202 Alfred Russel Wallace.

ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE: SCIENTIST, PHILOSO- PHER AND HUMANITARIAN .*

I. AN INFORMING AND INSPIRING LIFE rianism has ever matched his passion for truth. -STORY. The present autobiography has, we think, a fault common to most large two-volume HERE are few forms of literature so T worksof this character. It dwells in a some- helpful to general readers, and espec­ what too extended manner on unimportant ially to young men and women, as autobiogra­ penonal details and facts relating to the fam- phies of the few really great men of all ages, ily and friends of the author. Allthese things when the life-stories are marked by simplicity, while making the work especially precious directness and sincerity. They bring us into to family and friends, hold no personal inter­ personalrapport with the aristocracy of brain est for the general reader and tend to take and soul-the men who have enlightened and from the interest and value of the work. This lifted the world. Doubly valuable are these fault, however, is insignificant in comparison works when the men in question have lived with the general excellence of the life story. fine, true, simple and noble lives while in a which merits the widest reading. large way pushing forward the frontiers of human knowledge, enriching all future ages II. THE EARLY LIFE OF DR. WALLACE. by calling forth great truths that have hitherto The careers of few men of the nineteenth slumbered in the womb of mystery. century are so rich in lessons of worth for the In the recently published autobiography thoughtful young men and women of our day of Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace we have such as is that of Alfred Russel Wallace, while the a life-story. The author was not only the story of his labors, discoveries and conclu­ co-discoverer with Charles Darwin of the sions cannot fail to broaden and deepen the evolutionary theory and one of the greatest, culture of those wise enough to follow the if not indeed the greatest working naturalist simple, earnest, truth-loving philosopher as of the nineteenth century, but he was and is a from youth to a victorious and fruitful old sane, enlightened and progressive reformer age he has tirelessly striven to enlarge the with a true statesman's vision, and a broad borders of knowledge in the realm of science minded philosopher whose noble humanita- and philosophy and to better the condition My Life A Record of Events and Opinions. By Alfred of the millions of earth. Russel Wallace Two volumes. Cloth. Price, $6.00 net. New York : Dodd, Mead & Company. He was born in a humble home. His Alfred Russel Wallace. 203 father was a man of education, but somewhat social reform and liberal thought, while the lacking in energetic peneverance, especially social philosophy of Robert Owen made a when engaged in labors along practical lines, life-long impression on his mind. and the finances of the family suffered as the In the early summer of 1887 he set out as years pasaed, 110 it was impossible to give the aid to his brother William in surveying, and children who came into the home the liberal for the next few years the two brothers were education that they craved. Alfred Russel, thus engaged. Very beautiful is the descrip­ in common with his brothers, received only tion of the simple and wholesome life they led the ordinary grammar-school education of as they journeyed through England and Wales the time, though this was supplemented by wherever their work chanced to call them. home training and education which probably Both brothers were great lovers of nature, counted for quite as much as that which he but to Alfred the marvels of the Great Mother received in school. The father belonged to a appealed with irresistible charm. The won­ circulating library association which enabled derful wild flora and the multitudinous plants him to obtain the latest and best books. of England and Wales were an unfailing These heread aloud to the family during the source of pure delight. Yet he longed to eveningsand in this way all the little group know the names of the plants, their habits, gained a love for literature and a breadth of and the great families to which they belonged. culture in certain directions that many youths He had time to study during rainy days, on with far better scholastic advantages do not Sundays, and frequently in the evenings, and acquire. Later the father was librarian in at length he obtained a small work on botany, an exceIlent library, and many afternoons published by the Society for the Diffusion of after school was out, Alfred went to the library Knowledge. Later, by saving up his money, and devoured the contents of choice books he was enabled to buy a Iarge and authorita­ until it grew too dark to read longer. tive work on the subject, while a friend loaned But the time came, and that when the youth him an encyclopedia of the plant life of Great wasonly fourteen years of age, when the Britain. This in large part he copied. pasting father could no longer support the boy and it the leaves in his botany. Thus equipped he became necessary for him to leave the home began a systematic study of the plants with roof and earn his own livelihood. It was ar­ which he came in contact. Soon he had ob­ ranged that he should go in company with tained a far better knowledge of botany than his elder brother William, a surveyor by pro­ most youths who had gone through the books fession, and as his aid earna sufficient amount at achool but who had not had the subjects to maintain himself while learning land sur­ illustrated and impressed on the brain by veying.As the elder brother was not quite seeing and examining the plants of which ready to start on his labors, Alfred spent a they had read. During spare moments young period of four or five months with his brother Wallace, who possessed a wonderfully me­ John who wae apprenticed to a carpentering thodical mind, drew charts and tables for firm in London. This time waswell spent the classification of the plant life of England. in increasing his general education. Thus he pursued his study in the painstaking Al that time Robert Owen's social philos­ and eager manner of the specialist in love ophy was being preaented to the English peo- with his work and possessing a quenchless ple and it had already attracted quite a large thirst for knowledge. Later he studied following in London. Headquarters had geology, ornithology and entomology in the been opened under the somewhat pretentious same painstaking manner. When in London name of " Hall of Science," and here lectures he visited the great museums to familiarize were given explaining Mr. Owen's theories himself with the birds, butterflies, beetles and and describing the wonderful work that he other animal life of the world described in the had achieved at New Lanark. There were various textbooks he had set out to master, also reading-rooms and rooms for physical and which he did master more completely exercise in the Hall of Science, and hither than most specialists in natural history of his young Wallace and his brother John were wont age. to go of an evening. Thus a new world of In 1844 Mr. Wallace came of age, having thought opened before the youth during the been bornon the eighth of January, 1823. By impressionable and formative period of life. this time his brother had filled all the engage­ He read with great avidity many works of ments he had been able to secure for survey- Alfred Russel Wallace. ing. and new work was so difIicult to obtain They were enc:ourapl in their purpoee by that it became neceuary for Alfred to eeek Mr.Edward Doubleday. who bad charge 01 other employment. Be therefore eecured. the department of butterflies in the British after a little waiting. a position aa teacher