Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 2

PART VII. Characteristics

CHARACTERISTICS

APPENDIX: LISTS OF WALLACE'S WRITINGS

INDEX

LIST OF PLATES IN VOLUME II

A.R. WALLACE (1913) Photogravure Frontispiece

MRS. A.R. WALLACE (ABOUT 1895)

THE STUDY AT "OLD ORCHARD"

A.R. WALLACE ADMIRING EREMURUS ROBUSTUS (ABOUT 1905)

GRAVE OF ALFRED RUSSEL AND ANNIE WALLACE

WALLACE AND DARWIN MEDALLIONS IN THE NORTH AISLE OF THE CHOIR OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Alfred Russel Wallace

Letters and Reminiscences

PART III

I.--Wallace's Works on Biology and Geographical Distribution

"I have long recognised how much clearer and deeper your insight into matters is than mine."

"I sometimes marvel how truth progresses, so difficult is it for one man to convince another, unless his mind is vacant."

"I grieve to differ from you, and it actually terrifies me, and makes me constantly distrust myself. I fear we shall never quite understand each other."

--DARWIN TO WALLACE.

During the period covered by the reception, exposition, and gradual acceptance of the theory of Natural Selection, both Wallace and Darwin were much occupied with closely allied scientific work.

The publication in 1859 of the "Origin of Species" marked a distinct period in the course of Darwin's scientific labours; his previous publications had, in a measure, prepared the way for this, and those which immediately followed were branches growing out from the main line of thought and argument contained in the "Origin," an overflow of the "mass of facts" patiently gathered during the preceding years. With Wallace, the end of the first period of his literary work was completed by the publication of his two large volumes on "The Geographical Distribution of Animals," towards which all his previous thought and writings had tended, and from which, again, came other valuable works leading up to the publication of "Darwinism" (1889).

It will be remembered that Darwin and Wallace, on their respective returns to England, after many years spent in journeyings by land and sea and in laborious research, found the first few months fully occupied in going over their large and varied collections, sorting and arranging with scrupulous care the rare specimens they had taken, and in discovering the right men to name and classify them into correct groups.

At this point it will be useful to arrange Darwin's writings under three heads, namely: (1) His zoological and geological books, including "The Voyage of the Beagle" (published in 1839), "Coral Reefs" (1842), and "Geological Observations on South America" (1846). In this year he also began his work on Barnacles, which was published in 1854; and in addition to the steady work on the "Origin of Species" from 1837 onwards, his observations on "Earthworms," not published until 1881, formed a distinct phase of his study during the whole of these years (1839-59). (2) As a natural sequence we have "Variations of Animals and Plants under Domestication" (1868), "The Descent of Man" (1871), and "The Expression of the Emotions" (1872). (3) What may be termed his botanical works, largely influenced by his evolutionary ideas, which include "The Fertilisation of Orchids" (1862), "Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants" (1875), "Insectivorous Plants" (1876), "The Different Forms of Flowers and Plants of the same Species" (1877), and "The Power of Movement in Plants" (1880).

A different order, equally characteristic, is discovered in Wallace's writings, and it is to be noted that while Darwin devoted himself entirely to scientific subjects, Wallace diverged at intervals from natural science to what may be termed the scientific consideration of social conditions, in addition to his researches into spiritualistic phenomena.

The many enticing interests arising out of the classifying of his birds and insects led Wallace to the conclusion that it would be best to postpone the writing of his book on the Malay Archipelago until he could embody in it the more generally important results derived from the detailed study of certain portions of his collections. Thus it was not until seven years later (1869) that this complete sketch of his travels "from the point of view of the philosophic naturalist" appeared.

Between 1862 and 1867 he wrote a number of articles which were published in various journals and magazines, and he read some important papers before the Linnean, Entomological, and other learned Societies. These included several on physical and zoological geography; six on questions of anthropology; and five or six dealing with special applications of Natural Selection. As these papers "discussed matters of considerable interest and novelty," such a summary of them may be given as will serve to indicate their value to natural science.

The first of them, read before the Zoological Society in January, 1863, gave some detailed information about his collection of birds brought from Buru. In this he showed that the island was originally one of the Moluccan group, as every bird found there which was not widely distributed was either identical with or closely allied to Moluccan species, while none had special affinities with Celebes. It was clear, then, that this island formed the most westerly outlier of the Moluccan group.

The next paper of importance, read before the same Society in November (1863), was on the birds of the chain of islands extending from Lombok to the great island of Timor. This included a list of 186 species of birds, of which twenty-nine were altogether new. A special feature of the paper was that it enabled him to mark out precisely the boundary line between the Indian and Australian zoological regions, and to trace the derivation of the rather peculiar fauna of these islands, partly from Australia and partly from the Moluccas, but with a strong recent migration of Javanese species due to the very narrow straits separating most of the islands from each other. In "My Life" some interesting tables are given to illustrate how the two streams of immigration entered these islands, and further that "as its geological structure shows ... Timor is the older island and received immigrants from Australia at a period when, probably, Lombok and Flores had not come into existence or were unhabitable.... We can," he says, "feel confident that Timor has not been connected with Australia, because it has none of the peculiar Australian mammalia, and also because many of the commonest and most widespread groups of Australian birds are entirely wanting."

Two other papers, dealing with parrots and pigeons respectively (1864-5), were thought by Wallace himself to be among the most important of his studies of geographical distribution. Writing of them he says: "These peculiarities of distribution and coloration in two such very diverse groups of birds interested me greatly, and I endeavoured to explain them in accordance with the laws of Natural Selection."

In March, 1864, having begun to make a special study of his collection of butterflies, he prepared a paper for the Linnean Society on "The Malayan Papilionidæ, as illustrating the Theory of Natural Selection." The introductory portion of this paper appeared in the first edition of his volume entitled "Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection" (1870), but it was omitted in later editions as being too technical for the general reader. From certain remarks found here and there, both in "My Life" and other works, butterflies would appear to have had a special charm and attraction for Wallace. Their varied and gorgeous colourings were a ceaseless delight to his eye, and when describing them one feels the sense of pleasure which this gave him, together with the recollection of the far-off haunts in which he had first discovered them.

This series of papers on birds and insects, with others on the physical geography of the Archipelago and its various races of man, furnished all the necessary materials for the general sketch of the natural history of these islands, and the many problems arising therefrom, which made the "Malay Archipelago" the most popular of his books. In addition to his own personal knowledge, however, some interesting comparisons are drawn between the accounts given by early explorers and the impressions left on his own mind by the same places and people. On the publication of this work, in 1869, extensive and highly appreciative reviews appeared in all the leading papers and journals, and to-day it is still looked upon as one of the most trustworthy and informative books of travel.

When the "Malay Archipelago" was in progress, a lengthy article on "Geological Climates and the Origin of Species" (which formed the foundation for "Island Life" twelve years later) appeared in the Quarterly Review (April, 1869). Several references in this to the "Principles of Geology"--Sir Charles Lyell's great work--gave much satisfaction both to Lyell and to Darwin. The underlying argument was a combination of the views held by Sir Charles Lyell and Mr. Croll respectively in relation to the glacial epoch, and the great effect of changed distribution of sea and land, or of differences of altitude, and how by combining the two a better explanation could be arrived at than by accepting each theory on its own basis.

His next publication of importance was the volume entitled "Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection," consisting of ten essays (all of which had previously appeared in various periodicals) arranged in the following order:

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