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Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 1 (of 2) by James Marchant

J >> James Marchant >> Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 1 (of 2)



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

[Illustration]




Alfred Russel Wallace

Letters and Reminiscences


By

James Marchant

_With Two Photogravures and Eight Half-tone Plates_

IN TWO VOLUMES

Volume I


CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD

London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne

1916




To the Memory of

ANNIE WALLACE




PREFACE


These two volumes consist of a selection from several thousands of
letters entrusted to me by the Wallace family and dating from the dawn
of Darwinism to the second decade of the twentieth century, supplemented
by such biographical particulars and comments as are required for the
elucidation of the correspondence and for giving movement and continuity
to the whole.

The wealth and variety of Wallace's own correspondence, excluding the
large collection of letters which he received from many eminent men and
women, and the necessity for somewhat lengthy introductions and many
annotations, have expanded the work to two (there was, indeed, enough
good material to make four) volumes. The family has given me unstinted
confidence in using or rejecting letters and reminiscences, and although
I have consulted scientific and literary friends, I alone must be blamed
for sins of omission or commission. Nothing has been suppressed in the
unpublished letters, or in any of the letters which appear in these
volumes, because there was anything to hide. Everything Wallace wrote,
all his private letters, could be published to the world. His life was
an open book--"no weakness, no contempt, dispraise, or blame, nothing
but well and fair."

The profoundly interesting and now historic correspondence between
Darwin and Wallace, part of which has already appeared in the "Life and
Letters of Charles Darwin" and "More Letters," and part in Wallace's
autobiography, entitled "My Life," is here published, with new
additions, for the first time as a whole, so that the reader now has
before him the necessary material to form a true estimate of the origin
and growth of the theory of Natural Selection, and of the personal
relationships of its noble co-discoverers.

My warmest thanks are offered to Sir Francis Darwin for permission to
use his father's letters, for his annotations, and for rendering help in
checking the typescript of the Darwin letters; to Mr. John Murray,
C.V.O., for permission to use letters and notes from the "Life and
Letters of Charles Darwin" and from "More Letters"; to Messrs. Chapman
and Hall for their great generosity in allowing the free use of letters
and material in Wallace's "My Life"; to Prof. E.B. Poulton, Prof. Sir
W.F. Barrett, Sir Wm. Thiselton-Dyer, Dr. Henry Forbes, and others for
letters and reminiscences; and to Prof. Poulton for reading the proofs
and for valuable suggestions. An intimate chapter on Wallace's Home Life
has been contributed by his son and daughter, Mr. W.G. Wallace and Miss
Violet Wallace.

J.M.

_March, 1916._




CONTENTS


Volume I


INTRODUCTION


PART I

I. WALLACE AND DARWIN--EARLY YEARS

II. EARLY LETTERS (1854-62)


PART II

I. THE DISCOVERY OF NATURAL SELECTION

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


Volume II


PART III

I. WALLACE'S WORKS ON BIOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

II. CORRESPONDENCE ON BIOLOGY, GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, ETC. (1864-93)

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


PART IV

HOME LIFE


PART V

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL VIEWS


PART VI

SOME FURTHER PROBLEMS

I. ASTRONOMY

II. SPIRITUALISM


PART VII

CHARACTERISTICS


APPENDIX: LISTS OF WALLACE'S WRITINGS

INDEX




LIST OF PLATES IN VOLUME I


A.R. WALLACE (1912)

A.R. WALLACE (SINGAPORE, 1862)

A.R. WALLACE'S MOTHER

A.R. WALLACE SOON AFTER HIS RETURN FROM THE EAST




Alfred Russel Wallace

Letters and Reminiscences




INTRODUCTION


In Westminster Abbey there repose, almost side by side, by no conscious
design yet with deep significance, the mortal remains of Isaac Newton
and of Charles Darwin. "'The Origin of Species,'" said Wallace, "will
live as long as the 'Principia' of Newton." Near by are the tombs of Sir
John Herschel, Lord Kelvin and Sir Charles Lyell; and the medallions in
memory of Joule, Darwin, Stokes and Adams have been rearranged so as to
admit similar memorials of Lister, Hooker and Alfred Russel Wallace. Now
that the plan is completed, Darwin and Wallace are together in this
wonderful galaxy of the great men of science of the nineteenth century.
Several illustrious names are missing from this eminent company;
foremost amongst them being that of Herbert Spencer, the lofty master of
that synthetic philosophy which seemed to his disciples to have the
proportions and qualities of an enduring monument, and whose
incomparable fertility of creative thought entitled him to share the
throne with Darwin. It was Spencer, Darwin, Wallace, Hooker, Lyell and
Huxley who led that historic movement which garnered the work of Lamarck
and Buffon, and gave new direction to the ceaseless interrogation of
nature to discover the "how" and the "why" of the august progression of
life.