in Museum. Be stated that if they collected the Collegiate School at Leicester. kept by land shells. birds aDd mammals aa weD as the Rev. Abraham Hill. a position which he insects. be lelt sure they could eaaily pay aU retained a little over a year. or until the sudden their expenses. Thus encourased. and after death of his brother William. when it became making arrangements with a party to act as neceuary for him to devote his time to wind­ agent in London. the two young men took ing up his elder brother's business affairs. passage in a sailing vessel lor Para in the During the time which he spent aa teacher springof 1848. in the Leicester Collegiate School be bad access to a fine library aDd aa a 1"e5ult be made III. FOUR YEARS ON THE AMAZON AND great advance in his self-education through RIO NEGRO. systematic study of standard works. Among For four years Alfred Russel Wallace de­ the boob mastered at this time which he voted bimselI tireleuly aDd with unflagging states bad a special intIuence on his life were to his labors. He aplored the banks of Humboldt's Personal Narrative of Travelsthe Amazon. Rio Negro and many 01 their inSouth America a work which awakened a tributaries aDd sent home enough specimens desire to travel in the tropics. and Malthus' to pay his expenses. but be saved the greater Principles of Population, a work without number of his collections to take with him which. he sa,.. "I should probably not have when be returned. He collected butterflies. hit upon the theory of natural selection." A beetles aDd other insects and many rare speci­ little later Vestiges of the Natural History of mens 01 birds and other forms of life. He Creation produced a strong impression on his made & study 01 the wonderfully beautiful mind. aa is shown by a letter to a scientific fish of the rivers be traversed. Theee be friend. while the worb of Lyell afforded him described with great minuteness and accom­ the greatest enjoyment. opening new vistas panied his descriptions with careful drawings. 01 truth and increasing his love of natural He alao made geographical surveys charting history and physical science in general. Dar- and mapping little-known riversaDd correct­ win'sJournals served to further stimulate the ing errors in the maps 01 the day in regard to desire to visit the tropicswhich Humboldt's certain .streams in parts 01 their courses. Travels had awakened. Naturally. loving botany aa he did. be also At this time occurred one of those seeming made a very careful study 01 the vegetable accidents that exercise a life-shaping intIu­ life 01 this wonderful region aDd thus con- ence. Mr. Wallace chanced to become ac­ tributed in a real way to the world's knowl­ quainted with Henry Walter Bates. an en­ edge of these parts in regard to geography thusiastic entomologist who bad made esten­ and plant aDd animal life. sive collections 01 bugs. beetles and butter­ It would seem from his narrative that Bates flies. In aasociation with this scientific en­ aDd Wallace were not much together during thusiast. young Wallace became aa deeply their wanderings. Doubtless they lelt it interested in entomology aa he bad been in wisest to take diBerent sections for their botany. and lorthwith began a most thorough search. They were in touch. however. from system 01 self-cu1ture on the subject. supple- time to time. and ever after maintained the menting it with studies of other branches 01 warm friendship that bad grown up between natural science. He aDd Bates became in­ them in England. timate friends and together conceived the idea In summing up his recollections and im­ of setting forth lor the tropics aa collectors 01 pressions of his sojourn in South America Mr. butterflies. beetles and other forms 01 life. A Wallace thus refers to the three things that work bad recently appeared by Mr. W. H. moat impreaed him during his wandering up Edwards entitled A Voyage up the Amazon, the great rivers01 central South America: which determined the young men to fare forth to the wilds of the South American forests, "Looking back over my four years' wan­ provided they could make arrangements lor dering in the Amazon valley. there seem to the disposal of their collections 01 butterflies me to be three great leatures which especially and other insects. 80 aa to pay expenses. impressed me. aDd which fully equaled OJ' Alfred Russel Wallace. 205 eftIl surpassed my expectations of them. than all, their whole aspect and manner were The first was the virgin forest, everywhere different-they were all going about their grand, often beautiful and even sublime. Its own work of pleasure which had nothing to wonderful variety with a more general uni­ do with the white men or their ways; they formity never palled. Standing under one walked with the free step of the independent of its great buttressed trees-itself a marvel forest-dweller, and, except the few that were of nature-and looking carefully &round, known to my companion, paid no attention noting the various columnar trunks risinglike whatever to us, mere strangers of an alien lofty pillars, one soon perceives that hardly race. In every detail they were original and two of these are alike. The shape of the self-sustainingas are the wild animals of the trunkstheir color and texture, the nature of forests, absolutely independent of civilization, their bark, their mode of branching and the and who could aDd did live their own lives in character of the foliage far overhead, or of their own way, as they had done for countless the fruits or flowers lying on the ground, generations before America was discovered. have an individuality which shows that they I could not have believed that there would be are all distinct species ditfering from one an­ so much ditference in the aspect of the same other as our oak, elm, beech, ash, lime and people in their native state and when living sycamore differ. This extraordinary variety under European supervision. The true deni­ of the species is a geDeral though not universal zen of the Amazonian forests, like the forest characteristic of tropical forests, but seems itaelf, is unique and not to be forgotten." to be nowhere so marked a feature as in the great forest regions which encircle the globe IV. A SEA-VOYAGE FRAUGHT with PERIL for a few degrees on each side of the equator. AND DISASTER...... At the end of four years Mr. Wallace de­ "The second feature, that I can never think termined to return home with his rich c0llec­ of without delight, is the wonderful variety tion, a veritable argosy for the young man, and exquisite beauty of the butterflies and representing the principal harvest of his hard birds, a variety and charm which grow upon yean of toil. Be embarked on July 12, 1862, one month after month and year after year, on a aaiIing vessel named "The Helen" as ever new and beautiful, strange and even loaded chiefly with rubber, cocoa, anatto and mysterious, forms are continually met with. balaam-capivi. The voyage, which was as Even now I can hardly recall them without a rich in thrilling experiences, disasters and thrill of admiration and wonder. narrow escapes as the most daring creation "The third and most unexpected sensation of the novelist's brain. was described in the of surprise and delight was my first meeting simple and unaffected manner peculiar to and living with a man in a state of nature­ the writings of Mr. Wallace at the time of its with absolute uncontaminated savages! This occurrence in a letter written to a friend in was on the Uaupes river, and the surprise of South America as the young naturalist was it was that I did not in the least expect to be nearing the coast of England, and so graphic so surprised. I had already been two years is the description that we give the story largely in the country always among Indians of many in Mr. Wallace's