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Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences Vol 2 (of 2) by James Marchant

J >> James Marchant >> Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences Vol 2 (of 2)



[Transcriber's note: Footnotes moved to end of book]




ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE

LETTERS AND REMINISCENCES

[Illustration: A.R. WALLACE (1913)]




Alfred Russel Wallace

Letters and Reminiscences


By James Marchant

_With Two Photogravures and Eight Half-tone Plates_

IN TWO VOLUMES

Volume II


CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD

London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne

1916




CONTENTS OF VOLUME II


PART III


I. WALLACE'S WORKS ON BIOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

II. CORRESPONDENCE ON BIOLOGY, GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, ETC. (1864-98)

III. CORRESPONDENCE ON BIOLOGY, GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, ETC.
(1894-1913)


PART IV

HOME LIFE


PART V

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL VIEWS


PART VI

SOME FURTHER PROBLEMS

I. ASTRONOMY

II. SPIRITUALISM


PART VII

CHARACTERISTICS

APPENDIX: LISTS OF WALLACE'S WRITINGS

INDEX




LIST OF PLATES IN VOLUME 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"[1] 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."[2]

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 Papilionidae, 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:

1. On the Law which has regulated the Introduction of New Species.

2. On the Tendency of Varieties to depart indefinitely from the Original
Type.

3. Mimicry, and other Protective Resemblances among Animals.

4. The Malayan Papilionidae.

5. Instinct in Man and Animals.

6. The Philosophy of Birds' Nests.

7. A Theory of Birds' Nests.

8. Creation by Law.

9. The Development of Human Races under the Law of Natural Selection.

10. The Limits of Natural Selection as applied to Man.

His reasons for publishing this work were, first, that the first two
papers of the series had gained him the reputation of being an
originator of the theory of Natural Selection, and, secondly, that there
were a few important points relating to the origin of life and
consciousness and the mental and moral qualities of man and other views
on which he entirely differed from Darwin.

Though in later years Wallace's convictions developed considerably with
regard to the spiritual aspect of man's nature, he never deviated from
the ideas laid down in these essays. Only a very brief outline must
suffice to convey some of the most important points.

In the childhood of the human race, he believed, Natural Selection would
operate mainly on man's body, but in later periods upon the mind. Hence
it would happen that the physical forms of the different races were
early fixed in a permanent manner. Sharper claws, stronger muscles,
swifter feet and tougher hides determine the survival value of lower
animals. With man, however, the finer intellect, the readier
adaptability to environment, the greater susceptibility to improvement,
and the elastic capacity for co-ordination, were the qualities which
determined his career. Tribes which are weak in these qualities give way
and perish before tribes which are strong in them, whatever advantages
the former may possess in physical structure. The finest savage has
always succumbed before the advance of civilisation. "The Red Indian
goes down before the white man, and the New Zealander vanishes in
presence of the English settler." Nature, careless in this stage of
evolution about the body, selects for survival those varieties of
mankind which excel in mental qualities. Hence it has happened that the
physical characteristics of the different races, once fixed in very
early prehistoric times, have never greatly varied. They have passed out
of the range of Natural Selection because they have become comparatively
unimportant in the struggle for existence.

After going into considerable detail of organic and physical
development, he says: "The inference I would draw from this class of
phenomena is, that a superior intelligence has guided the development of
man in a definite direction, and for a special purpose, just as man
guides the development of many animal and vegetable forms." Thus he
foreshadows the conclusion, to be more fully developed in "The World of
Life" (1910), of an over-ruling God, of the spiritual nature of man, and
of the other world of spiritual beings.

An essay that excited special attention was that on Mimicry. The two on
Birds' Nests brought forth some rather heated correspondence from
amateur naturalists, to which Wallace replied either by adducing
confirmation of the facts stated, or by thanking them for the
information they had given him.

With reference to the paper on Mimicry, it is interesting to note that
the hypothesis therein adopted was first suggested by H.W. Bates,
Wallace's friend and fellow-traveller in South America. The essay under
this title dealt with the subject in a most fascinating manner, and was
probably the first to arouse widespread interest in this aspect of
natural science.