Looking over the long list of the departed whose names are enshrined in
our Minster, one has sorrowfully to observe that contemporary opinion of
their place in history and abiding worth was not infrequently astray;
that memory has, indeed, forgotten their works; and their memorials
might be removed to some cloister without loss of respect for the dead,
perhaps even with the silent approval of their own day and generation
could it awake from its endless sleep and review the strange and
eventful course of human life since they left "this bank and shoal of
time." But may it not be safely prophesied that of all the names on the
starry scroll of national fame that of Charles Darwin will, surely,
remain unquestioned? And entwined with his enduring memory, by right of
worth and work, and we know with Darwin's fullest approval, our
successors will discover the name of Alfred Russel Wallace. Darwin and
Wallace were pre-eminent sons of light.

Among the great men of the Victorian age Wallace occupied a unique
position. He was the co-discoverer of the illuminating theory of Natural
Selection; he watched its struggle for recognition against prejudice,
ignorance, ridicule and misrepresentation; its gradual adoption by its
traditional enemies; and its final supremacy. And he lived beyond the
hour of its signal triumph and witnessed the further advance into the
same field of research of other patient investigators who are disclosing
fresh phases of the same fundamental laws of development, and are
accumulating a vast array of new facts which tell of still richer light
to come to enlighten every man born into the world. To have lived
through that brilliant period and into the second decade of the
twentieth century; to have outlived all contemporaries, having been the
co-revealer of the greatest and most far-reaching generalisation in an
era which abounded in fruitful discoveries and in revolutionary
advances in the application of science to life, is verily to have been
the chosen of the gods.

Who and what manner of man was Alfred Russel Wallace? Who were his
forbears? How did he obtain his insight into the closest secrets of
nature? What was the extent of his contributions to our stock of human
knowledge? In which directions did he most influence his age? What is
known of his inner life? These are some of the questions which most
present-day readers and all future readers into whose hands this book
may come will ask.

As to his descent, his upbringing, his education and his estimate of his
own character and work, we can, with rare good fortune, refer them to
his autobiography, in which he tells his own story and relates the
circumstances which, combined with his natural disposition, led him to
be a great naturalist and a courageous social reformer; nay more, his
autobiography is also in part a peculiar revelation of the inner man
such as no biography could approach. We are also able to send inquirers
to the biographies and works of his contemporaries--Darwin, Hooker,
Lyell, Huxley and many others. All this material is already available to
the diligent reader. But there are other sources of information which
the present book discloses--Wallace's home life, the large collection of
his own letters, the reminiscences of friends, communications which he
received from many co-workers and correspondents which, besides being of
interest in themselves, often cast a sidelight upon his own mind and
work. All these are of peculiar and intimate value to those who desire
to form a complete estimate of Wallace. And it is to help the reader to
achieve this desirable result that the present work is published.

It may be stated here that Wallace had suggested to the present writer
that he should undertake a new work, to be called "Darwin and Wallace,"
which was to have been a comparative study of their literary and
scientific writings, with an estimate of the present position of the
theory of Natural Selection as an adequate explanation of the process of
organic evolution. Wallace had promised to give as much assistance as
possible in selecting the material without which the task on such a
scale would obviously have been impossible. Alas! soon after the
agreement with the publishers was signed and in the very month that the
plan of the work was to have been shown to Wallace, his hand was
unexpectedly stilled in death; and the book remains unwritten. But as
the names of Darwin and Wallace are inseparable even by the scythe of
time, a slight attempt is here made, in the first sections of Part I.
and Part II., to take note of their ancestry and the diversities and
similarities in their respective characters and environments--social and
educational; to mark the chief characteristics of their literary works
and the more salient conditions and events which led them,
independently, to the idea of Natural Selection.