own words. tribes; but these were all what are called On the morning of August 6th, when the tame Indians, they wore at least trousers and young naturalist was busily engaged in his ahirt; they had been (nominally) converted stateroom, the captain appeared saying: "I to Christianity, and were under the govern­ am afraid the ship is on fire." Mr. Wallace ment of the nearest authorities; and all of immediately went with him on deck, when it them spoke either Portuguese or the common was found that the smoke was rising from language, called ' Lingoa-Geral.' various parts of the vessel. The balsam "But these true wild Indians of the Uaupes capivi, which is highly combustible and liable were at once seen to be something totally to ignite after a ship begins to rock, is usually ditferent. They had nothing that we call transported in kegs packed in damp sand. clothes; they had peculiar ornaments, tribal The captain of the vessel, however, not know­ marks, etc.; they all carried weapons or tools ing the danger, had packed a large portion of of their own manufacture; they are living in his cargo in rice-chaff, with the result that a large house. many families together, quite this highly inflammable gum had taken fire. unlib the hut of the tame Indians; but, more After vainly endeavoring to cbeck the flames 206 Alfred Russel Wallace. it soon became evident that the only hope for boats continued very leaky, and we could not the sailors Jay in the life-boats. Accordingly, cease an instant from bailing; there was a to uae Mr. Wallace's own language, "the considerable swell, though the day had been Cl'f!W were employed getting out the boats, remarkably fine, and there were constantly the captain looked after his chronometer, floating around us pieces of the burnt wreck. sextant, books, charts, and compuses, and masts, etc., which might have stove in our I got up a small tin box containing a few shirts, boats had we not kept a constant lookout to and put in it my drawings of fishes and palms, keep clear of them. We remained near the which were luckily at hand: also my watch ship all night in order that we might have the and a purse with a few sovereigns. Most of benefit of its flames attracting any vessel that my clothes were scattered about the cabin, might pass within sight of it. and in the dense suffocating smoke it was im­ ...... possible to look after them. There were two "I cannot attempt to describe my feelings good boats, the long-boat and the captain's and thoughts during these events. I was sur­ gig, and it took a good deal of time to get the prised to find myaelf very cool and collected. merest necessaries collected and put into I hardly thought it possible we should escape. them, and to lower them into the water. Two and I remember thinking it almost fooliah casks of biscuit and a cask of water were got to save my watch and the little money I had in, a lot of raw pork and some ham, a few tins at hand. However, after being in the boats of preserved meats and vegetables, and some some days I began to have more hope, and wine. Then there were corks to stop the regretted not having saved some new shoes, holes in the boats, oars, masts, sails, and rud­ cloth coat and trousers, hat, etc., which I ders to be looked up, spare spars, cordage, might have done with little trouble. My col­ twine, canvas, needles, carpenter's tools, nails, lections, however, were in the hold, and were etc. The crew brought up their bags of irretrievably lost. And now I began to think clothes, and all were bundled indiscriminately that almost all the reward of my four years of into the boats, which, having been so long in privation and danger was lost. What I had the sun, were very leaky and soon became hitherto sent home had little more than paid half full of water, so that two men in each of my expenses, and what I had with me in the them had to be constantly bailing out the "Helen" I estimated would have realized water with buckets. about £500. But even all this might have ...... gone with little regret had not by far the rich­ "All hands were at once ordered into the est part of my own private collection gone boats, which were astern of the ship. It was also. All my private collection of insects and now about twelve o'clock, only three hours birds since I left Para was with me, and com­ from the time the smoke was first discovered. prised hundreds of new and beautiful species. I had to let myaelf down into the boat by a which would have rendered (I had fondly rope, and being rather weak it slipped through hoped) my cabinet, as far as regards American my hands and took the skin off all my fingers, species, one of the finest in Europe. . • • But and finding the boat still half full of water I besides this, I have lost a number of sketches, let to bailing, which made my hands smart drawings, notes and observations on natural very painfully. We lay near the ship all the history, besides the three most interesting afternoon, watching the progress of the years of my journal, the whole of which, un­ flames, which soon covered the hinder part like any pecuniary loss, can never be replaced. of the vtissel and rushed up the shrouds and . . sails in a most magnificent conflagration. "Day after day we continued in the boats. Soon afterwards, by the rolling of the ship, the The winds changed, blowing dead from the masts broke off and fell overboard, the decks point to which we wanted to go. We were soon burnt away, the ironwork at the sides scorched by the sun, my hands, nose, and became red-hot, and last of all the bowsprit, ears being completely skinned, and were being burnt at the base, fell also. No one drenched continually by the seas or spray. had thought of being hungry till darkness We were therefore almost constantly wet, and came on, when we had a meal of biscuit and had no comfort and little sleep at night. Our raw ham, and then disposed ourselves as well meals consisted of raw pork and biscuit, with as we could for the night, which, you may be a little preserved meat or carrots once a day. sure, was by no means a pleasant one. Our which was a great luxury, and a short allow- Alfred Russel Wallace. 207 ance of water, which left us as thirty as be­ then almost unknown to British ornitholo- fore directly after we had drunk it. Ten days gists, to the British Zoological Society, which and ten nights we spent in this manner. We was printed in the Society's Proceedings for were still two hundred miles from Bermuda. that year; and on his return to England the when in the afternoon a vessel waseeen, and Royal Geographical Society induced him to by eight in the evening we were on board her, contribute a paper on the little-known region much rejoiced to have escaped a death on the travened by the Rio Negro and Uaupes rivers. wide ocean, whence none would have come During his stay in England and while pre­ to tell the tale." paring his two first books,he attended the The vessel that rescued them was an un­ meetings of various scientific societies, es­ seaworthy old tub, but meagerly provisioned pecially those concerned with physical acience. with food that was not fit for human beings Here he met a number of England's foremost to touch. Shortly after they were taken aboard scientists and made many life-long acquaint­ ances. a terrifie storm arose which threatened to de­ atroy the vessel, and it was followed a few days VI. EIGHT YEARS' WANDERING IN THE later by a still greater tempest. The ship TROPICAL ISLESOF THE FAR EAST. .... considerably damaged and it was neces- ary to keep the pumps going steadily to keep In the early spring of 1854 Mr. Wallace down the water. However, abe weathered Bet out for the Malay Archipelago and in due the storm and reached England by October time arrived at Singapore. from whence he first. began his eight years' of