The next eight years saw the production of many important and valuable
works, amongst which the "Geographical Distribution of Animals" (1876)
occupies the chief place. This work, though perhaps the least known to
the average reader, was considered by Wallace to be the most important
scientific work he ever attempted. From references in letters written
during his stay in the Malay Archipelago, it is clear that the subject
had a strong attraction for him, and formed a special branch of study
and observation many years before he began to work it out systematically
in writing. His decision to write the book was the outcome of a
suggestion made to him by Prof. A. Newton and Dr. Sclater about 1872. In
addition to having already expressed his general views on this subject
in various papers and articles, he had, after careful consideration,
come to adopt Dr. Sclater's division of the earth's surface into six
great zoological regions, which he found equally applicable to birds,
mammalia, reptiles, and other great divisions; while at the same time
it helped to explain the apparent contradictions in the distribution of
land animals. Some years later he wrote:

In whatever work I have done I have always aimed at systematic
arrangement and uniformity of treatment throughout. But here the immense
extent of the subject, the overwhelming mass of detail, and above all
the excessive diversities in the amount of knowledge of the different
classes of animals, rendered it quite impossible to treat all alike. My
preliminary studies had already satisfied me that it was quite useless
to attempt to found any conclusions on those groups which were
comparatively little known, either as regards the proportion of species
collected and described, or as regards their systematic classification.
It was also clear that as the present distribution of animals is
necessarily due to their past distribution, the greatest importance must
be given to those groups whose fossil remains in the more recent strata
are the most abundant and the best known. These considerations led me to
limit my work in its detailed systematic groundwork, and study of the
principles and law of distribution, to the mammalia and birds, and to
apply the principles thus arrived at to an explanation of the
distribution of other groups, such as reptiles, fresh-water fishes, land
and fresh-water shells, and the best-known insect Orders.

There remained another fundamental point to consider. Geographical
distribution in its practical applications and interest, both to
students and to the general reader, consists of two distinct divisions,
or rather, perhaps, may be looked at from two points of view. In the
first of these we divide the earth into regions and sub-regions, study
the causes which have led to the difference in their animal productions,
give a general account of these, with the amount of resemblance to and
difference from other regions; and we may also give lists of the
families and genera inhabiting each, with indications as to which are
peculiar and which are also found in adjacent regions. This aspect of
the study I term zoological geography, and it is that which would be of
most interest to the resident or travelling naturalist, as it would give
him, in the most direct and compact form, an indication of the numbers
and kinds of animals he might expect to meet with.[3]

The keynote of the general scheme of distribution, as set forth in these
two volumes, may be expressed as an endeavour to compare the extinct and
existing fauna of each country and to trace the course by which what is
now peculiar to each region had come to assume its present character.
The main result being that all the higher forms of life seem to have
originally appeared in the northern hemisphere, which has sent out
migration after migration to colonise the three southern continents; and
although varying considerably from time to time in form and extent, each
has kept essentially distinct, while at the same time receiving
periodically wave after wave of fresh animal life from the northward.

This again was due to many physical causes such as peninsulas parting
from continents as islands, islands joining and making new continents,
continents breaking up or effecting junction with or being isolated from
one another. Thus Australia received the germ of her present abundant
fauna of pouched mammals when she was part of the Old-World continent,
but separated from that too soon to receive the various placental
mammals which have, except in her isolated area, superseded those older
forms. So, also, South America, at one time unconnected with North
America, developed her great sloths and armadilloes, and, on fusing with
the latter, sent her megatheriums to the north, and received mastodons
and large cats in exchange.

Some of the points, such for instance as the division of the sub-regions
into which each greater division is separated, gave rise to
considerable controversy. Wallace's final estimate of the work stands:
"No one is more aware than myself of the defects of the work, a
considerable portion of which are due to the fact that it was written a
quarter of a century too soon--at a time when both zoological and
palaeontological discovery were advancing with great rapidity, while new
and improved classifications of some of the great classes and orders
were in constant progress. But though many of the details given in these
volumes would now require alteration, there is no reason to believe that
the great features of the work and general principles established by it
will require any important modification."[4]