Finally, it may be remarked that up to the present time the unique work
and position of Wallace have not been fully disclosed owing to his great
modesty and to the fact that he outlived all his contemporaries. "I am
afraid," wrote Sir W.T. Thiselton-Dyer to him in one of his letters
(1893), "the splendid modesty of the big men will be a rarer commodity
in the future. No doubt many of the younger ones know an immense deal;
but I doubt if many of them will ever exhibit the grasp of great
principles which we owe to you and your splendid band of
contemporaries." If this work helps to preserve the records of the
influence and achievements of this illustrious and versatile genius and
of the other eminent men who brought the great conception of Evolution
to light, it will surely have justified its existence.




PART I




I.--Wallace and Darwin--Early Years


As springs burst forth, now here, now there, on the mountain side, and
find their way together to the vast ocean, so, at certain periods of
history, men destined to become great are born within a few years of
each other, and in the course of life meet and mingle their varied gifts
of soul and intellect for the ultimate benefit of mankind. Between the
years 1807 and 1825 at least eight illustrious scientists "saw the
light"--Sir Charles Lyell, Sir Joseph Hooker, T.H. Huxley, Herbert
Spencer, John Tyndall, Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace and Louis
Agassiz; whilst amongst statesmen and authors we recall Bismarck,
Gladstone, Lincoln, Tennyson, Longfellow, Robert and Elizabeth Browning,
Ruskin, John Stuart Blackie and Oliver Wendell Holmes--a wonderful
galaxy of shining names.

The first group is the one with which we are closely associated in this
section, in which we have brought together the names of Charles Darwin
and Alfred Russel Wallace--between whose births there was a period of
fourteen years, Darwin being born on the 12th of February, 1809, and
Wallace on the 8th of January, 1823.

In each case we are indebted to an autobiography for an account of their
early life and work, written almost entirely from memory when at an age
which enabled them to take an unbiased view of the past.

The autobiography of Darwin was written for the benefit of his family
only, when he was 67; while the two large volumes entitled "My Life"
were written by Wallace when he was 82, for the pleasure of reviewing
his long career. These records are characterised by that charming
modesty and simplicity of life and manner which was so marked a feature
of both men.

In the circumstances surrounding their early days there was very little
to indicate the similarity in character and mental gifts which became so
evident in their later years. A brief outline of the hereditary
influences immediately affecting them will enable us to trace something
of the essential differences as well as the similarities which marked
their scientific and literary attainments.

The earliest records of the Darwin family show that in 1500 an ancestor
of that name (though spelt differently) was a substantial yeoman living
on the borders of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. In the reign of James I.
the post of Yeoman of the Royal Armoury of Greenwich was granted to
William Darwin, whose son served with the Royalist Army under Charles I.
During the Commonwealth, however, he became a barrister of Lincoln's
Inn, and later the Recorder of the City of Lincoln.

Passing over a generation, we find that a brother of Dr. Erasmus Darwin
"cultivated botany," and, when far advanced in years, published a volume
entitled "Principia Botanica," while Erasmus developed into a poet and
philosopher. The eldest son of the latter "inherited a strong taste for
various branches of science ... and at a very early age collected
specimens of all kinds." The youngest son, Robert Waring, father of
Charles Darwin, became a successful physician, "a man of genial
temperament, strong character, fond of society," and was the possessor
of great psychic power by which he could readily sum up the characters
of others, and even occasionally read their thoughts. A judicious use of
this gift was frequently found to be more efficacious than actual
medicine! To the end of his life Charles Darwin entertained the greatest
affection and reverence for his father, and frequently spoke of him to
his own children.

From this brief summary of the family history it is easy to perceive the
inherited traits which were combined in the attractive personality of
the great scientist. From his early forbears came the keen love of sport
and outdoor exercise (to which considerable reference is made in his
youth and early manhood); the close application of the philosopher; and
the natural aptitude for collecting specimens of all kinds. To his
grandfather he was doubtless indebted for his poetic imagination, which,
consciously or unconsciously, pervaded his thoughts and writings, saving
them from the cold scientific atmosphere which often chills the lay
mind. Lastly, the geniality of his father was strongly evidenced by his
own love of social intercourse, his courtesy and ready wit, whilst the
gentleness of his mother--who unfortunately died when he was 7 years
old--left a delicacy of feeling which pervaded his character to the very
last.