wandering through­ out the Malay Archipelago, which, to his V. LONDON: THE NATURALlST BECOMES use own language, " constituted the central and AN AUTHOR. controlling incident" of his life. Here for Here apleasant surprise awaited Mr. Wall­ eight yearshe journeyed from island to island, ace, as, arriving in London, he found that often visiting the aeldom-frequented regions throup the foresight of his agent his collec- where savage tribes of head-hunters had tion had been insured for a thousand dollars. dwelt for generations, and at times camping This supplied him with money for immediate for weeks or months on the edge of swamps needs and enabled him to spend several months and in jungles; and during the greater part in London,-time enough to get out his two of his wanderings he had no white companion, first works,one on The Palms of the Amazon but was served by a bright little Malay boy and Rio Negro, and the other Travels on the who proved very faithful both as servant, Amazon &Rio Negro, and to further prose- cook and assistant in his work. For the rest cute his studies in natural science so as to he had to depend largely on strangers of alien fully equip him for his next expedition tothe races whom he was able to pick up from time tropics; for though when on the ocean he had to time to serve as boatmen, guides, burden determined never againto brave the seas he bearers and land servants. soon felt the goad of desire for more knowl­ We cannot, of course, follow the naturalist edge in regard to tropical life which would during these yean of wandering in the wild enable him to solve many problems that were and untrodden islands of the eastem seas, but haunting his brain, and he determined to from the following extract taken from a letter make the Malay Archipelago the field of, re­ written home shortly after he began his re­ aea.rch, as here tropical life was particularly search in the Malay Archipelago we gain an rieh in those forma that were the most allur- idea of the life he was compelled to lead during ingtohim. a great portion of the time, and some of the The collections which he had sent home dangers he was constantly confronting. He from time to time during his stay in Brazil is describing his work in the jungle near Ma­ had made his name well known to the authori­ lacca where he spent some time: ties of the Zoological and Entomological So­ cietiee, and on reaching London he received •• At Malacca I had a strong touch of fever, a ticket giving him free admission to the Zo- with the old ' Rio Negro' symptoms. • • • in­ ological Gardens while he remained in Eng­ secta are not very abundant there, still. by land, He was a welcome visitor at the sci- perseverance, I got a good number, and many entific meetings of both societies. In 1860 rare ones. Of birds, too, I made a good col­ he had sent a paper on the Umbrella Bird, lec:tion. I went to the celebrated Mount 208 Alfred Russel Wallace.

Ophir, and aaoended to the top, sleeping under if one species was gradually changed into a rock. The walk there was hard work, another, there continued to be so many quite thirty miles through the jungle in a succession distinct species, so many which differed from of mud-holes, and swarming with leeches, their nearest allies by slight yet perfectly which crawled all over us, and sucked when definite and constant characters. One would and where they pleased. . . . I got some expect that if it was a law of nature that species fine new butterflies there, and hundreds of were continually changing so as to become other new or rare insects. Huge centipedes in time new and distinct species, the world and scorpions, some nearly a foot long, were would be full of an inextricable mixture of common, but we none of us got stung or bitten. various slightly different fonna, so that the We only had rice, and a little fish and tea, but well-defined and constant species we see came home quite well. The mountain is would not exist. Again, not only are species, over four thousand feet high. Near the top as a rule, aeparated from each other by dis­ are beautiful ferns and pitcher-plants, of tinct external characters, but they almost which I made a small collection. Elephants always differ also to some degree in their food, and rhinoceroses, as well as tigers are abund­ in the places they frequent, in their habits ant there." and instincts, and all these characters are quite That he was more than once in deadly peril as definite and constant as are the external we can easily imagine. On one occasion his characten. The problem then was, not only how and why do species change, but how and little boat was driven on rocks and almost wrecked on a savage coast. At other times why do they change into new and well-de­ he was for weeks and months in constant peril fined species, distinguished from each other from poisonous reptiles, insects and the den­ in so many ways; why and how do they be­ izensof the virgin forests and swamps, to say come so euctly adapted to distinct modes of nothing of the savage peoples. Frequently life; and why do all the intermediate grades he was the victim of the feven of the tropics, die out (as geology shows they have died out) and one of the most interesting parts of this and leave only cleady-defined and well-marked narrative of peculiar fascination is the scien­ species, genera, and higher groups of animals." tist's description of bow the key to one of the Mr. Wallace next obeerves how this new great riddles of the evolutionary theory flashed idea or principle which occurred to him at upon him when he was in the grip of a hard this time "answers all these questions and chill incident to a malarial fever. So im­ solves all these difficulties, and it is because it portant is the truth that came to the naturalist does so, and also because it is in itself self at this time, and because it is related to one evident and absolutely certain, that it has of the most interesting incidents in the history been accepted by the whole scientific world as of the development of the evolutionary theory, affording a true solution of the great problem we quote somewhat at length: of the origin of species." "It was while waiting at Ternate in order And now follows the interesting narrative to get ready for my next journey, and to de­ of how the new truth was suddenly revealed cide where I should go, that the idea already to him and the result: referred to occurred to me. It has been " At the time in question I was suffering shown how, for the preceding eight or nine from a sharp attack of intermittent fever, and years, the great problem of the origin of species every day during the cold and succeeding hot had been continually pondered over, and how fits had to lie down for several houn, during my varied obeervations and study had been which time I had nothing to do but think over made use of to lay the foundation for its full any subjects then particularly interesting me. discussion and elucidation. My paper writ­ One day something brought to my recollec­ ten at Sarawak rendered it certain to my mind tion Malthus's Principlesof population, which that the change had taken place by natural I had read about twelve years before. I succession and descent-one species becom­ thought of his clear exposition of 'the positive ing changed either slowly or rapidly into an­ checks to increase '-disease, accidents, war, other. But the exact processof the change and famine-which keep down the population and the causes which led to it were absolutely of savage races to so much lower an average unknown and appeared almost inconceivable. than that of more civilised peoples. It then The great difficulty was to understand how, occurred to me that these causes or their equiv- Alfred Russel Wallace. 