About this time he wrote the article on "Acclimatisation" for the
"Encyclopaedia Britannica"; and another on "Distribution-Zoology" for the
same work. As President of the Biological Section of the British
Association he prepared an address for the meeting at Glasgow; wrote a
number of articles and reviews, as well as his remarkable book on
"Miracles and Modern Spiritualism." In 1878 he published "Tropical
Nature," in which he gave a general sketch of the climate, vegetation,
and animal life of the equatorial zone of the tropics from his own
observations in both hemispheres. The chief novelty was, according to
his own opinion, in the chapter on "climate," in which he endeavoured to
show the exact causes which produce the difference between the uniform
climate of the equatorial zone, and that of June and July in England.
Although at that time _we_ receive actually more of the light and heat
of the sun than does Java or Trinidad in December, yet these places have
then a mean temperature very much higher than ours. It contained also a
chapter on humming-birds, as illustrating the luxuriance of tropical
nature; and others on the colours of animals and of plants, and on
various biological problems.[5]

"Island Life"[6] (published 1880) was begun in 1877, and occupied the
greater part of the next three years. This had been suggested by certain
necessary limitations in the writing of "The Geographical Distribution
of Animals." It is a fascinating account of the relations of islands to
continents, of their unwritten records of the distribution of plant and
animal life in the morning time of the earth, of the causes and results
of the glacial period, and of the manner of reckoning the age of the
world from geological data. It also included several new features of
natural science, and still retains an important place in scientific
literature. No better summary can be given than that by the author
himself:

In my "Geographical Distribution of Animals" I had, in the first place,
dealt with the larger groups, coming down to families and genera, but
taking no account of the various problems raised by the distribution of
particular _species_. In the next place, I had taken little account of
the various islands of the globe, excepting as forming sub-regions or
parts of sub-regions. But I had long seen the great interest and
importance of these, and especially of Darwin's great discovery of the
two classes into which they are naturally divided--oceanic and
continental islands. I had already given lectures on this subject, and
had become aware of the great interest attaching to them, and the great
light they threw upon the means of dispersal of animals and plants, as
well as upon the past changes, both physical and means of dispersal and
colonisation of animals is so connected with, and often dependent on,
that of plants, that a consideration of the latter is essential to any
broad views as to the distribution of life upon the earth, while they
throw unexpected light upon those exceptional means of dispersal which,
because they are exceptional, are often of paramount importance in
leading to the production of new species and in thus determining the
nature of insular floras and faunas.

Having no knowledge of scientific botany, it needed some courage, or, as
some may think, presumption, to deal with this aspect of the problem;
but ... I had long been excessively fond of plants, and ... interested
in their distribution. The subject, too, was easier to deal with, on
account of the much more complete knowledge of the detailed distribution
of plants than of animals, and also because their classification was in
a more advanced and stable condition. Again, some of the most
interesting islands of the globe had been carefully studied botanically
by such eminent botanists as Sir Joseph Hooker for the Galapagos, New
Zealand, Tasmania, and the Antarctic islands; Mr. H.C. Watson for the
Azores; Mr. J.G. Baker for Mauritius and other Mascarene islands; while
there were floras by competent botanists of the Sandwich Islands,
Bermuda and St. Helena....

But I also found it necessary to deal with a totally distinct branch of
science--recent changes of climate as dependent on changes of the
earth's surface, including the causes and effects of the glacial epoch,
since these were among the most powerful agents in causing the dispersal
of all kinds of organisms, and thus bringing about the actual
distribution that now prevails. This led me to a careful study of Mr.
James Croll's remarkable works on the subject of the astronomical causes
of the glacial and interglacial periods.... While differing on certain
details, I adopted the main features of his theory, combining with it
the effects of changes in height and extent of land which form an
important adjunct to the meteorological agents....

Besides this partially new theory of the causes of glacial epochs, the
work contained a fuller statement of the various kinds of evidence
proving that the great oceanic basins are permanent features of the
earth's surface, than had before been given; also a discussion of the
mode of estimating the duration of geological periods, and some
considerations leading to the conclusion that organic change is now less
rapid than the average, and therefore that less time is required for
this change than has hitherto been thought necessary. I was also, I
believe, the first to point out the great difference between the more
ancient continental islands and those of more recent origin, with the
interesting conclusions as to geographical changes afforded by both;
while the most important novelty is the theory by which I explained the
occurrence of northern groups of plants in all parts of the southern
hemisphere--a phenomenon which Sir Joseph Hooker had pointed out, but
had then no means of explaining.[7]

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