[63] "Variation of Animals and Plants," 1st Edit., ii. 431. "Did He cause the frame and mental qualities of the dog to vary in order that a breed might be formed of indomitable ferocity, with jaws fitted to pin down the bull for man's brutal sport?"

[64] See Wallace, Quarterly Journ. of Sci., 1867, pp. 477-8. He imagined an observer examining a great river system, and finding everywhere adaptations which reveal the design of the Creator. "He would see special adaptations to the wants of man in the broad, quiet, navigable rivers, through fertile alluvial plains, that would support a large population, while the rocky streams and mountain torrents were confined to those sterile regions suitable for a small population of shepherds and herdsmen."

[65] At p. 485 Wallace deals with Fleeming Jenkin's review in the North British Review, 1867. The review strives to show that there are strict limitations to variation, since the most rigorous and long-continued selection does not indefinitely increase such a quality as the fleetness of a racehorse. On this Wallace remarks that the argument "fails to meet the real question," which is not whether indefinite change is possible, but "whether such differences as do occur in nature could have been produced by the accumulation of variations by selection."

[66] Abstract of a paper on "Birds' Nests and Plumage," read before the British Association. See Gard. Chron., 1867, p. 1047.

[67] Sir Henry Holland, Bart., M.D., F.R.S., a writer on Mental Physiology and other scientific subjects (b. 1788, d. 1873).

[68] "This turns out to be inaccurate, or greatly exaggerated. There are no true alpines, and the European genera are comparatively few. See my 'Island Life,' p. 323."—A.R.W.

[69] "In pigeons" and "lizards" inserted by A.R.W.

[70] See Westminster Review, July, 1867, p. 37.

[71] Proc. Linn. Soc., 1867-8, p. 57.

[72] It is not enough that females should be produced from the males with red feathers, which should be destitute of red feathers; but these females must have a latent tendency to produce such feathers, otherwise they would cause deterioration in the red head-feathers of their male offspring. Such latent tendency would be shown by their producing the red feathers when old or diseased in their ovaria.

[73] The symbols [male symbol], [female symbol] stand for male and female respectively.

[74] The fifth.

[75] Explained in letter of February 2, 1869. See p. 234.

[76] June, 1867.

[77] "Malay Archipelago."

[78] "Malay Archipelago."

[79] The fifth edition, pp. 150-7.

[80] In the Quarterly Review, April, 1869.

[81] Inserted by A.R.W.

[82] "The Descent of Man."

[83] "The Genesis of Species," by St. G. Mivart. 1871.

[84] In the Academy, March 15, 1871.

[85] "Mr. Wallace says that the pairing of butterflies is probably determined by the fact that one male is stronger-winged or more pertinacious than the rest, rather than by the choice of the females. He quotes the case of caterpillars which are brightly coloured and yet sexless. Mr. Wallace also makes the good criticism that 'The Descent of Man' consists of two books mixed together."—"Life and Letters of Charles Darwin," iii. 137.

[86] G. Crotch was a well-known coleopterist and official in the University Library at Cambridge.

[87] Spectator, March 11 and 18, 1871. "With regard to the evolution of conscience the reviewer thinks that Mr. Darwin comes much nearer to the 'kernel of the psychological problem' than many of his predecessors. The second article contains a good discussion of the bearing of the book on the question of design, and concludes by finding in it a vindication of Theism more wonderful than that in Paley's 'Natural Theology.'"—"Life and Letters," iii. 138.

[88] North American Review, Vol. 113, pp. 83, 84. Chauncey Wright points out that the words omitted are "essential to the point on which he [Mr. Mivart] cites Mr. Darwin's authority." It should be mentioned that the passage from which words are omitted is not given within inverted commas by Mr. Mivart.—See "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin," iii. 144.

[89] July, 1871.

[90] A review of Dr. Bree's book, "An Exposition of Fallacies in the Hypotheses of Mr. Darwin."—Nature, July 25, 1872.

[91] "Bree on Darwinism," Nature, Aug. 8, 1872. The letter is as follows: "Permit me to state—though the statement is almost superfluous—that Mr. Wallace, in his review of Dr. Bree's work, gives with perfect correctness what I intended to express, and what I believe was expressed clearly, with respect to the probable position of man in the early part of his pedigree. As I have not seen Dr. Bree's recent work, and as his letter is unintelligible to me, I cannot even conjecture how he has so completely mistaken my meaning; but, perhaps, no one who has read Mr. Wallace's article, or who has read a work formerly published by Dr. Bree on the same subject as his recent one, will be surprised at any amount of misunderstanding on his part.—CHARLES DARWIN, Aug. 3." See "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin," iii. 167.

[92] That is to say, spontaneous generation. For the distinction between archebiosis and heterogenesis, see Bastian, Chap. VI. See also "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin," iii. 168.

[93] Sir Henry Cole, K.C.B. (1808-80).

[94] "Expression of the Emotions."

[95] Quarterly Journal of Science, January, 1873, p. 116: "I can hardly believe that when a cat, lying on a shawl or other soft material, pats or pounds it with its feet, or sometimes sucks a piece of it, it is the persistence of the habit of pressing the mammary glands and sucking during kittenhood." Wallace goes on to say that infantine habits are generally completely lost in adult life, and that it seems unlikely that they should persist in a few isolated instances.

[96] Wallace speaks of "a readiness to accept the most marvellous conclusions or interpretations of physiologists on what seem very insufficient grounds," and he goes on to assert that the frog experiment is either incorrectly recorded, or else that it "demonstrates volition, and not reflex action."