209 a1ents are continually acting in the cue of on the two succeeding evenings wrote it out animals also; and as animals usually breed carefully in order to send it to Darwin by the much more rapidly than does mankind, the next post, which would leave in a day or two. destruction every year from these causes must "I wrote a letter to him in which I said that be enormous in order to keep down the num­ I hoped the idea would be as new to him as it ben of each species, since they evidently do was to me, and that it would supply the miss­ not increaae regularly from year to year, as ing factor to explain the origin of species. I otherwise the world would long ago have been asked him if he thought it sufficiently import­ deJl5ely crowded with those that breed most ant to show to Sir Charles Lyell, who had quickly. Vaguely thinking over the enor­ thought so highly of my former paper." mous and constant destruction which this implied, it occurred to me to ask the question, Mr. Wallace does not enter into the details Why do some die and some live? And the of what followed the receipt of his paper by answer was clearly, that on the whole the best Mr. Darwin, as the latter had dwelt on that fitted live. From the effects of disease the in his autobiographical sketch published most healthy escaped: from enemies, the years earlier. Briefly, it may be observed strongest, the swiftest, or the most cunning: that Charles Darwin had years before come from famine, the best hunters or those with to conclusions similar to those expressed by the best digestion; and so on. Then it sud­ Mr. Wallace and had imparted his views con­ denly flashed upon me that this self-acting fidentially to a few intimate friends, including process would necessarily improve the race, Sir Charles Lyell, Dr. Hooker and Professor because in every generation the inferior Asa Gray of Harvard University, Cambridge, would inevitably be killed off and the superior Massachusetts. On receipt of Mr. Wallace's would remain-that is, the fittest would sur- paper and letter, Mr. Darwin found himaelf vive. Then at once I seemed to see the whole in a quandary. He did not desire to appear effect of this, that when changes of land and to appropriate anyone's else discovery, yet sea, or of climate, or of food-supply, or of his conclusions, though carelully guarded enemies occurred-and we know that such save as he had imparted them to his intimate changes have always been taking place-and friends, had been entertained for fifteen years considering the amount of individual varia­ and he had already prepared hall of his great tion that my experience as a collector had work elucidating them. In his dilemma he shown me to exist, then it followed that all sought advice from Sir Charles Lyell, who the changes necessary for the adaptation of counseled him to make an abstract of his the species to the changing conditions would great work and accompany it with explana­ be brought about; and as great changes in tions and a letter which he had written to the environment are always slow, there would Professor Gray a year previous, showing that be ample time for the change to be effected he had long ere this fully arrived at the same by the survival of the best fitted in every gen­ conclusions as those advanced by Mr. Wallace, eration. In this way every part of an animal's and that both these papers should be given organization could be modified exactly as re­ in the forthcoming meeting of the Linnean quired, and in the very process of this modifi­ Society. In the Life and Letters of Charles cation the unmodified would die out, and thus Darwin the great author of the Origin of the definite characters and the clear isolation Speciesgives this interesting account of the of each new species would be explained. publication of the two papers: The more I thought over it the more I be­ "Early in 1856 Lyell advised me to write came convinced that I had at length found out my views pretty fully, and I began at once the long-sought-for law of nature that solved to do so on a scale three or four times as ex­ the problem of the origin of species. For the tensive as that which was afterwards followed next hour I thought over the deficiencies in in my Origin of Species yet it was only an the theories of Lamarck and of the author of abstract of the materials which I had collected, the Vestiges, and I saw that my new theory and I got through about half the work on supplemented these views and obviated every this scale. But my plans were overthrown, important difficulty. I waited anxiously for for early in the summer of 1858 Mr. Wallace, the termination of my fit so that I might at who was then in the Malay Archipelago, sent once make notes for a paper on the subject. me an essay 'On the Tendency of Varieties The same evening I did this pretty fully, and to depart indefinitely from the Original Type'; 210 Alfred Russel Wallace. aDd this essay contained exactly the .... imJDr!!1e and ftIuabIe cnDection 01 specimena theory .. Mr. Wallace expressed the be bfOUlbt two exbemely beautiIul and rare that if I thought well of his essay, I birds of paradise. such .. had never before should sendit to Lyell for perusal. been seen alift in Europe. They were for "The circumstances under which I con- 80IDe time a Ie&diog attndioa in the Zoolog­ ...ted at the request of Lyell and Hooker to ical Gardens 01 Loodoo. allow of aD abstract from my MS., together with a letter to Asa Gray, dakd September 5, VII. AT HOMEAGAIN: HIS CHIEF SCIEN- 1857, to be published at the -.me time with TIFIC WORK. Wallace's essay, Aft given in the Journal On reaching Loudon Mr. Wallace found of theProceedings of theLinnean Society that his priokd papers and his valuable work 1858, p. 45. I ... at first very unwilliog to for natural history had woo lor him the ad­ consent, .. I thought Mr. Wallace might con- miration and friendship of most of England'. Iider my doiag 80 unjustifiable, for I did not forelD08l physical scientisb. EftTJWhere the thea bow how generous and noble ... his worth of his views OIl I1lbjecta relating to disposition. The extract from my MS. and physical ecienoe in general and natural history the letter to Asa Gray had neither been in­ in particular ... hlghly respected and his tended for publication, and were badly written. great ability as a logical reuooer ... fittingly Mr. Wallace's eaay, OD the other hand, ... recogniJIed. Among those who were especi­ admirably expreued and quite clear." ally warm in their friendship and appreciation were Sir Charles LyeD, the Nestor of physical During his evenings and on rainy days science of the day, and Charles Darwin. the when he ... not othenriae engaged with his master-.pirit among the evolutionary leaders. collections, Mr. Wallace wrote letters aDd Herbert Spencer, T. B. Buley. and indeed papers of deep interest, containing not only all the more eminent of the progressive school vivid descriptions of his life and discoveries, of physical ecientista were nUDlbered among but pregnant with the rich fruitage of his his penonal friends. Be elao found his ser­ reuooing from facts and observations at hand. vioes in demand· by the great eocieties which One of thae papers, .. we haft just aeen, ... were carrying forward the variOWI branches "On the Tendency of Varieties to depart in­ of investigation in natural scienoe and history. defiDitely from the Origioal Type," and dwelt Formerly he bad dreamed of devoting his on the great truth of the survival of the fittest. life to the pel'8Onal investigation of the mul­ Another paper written much earlier ... en­ titudinous lower fol'lDl of life in the vegeta­ titled .. On the Law which has regulated the ble and animal world, which had lured him Introduction of New Species." It ... pub­ to the tropics of the Old and the New World lished in TheAnnals and Magazine Natu- and had held such almost irresistible charm ral