No such sure mental influences, reaching back through several
generations, can be traced in the records of the Wallace family,
although what is known reveals the source of the dogged perseverance
with which Wallace faced the immense difficulties met with by all early
pioneer travellers, of that happy diversity of mental interests which
helped to relieve his periods of loneliness and inactivity, and of that
quiet determination to pursue to the utmost limit every idea which
impressed his mind as containing the germ of a wider and more
comprehensive truth than had yet been generally recognised and accepted.

The innate reticence and shyness of manner which were noticeable all
through his life covered a large-heartedness even in the most careful
observation of facts, and produced a tolerant disposition towards his
fellow-men even when he most disagreed with their views or dogmas. He
was one of those of whom it may be truly said in hackneyed phrases that
he was "born great," whilst destined to have "greatness thrust upon him"
in the shape of honours which he received with hesitation.

From his autobiography we gather that his father, though dimly tracing
his descent from the famous Wallace of Stirling, was born at Hanworth,
in Middlesex, where there appears to have been a small colony of
residents bearing the same name but occupying varied social positions,
from admiral to hotel-keeper--the grandfather of Alfred Russel Wallace
being known as a victualler. Thomas Vere Wallace was the only son of
this worthy innkeeper; and, being possessed of somewhat wider ambitions
than a country life offered, was articled to a solicitor in London, and
eventually became an attorney-at-law. On his father's death he inherited
a small private income, and, not being of an energetic disposition, he
preferred to live quietly on it instead of continuing his practice. His
main interests were somewhat literary and artistic, but without any
definite aim; and this lack of natural energy, mental and physical,
reappeared in most of the nine children subsequently born to him,
including Alfred Russel, who realised that had it not been for the one
definite interest which gradually determined his course in life (an
interest demanding steady perseverance and concentrated thought as well
as physical enterprise), his career might easily have been much less
useful.

It was undoubtedly from his father that he acquired an appreciation of
good literature, as they were in the habit of hearing Shakespeare and
similar works read aloud round the fireside on winter nights; whilst
from his mother came artistic and business-like instincts--several of
her relatives having been architects of no mean skill, combining with
their art sound business qualities which placed them in positions of
civic authority and brought them the respect due to men of upright
character and good parts.

During the chequered experiences which followed the marriage of Thomas
Vere Wallace and Mary Ann Greenell there appears to have been complete
mutual affection and understanding. Although Wallace makes but slight
reference to his mother's character and habits, one may readily conclude
that her disposition and influence were such as to leave an indelible
impression for good on the minds of her children, amongst her qualities
being a talent for not merely accepting circumstances but in a quiet way
making the most of each experience as it came--a talent which we find
repeated on many occasions in the life of her son Alfred.

It is a little curious that each of these great scientists should have
been born in a house overlooking a well-known river--the home of the
Darwins standing on the banks of the Severn, at Shrewsbury, and that of
the Wallaces a stone's throw from the waters of the romantic and
beautiful Usk, of Monmouthshire.

With remarkable clearness Dr. Wallace could recall events and scenes
back to the time when he was only 4 years of age. His first childish
experiment occurred about that time, due to his being greatly impressed
by the story of the "Fox and the Pitcher" in AEsop's Fables. Finding a
jar standing in the yard outside their house, he promptly proceeded to
pour a small quantity of water into it, and then added a handful of
small stones. The water not rising to the surface, as it did in the
fable, he found a spade and scraped up a mixture of earth and pebbles
which he added to the stones already in the jar. The result, however,
proving quite unsatisfactory, he gave up the experiment in disgust and
refused to believe in the truth of the fable. His restless brain and
vivid imagination at this early period is shown by some dreams which he
could still recall when 82 years of age; whilst the strong impression
left on his mind by certain localities, with all their graphic detail of
form and colour, enabled him to enjoy over again many of the simple
pleasures that made up his early life in the beautiful grounds of the
ancient castle in which he used to play.

The first great event in his life was the journey undertaken by
ferry-boat and stage-coach from Usk to Hertford, to which town the
family removed when he was 6 years old, and where they remained for the
next eight years, until he left school.