[97] The raising of the hands in surprise is explained ("Expression of the Emotions," 1st Edit., p. 287) on the doctrine of antithesis as being the opposite of listlessness. Mr. Wallace's view (given in the second edition of "Expression of the Emotions," p. 300) is that the gesture is appropriate to sudden defence or to the giving of aid to another person.

[98] At this time Darwin, while very busy with other work, had to prepare a second edition of "The Descent of Man," and it is probable that he or the publishers suggested that Wallace should make the necessary corrections.—EDITOR.

[99] "Insectivorous Plants."

[100] "The Geographical Distribution of Animals." 1876.

[101] Wallace points out that "hardly a small island on the globe but has some land shell peculiar to it," and he goes so far as to say that probably air-breathing mollusca have been chiefly distributed by air- or water-carriage, rather than by voluntary dispersal on the land. See "More Letters," II. 14.

[102] See "The Descent of Man," 1st Edit., pp. 90 and 143, for drawings of the Argus pheasant and its markings. The ocelli on the wing feathers were favourite objects of Darwin's, and sometimes formed the subject of the little lectures which on rare occasions he would give to a visitor interested in Natural History. In Wallace's book, the meaning of the ocelli comes in by the way, in the explanation of Plate IX., "A Malayan Forest with some of its Peculiar Birds." The case is a "remarkable confirmation of Mr. Darwin's views, that gaily coloured plumes are developed in the male bird for the purpose of attractive display."

[103] "Geographical Distribution of Animals," i. 286-7.

[104] "Geographical Distribution," i. 76. The name Lemuria was proposed by Mr. Sclater for an imaginary submerged continent extending from Madagascar to Ceylon and Sumatra. Wallace points out that if we confine ourselves to facts Lemuria is reduced to Madagascar, which he makes a subdivision of the Ethiopian Region.

[105] H.F. Blandford, "On the Age and Correlations of the Plant-bearing Series of India and the Former Existence of an Indo-Oceanic Continent" (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., 1875, xxxi. 519).

[106] In the Contemporary Review for August, 1873, Mr. George Darwin wrote an article "On Beneficial Restrictions to Liberty of Marriage." In the July number of the Quarterly Review, 1874, p. 70, in an article entitled "Primitive Man—Tylor and Lubbock," Mr. Mivart thus referred to Mr. Darwin's article: "Elsewhere (pp. 424-5) Mr. George Darwin speaks (1) in an approving strain of the most oppressive laws and of the encouragement of vice to check population. (2) There is no sexual criminality of Pagan days that might not be defended on the principles advocated by the school to which this writer belongs." In the Quarterly Review for October, 1874, p. 587, appeared a letter from Mr. George Darwin "absolutely denying" charge No. 1, and with respect to charge No. 2 he wrote: "I deny that there is any thought or word in my essay which could in any way lend itself to the support of the nameless crimes here referred to." To the letter was appended a note from Mr. Mivart, in which he said: "Nothing would have been further from our intention than to tax Mr. Darwin personally (as he seems to have supposed) with the advocacy of laws or acts which he saw to be oppressive or vicious. We, therefore, most willingly accept his disclaimer, and are glad to find that he does not, in fact, apprehend the full tendency of the doctrines which he has helped to propagate. Nevertheless, we cannot allow that we have enunciated a single proposition which is either 'false' or 'groundless.' ... But when a writer, according to his own confession, comes before the public 'to attack the institution of marriage' ... he must expect searching criticism; and, without implying that Mr. Darwin has in 'thought' or 'word' approved of anything which he wishes to disclaim, we must still maintain that the doctrines which he advocates are most dangerous and pernicious."—EDITOR.

[107] The pages refer to Vol. II. of Wallace's "Geographical Distribution."

[108] The number (4) was erroneously omitted.—A.R.W.

[109] An error: should have been the Australian.—A.R.W.

[110] Axel Blytt, "Essay on the Immigration of the Norwegian Flora." Christiania, 1876.

[111] June 22, 1876, p. 165 et seq.

[112] "The Origin of Species and Genera."

[113] "Island Life."

[114] In "My Life" (ii. 12-13) Wallace writes; "With this came seven foolscap pages of notes, many giving facts from his extensive reading which I had not seen. There were also a good many doubts and suggestions on the very difficult questions in the discussion of the causes of the glacial epochs. Chapter XXIII., discussing the Arctic element in South Temperate floras, was the part he most objected to, saying, 'This is rather too speculative for my old noddle. I must think that you overrate the importance of new surfaces on mountains and dispersal from mountain to mountain. I still believe in alpine plants having lived on the lowlands and in the southern tropical regions having been cooled during glacial periods, and thus only can I understand character of floras on the isolated African mountains. It appears to me that you are not justified in arguing from dispersal to oceanic islands to mountains. Not only in latter cases currents of sea are absent, but what is there to make birds fly direct from one alpine summit to another? There is left only storms of wind, and if it is probable or possible that seeds may thus be carried for great distances, I do not believe that there is at present any evidence of their being thus carried more than a few miles.' This is the most connected piece of criticism in the notes, and I therefore give it verbatim."

[115] "Nature, December 9, 1880. The substance of this article by Mr. Baker, of Kew, is given in 'More Letters,' vol. iii. 25, in a footnote."—"My Life," ii. 13.

THE END