History in 1858. Be alao spent every for him during more than twelve years. But spare moment he felt he could take from other now, when he ... recogniJIed as one of the work in reading a few great booksthat afforded foremost, if not as the very greatest working additional food for his imagination and rea­ naturali.st of the age, he found the horizon of soning faculties. But his time when not ill thought so greatly broadened that other and with fevers was for the most part devoted to vaster themes lured him with compelling collecting, classifying and properly mounting power. His philosophical research and his birds, butterflies, beetles and other insects personal investigations carried forward in In a letter to his friend Bates, written from a rationalistic attempt to solve in 10 far as Ternate in 1858, he gives a listof the ditJereot pouible the riddle of the ages, the story of the distinct species hehad collected up to date &IOeDt of life, dwarfed his former ambitions, durine his Malay wanderings. These num- and there were also other themes that called bered 8,540. In 1861 he writes of "cleaning, to him, not the least of which W&l the better­ arranging, comparing and packing for safe ing of aocial conditions for all the children of transmission to the other side of the world 1118D. about sixteen thousand specimens of insects, Sir Charles Lyell c:onoeived a high reprd birds and shells." for the inteUectual ability of lb. Wallace and From such facts we see how indefatigable the soundness of his reasoning, and aftn the he had been in his arduous labor. On his Datura1ist returned from the Far East a warm return to England in 1862, in addition to his and lasting friendship sprang up between the Alfred RusselWallace. 211 two. CharIes Darwin also cherished for him at a time of life when few men are able to the highest regard. The entire abeence of clearly marshal and present their thought, any feeling of jealousy between the two great and which in themselves would be enough to scientists and co-discoverers of a revolutionary give • man a high place among the writers of theory wu as beautiful as e:rceptional. On his time, we shall apeak presently. one oceasion Mr. Darwin in a personal letter His scientific works, fortified as they are by to Mr. Wallace wrote as follows: the immense acquisition of knowledge per­ .. I hope it is a satisfaction to you to reflect sonally gained during his twelve yealll of and very few things in my life have been more wandering, are among the mOlt important con­ satisfactory to me-that we have never felt tributions to the literature of physical science any jealousy towards each other, though in and evolutionary thought that we have, COID­ plementing, elucidating and fortifying the some sense rivals. I believe I can say this of myself with truth, and I am absolutely sure master-works of Darwin and Spencer; and that it is true of you." because of the author's wide knowledge of natural history they are in many respect. mOle Darwin ever entertained a very high regard helpful and authoritative than the magnificent for Mr. Wallace's reasoning power and his popular contribution of the fourth brilliant ability to make dry subjects perfectly plain scholar in the great EngIish evolutionary and interesting. He also frequently appealed group, T. H. Huxley. to him for light on different questions, though In 1882 Dublin Univenity conferred on the two scientists often differed radically in Mr. Wallace the degree of LL.D., and in 1889 their views and conclusions. In one of his he received the degree of D.C.L. from Oxford letters Mr. Darwin thus refers to one of our University. author's contributions to Nature: VIII. DR. WALLACE'S VISIT TO AMERICA " I must ease myself by writing a few words to say how much I and all in this house ad­ In the autumn of 1886 Dr. Wallace was mire your article in Nature. You are cer­ engaged by the management of the Lowell tainly an unparalleled master in lucidly stating Lecture Course of Boston to deliver a series a cue and in arguing. Nothing ever was of lectures that were given in November and better done than your argument about the December of that year, the subjects being: term Origin of Species, and about much being 1. The Darwinian Theory: what it is and gained if we know nothing about the precise how it has been demonstrated. cause of each variation." 2. The Origin and Uses of the Colors of Animals. It was during the thirty years following hia S. Mimicry, and other exceptional modes return to England from the Far East that Mr. of Animal Coloration. Wallace wrote his greatest scientific works, 4. The Origin and Uses of the Colors of among the most important of which were The Plants. Malay Archipelago, Geographical Distribu- 5. The Permanence of Oceans, and the re- tion of Animals, Natural Selection and Trop-lations of Islands and Continents. ical Nature, and Island Life He alao pub­ 6. Oceanic Islands and their Biological lished a great number of smaller treatises and History. wrote l!equently for the leading magazines. 7. Continental Islands: their Past History as well as preparing .veral papers for the and Biological Relations. Ninth Edition of the Encyclopedia Britan- 8. The Physical and Biological Relations nica. of New Zealand and Australia. Nor was his work confiDed to physical ence. He wrote on a number of subjects en­ This course of lectures formed the ground­ mly foreign to his special fields of reaearch. work of his popular book, published laler, Amoug his principal later scientific works entitled Darwinism. After completiDg hia were Darwinism the belt popular expositioo lectures he went to Washington whete he .... of the evolutionary philosophy that has been mained for some time, and from theIIce by writ&ea, and Studies Scientific and Social ...,. ~ be visia.d California, maki.., sci- ...m..cing many of hia shorter eaays, both .tiIe in~ at vuioua points. Tbe 10 physical scienceand IOCial advancereeks, the Indian relics of the Mound Builders, 01 his thNe works. written in recent the flowers of tile different repa.. the sr-t 212 Alfred Russel Wallace. trees of the Yosemite, and such natural scenes from it by the usual fumigations and cigar­ as the Garden of the Gods in Colorado and ettes, with occasional changes of air, and it Niagara Falls eapecially received his attention. was often quite painful to witness his suffer­ On his return to England he suffered greatly ings, which continued till his death in 1898. from asthma and came to the conclusion that As he was himself a medical man, and had his days of active labor were well-nigh over. had the best advice attainable, I had little ' He was, however, induced to go to Switzer­ hope of anything but a continuance and prob­ land and deliver a lecture on the great achieve­ ably an increase of the disease. ments of the nineteenth century, which was "But the very next year I obtained relief so well received that friends urged him to pre­ (and up to the present time an almost com­ pare a volume on the subject. This he did plete cure) in an altogether accidental way, not at first contemplate doing on account of if there are any 'accidents' in our lives. Mr. his precarious health, b!lt by a happy chance, A. Bruce-Joy, the well-known sculptor (a if there be such a thing as chance, he was perfect stranger to me), had called on me to shown a way to health about this time, and complete the modeling of a medallion which with renewed life set to work on his splendid he had begun from photographs, and I apol­ and thought-inspiring work, The Wonderful ogized for not looking well, as I was then Century, one of the best if indeed it is not the suffering from one of my frequent spells of most graphic and informing survey of the asthma, which often prevented me from get­ marvelous advances and also of the short­ ting any sleep at night. He thereupon told comings of the nineteenth century. This me that if I would follow his directions I could volume was followed by his work, Man's soon cure myself. Of course, I was alto­ Placein the Universe, and still later by the gether incredulous; but when he told me that present volume, My Life: A Record of Events he had himself been cured of a complication and Opinions which, though completed last of allied diseases - gout, rheumatism, and September, was not printed until the present bronchitis-of many years' standing. which year. As it contains nine hundred large pages no English doctors were able even to alleviate, of well-digested matter, itS preparation would by an American physician. Dr. Salisbury; naturally be considered an important work that it was effected solely by a change of diet, for a man in the prime of life. It has, how­ and that it was no theory or empirical treat­ ever, been written since Dr. Wallace passed ment. but the result of thirty years' experiment his eightieth milestone. This rejuvenation on the effects of various articles of diet upon of the great scientist, that has already eoabled men and animals, by the only scientific method him to prepare three notable works after his of studying each food separately and exclu­ health had completely broken down, is so re­ sively, I determined to try it. The result was, markable that we give his account of his cure that in a week I felt much better, in a month through a radical change of diet: I felt quite well, and during the six years that have elapsed no attack of asthma or of severe "When in 1896 I was invited by Dr. Lunn palpitation has recurred, and I have been to give a lecture to his friends at Davos, I able to do my literary work as well as before firmly believed that my scientific and literary I became subject to the malady. work was concluded. I had been for some "I may say that I have long been, and am yeal'll in weak health, and had no expectation still, in principle, a vegetarian, and believe of living much longer. Shortly after return­ that, for many reasons, it will certainly be ing from America I had another very severe the diet of the future. But for want of ade­ attack of asthma in 1890, and a year or two quate knowledge, and even more from the after it recurred and became chronic, together deficiencies of ordinary vegetable cookery, with violent palpitations on the least sudden it often produced bad effects. Dr. Salisbury uertion, and frequent colds almost invariably proved by experiment that it was the con­ followed by bronchitis. Any attempt at sumption of too much starch foods that pro­ continuous work was therefore very far from duces the set of diseases which he especially my thoughts, though at times I was able to cures; and when these diseases have become a fair amount of writing. My friend and chronic, the only cure is almost complete neighbor, Professor Allman, had suffered abstention from starchy substances, especially from the same alfection during a large part potatoes, bread, and most watery vegetables, of his life, and only found very partial relief and, in place of them, to substitute the most Alfred Russel Wallace. 213 eeaily digestible well-cooked meat. with fruits following extract in order to show how, even and nuts in moderation, and eggs, milk, etc., so late as that date. Herbert Spencer had not whenever they can be digested. Great suf­ become the reactionary he showed himaelf to ferers find immediate relief from an exclusive be ten years later, when he published Justice diet of the lean of beef. I myself live upon well-cooked beef with a fair proportion of fat " As you may suppose. I fully sympathize (whi.ch I can digest easily), a very small pro­ in the general aims of your proposed Land portion of bread or vegetables. fruit. eggs, Nationalization Society; but for sundry rea­ and light milk-puddings. The curious thing sons I hesitate to commit myself, at the pres­ is that most English doctors declare that a ent stage of the question, to a programme as meat diet is to be avoided in all these dis­ definite as that which you send me. It seems eases, and many order complete abstinence to me that before formulating the idea in a from meat. but. so far as I can learn, on no specific shape, it is needful to generate a body really scientific grounds. Dr. Salisbury. how­ of public opinion on the general issue, and ever, has experimentally proved that this class that it must be some time before there can of ailments are all due to malnutrition. and be produced such recognition of the general that this malnutrition is most frequently principle involved as is needful before definite caused by the consumption of too much of plans can be set forth to any purpose. starch foods at all .meals. which overload the " It seems to me that the thing to be done at stomach and prevent proper digestion and present is to arouse public attention to (1) assimilation. My case and that of Mr. the abstract inequity of the present condition Bruce-Joy certainly show that Dr. Salisbury of things; (2) to show that even now there is has found, for the first time in the history of in our law a tacit denial of absolute private ownership, since the State reserves the power medicine. a cure-not merely an alleviation -for these painful and distressing maladies. of resuming possession of land on making This personal detail as to my health is, I compensation; (8) that this tacitly admitted think. of general interest in view of the large ownership ought to be overtly asserted; (4) number of sufferers who are pronounced in­ and that having been overtly asserted, the curable by English doctors." landowner should be distinctly placed in the position of a tenant of the State on something IX. SOCIAL VIEWS. like the terms proposed in your scheme: name­ Our author's interest in social problems ly, that while the land itself should be regarded dates from his brief residence in London as public property, such value as has been when he was but fourteen years of age. At given to it should vest in the existing so-called that time, as we have already seen, he became owner." deeply interested in the work of Robert Owen In commenting on the above Dr. Wallace at New Lanark, and the social views of that says: great philanthropist and reformer exerted a " On this I may remark that. during the marked influence on his mind. He was ever twenty-five years that has elapsed, the Land a passionate lover of justice, and he was too Nationalization Society has been continuously fundamental a thinker to fail to see the essen- at work, doing the very things that our critic tial iniquity of present-day unjust social con­ seemed to think ought to be done before we ditions. But it was not until the publication formed the society. We have now 'genera­ of Herbert Spencer's Social Statics that he ted a body of public opinion' in our favor, clearlysaw the iniquityof private-ownership which could hardly have been effected with­ m land and how It was a prime cause of social out the work of a society, and we have long inequality ~d a leading factor in producing since satisfied most thinking men that the poverty. misery and the crime incident to special difficulty as to the valuation of the these. owners' improvements is a purely imaginary In 1881, after the publication of a luminous one. since it is continually done." paper on how to nationalize the land. a Land Nationalization Society was formed and the Dr. Wallace hailed the appearance of Henry great naturalist was elected its first president. George's Progress and Poverty as the message At that time he wrote Herbert Spencer asking of a true prophet of civilization, and hastened him if he would join the society. The latter to call Mr. Spencer's attention to the work, declined in a letter from which we take the but the spell of reaction and conftntionaliam 214 Alfred Russel Wallace. bad begun to creep over the once splendidly is 'the voluntary organization of labor for progreaive and courageous mind of the great the good of all.' All the best and most philosopher. He had already ceased to he thoughtful writers on socialism agree in this; a social leader, but few of his friends and and for my own part I cannot conceive it admirers were prepared for the reactionary coming about in any other way. Compul­ ~eWB he advanced in Justice. There was a sory socialism is, to me, a contradiction in marked difference in the moral and mental terms-as much so as would be compulsory make-up of these two great thinkers. Her­ friendship. " bert Spencer in early life was quite as much As to the practibility of socialism he say.: or more than Alfred Russel Wallace domina­ ted by the spirit of liberalism and of justice. "I have ever since been absolutely con­ Be was a leader of civilization and a way­ vinced, not only that socialism is thoroughly shower for the battalions of right and progress: practicable, but that it is the only form of but as age crept over him, he, like so many society worthy of civilized beings, and that other one-time leaders, became a camp-fol­ it alone can secure for mankind continuous lower along certain lines. Be grew timid, mental and moral advancement, together with conservative and reactionary. Not so with that true happiness which arises from the full Dr. Wallace. His mind and soul have con­ exercise of all their facilities for the purpoee tinued to expand, broaden and develop as of satisfying all their rational needs, desires, the yean have silvered his beard and crowned and aspirations " his octogenarian head with snow. His su­ Be is, however, nothing if not a democrat, perb moral courage has kept pace with his not believing in any form of government that intellectual vigor, while his passion for justice does not conform to the wishes of the majority. for all the people has burned brighter and "To my mind," he observes"the question of brighter and his moral idealism and faith in good or bad, fit or not fit for self-government a nobler to-monow have abone forth in his is not to the point. It is a question of fun­ later works with a splendor greater even than damental justice, and the just is alway. the in his earlier writings. expedient, as well as the right. It is a crime He has written much in favor of land Da­ against humanity for one nation to govern tionalization and various other social and another against its will. The master alway. economic progressive measures. At our re­ say. his slaves are not fit for freedom; the quest he prepared aeveral papers for The tyrant, that subjects are not fit to govem ARENA, the most notable being, perhaps, the themselves. The fitness for self-govemment two contributions entitled The Social Quag­ is inherent in human nature. Many savage mire andthe Way Out for the Farmer and tribes, many barbarian peoples are really Wage-Earner, which appeared in THE ARENA better govemed to-day than the majority of in the spring of 1893. Another important the self-slyled civilized nations." paper which he prepared for us was entitled Human Progress,, Past and Future, which ap­ x. RELIGIOUS VIEWS. peared in the ARENA for January, 1892. Two Our author was born into a Church of contrIbutions on objective apparitions also England family and was reared in that faith, awakened widespread interest and elicited but his investigations led him, as they led much comment on both sides of the Atlantic. most of the great physical scientists of the Dr. Wallace, though a firm believer in the nineteenth century, into agnosticism. Later, Single-Tax idea, is socialistic rather than however. his attention was called to modern individualistic in his economic views. Be spiritualism. He investigated, as he investi­ may be called a Fabian or an opportunist gated other subjects, carefully, patiently, Socialist-a Socialist something after the rigidly, keeping his mind open to the truth, order of Jean Jaures, the eminent French but with what prejudice he had against rather statesman. In defining Socialism as he un­ than in favor of the spiritualistic claims. At derstands it, Dr. Wallace says: last, however, like Sir William Crookes, F. W. B. Myers, Dr. Richard Hodgson, Sir "I may here state for the benefit of those Oliver Lodge, Camille Flammarion and many ignorant writers who believe that socialism other of the profound scientific thinkers of mu be compulsory, and speak of it as a 'form the put century, he became convinced of the of slavery,' that my own definition of socialism central claim of modern spiritualism, and de- 215 spite the advice and remonstrances of his their likes and dislikes, all made the more in- acientific friends, he boldly championed what teresting by the researches of Darwin, Kerner, he conceived to be demonstrated truth, his H. Muller, Grant Allen, Lubbock and others, volume of Miracles and ModernSpiritualism on the uses of each infinitely varied detail of being one of the ablest expositions of the stem and leaf, of bract and flower this spiritualistic philosophy that has appeared. was to me a delight in itself, and gave me that Since the publication of this work the inves­ general knowledge of the outward forms aild tigations of the English Society for Psychical inward peculiarities of plants, and of the ex­ Research have led many of Europe's greatest quisite beauty and almost infinite variety of acientists, both physicists and psychologists, the vegetable kingdom, which enabled me to acceptance of a belief not very different better to appreciate the marvel and mystery from that entertained by Dr. Wallace, though of plant life, whether in itself or in its complex for many years his religious convictions made relations to the higher attributes of man. " against him both with his scientific fellow­ No one can read this delightful life-story worken and the leadersof the religious world, without finding his intellectual horizon broad· who were, however, wont to seize upon his ened and his moral and spiritual senaibilitiea argumentsin favor of immortality with great stimulated, while the life itself cannot fail to avidity when arguing on evolution with sci­ prove an inspiration to all serious-minded entists. youths, one of the most marked characteristics XI. HOME LIFE. being his splendid moral courage. He is an uncompromising foe of militarism-as much His home life has been as beautiful as his so as are the Quakers, in this respect his life public career has been worthy and illustrious. stands out in splendid relief from those small- Be married some time after his return from souled but loud-mouthed mortals who delight the Malay Archipelago and has proved a in taking the lives of unoffending animals, faithful, high-minded husband and father. who glory in the "big stick," and who take No spot has been so dear to him as his home. pride in war and great armaments, but who Be naturally loves nature and has always are strangely lacking in the supreme test of striven to live in the country or where he could true bravery-moral courage that cannot be have ample land for flowers, shrubs and swerved from what one believes to be right. garden, and a fine view. "My gardening," Alfred Russel Wallace's moral courage is only be says, "has always been to me pure enjoy­ equaled by his hatred of war, the useless ment. I have never made any experiments taking of life and the inflicting of pain on with my plants, never attempted to study others. He loves peace, he believes in human their minute structure or to write about them; brotherhood, he worships towards the dawn, the mere seeing them grow, noting the in­ and the keynote of his life has ever been a finite diversities of their forms and habits, passionate love for truth and justice.