The morning after their arrival an incident occurred which left its
trace as of a slender golden thread running throughout the fabric of his
long life. Alfred, with child-like curiosity about his new surroundings,
wandered into the yard behind their house, and presently heard a voice
coming from the other side of the low wall, saying, "Hallo! who are
you?" and saw a boy about his own age peering over the top. Explanations
followed, and soon, by the aid of two water-butts, the small boys found
themselves sitting side by side on the top of the wall, holding a long
and intimate conversation. Thus began his friendship with George Silk,
and by some curious trend of circumstances the two families became
neighbours on several subsequent occasions,[1] so that the friendship
was maintained until in due course the boys separated each to his own
way in life--the one to wander in foreign lands, the other to occupy a
responsible position at home.

After spending about a year at private schools, Alfred Wallace was sent
with his brother John to Hertford Grammar School. His recollections of
these school days are full of interest, especially as contrasted with
the school life of to-day. He says: "We went to school even in the
winter at seven in the morning, and three days a week remained till five
in the afternoon; some artificial light was necessary, and this was
effected by the primitive method of every boy bringing his own candle or
candle-ends with any kind of candlestick he liked. An empty ink-bottle
was often used, or the candle was even stuck on to the desk with a
little of its own grease. So that it enabled us to learn our lessons or
do our sums, no one seemed to trouble about how we provided the light."

Though never robust in health, he enjoyed all the usual boyish sports,
especially such as appealed to his imagination and love of adventure.
Not far from the school a natural cave, formed in a chalky slope and
partially concealed by undergrowth, made an excellent resort for
"brigands"; and to this hiding place were brought potatoes and other
provisions which could be cooked and eaten in primitive fashion, with an
air of secrecy which added to the mystery and attraction of the boyish
adventure.

It is curious to note that one destined to become a great traveller and
explorer should have found the study of geography "a painful subject."
But this was, as he afterwards understood, entirely due to the method of
teaching then, and sometimes now, in vogue, which made no appeal
whatever to the imagination by creating a mental picture of the peoples
and nations, or the varied wonders and beauties of nature which
distinguish one country from another. "No interesting facts were ever
given, no accounts of the country by travellers were ever read, no good
maps ever given us, nothing but the horrid stream of unintelligible
place names to be learnt." The only subjects in which he considered that
he gained some valuable grounding at school were Latin, arithmetic, and
writing.

This estimate of the value of the grammar-school teaching is echoed in
Darwin's own words when describing his school days at precisely the same
age at Shrewsbury Grammar School, where, he says, "the school as a means
of education to me was simply a blank." It is therefore interesting to
notice, side by side, as it were, the occupation which each boy found
for himself out of school hours, and which in both instances proved of
immense value in their respective careers in later life.

Darwin, even at this early age, found his "taste for natural history,
and more especially for collecting," well developed. "I tried," he says,
"to make out the names of plants, and collected all sorts of things,
shells, seals, franks, coins and minerals. The passion for collecting
which leads a man to be a systematic naturalist ... was very strong in
me, and was clearly innate, as none of my sisters or brothers ever had
this taste."

He also speaks of himself as having been a very "simple little fellow"
by the manner in which he was either himself deceived or tried to
deceive others in a harmless way. As an instance of this, he remembered
declaring that he could "produce variously coloured polyanthuses and
primroses by watering them with certain coloured fluids," though he knew
all the time it was untrue. His feeling of tenderness towards all
animals and insects is revealed in the fact that he could not
remember--except on one occasion--ever taking more than one egg out of a
bird's nest; and though a keen angler, as soon as he heard that he
could kill the worms with salt and water he never afterwards "spitted a
living worm, though at the expense, probably, of some loss of success!"

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The Blackbird of Belfast Lough keeps singing
Jean Hannah Edelstein: Left-leaning Americans should welcome books from Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber

At least 13 ways of looking at a blackbird

Int én bec
    ro léic feit
    do rind guip
    glanbuidi
    fo-ceird faíd
    os Loch Laíg
    lon do craíb
    charnbuidi

This weird little scrap of Irish syllabic verse, probably from the 9th century, consists of just 24 syllables, broken up into eight short lines, which have somehow continued to echo in modern Irish verse: the little lyric seems to have stuck; it has proved itself, in Seamus Heaney's words, to have "staying power".

First used in a metrical tract of the 11th century to illustrate a metre called snám súad, the lyric might be translated, literally, as: "The little bird which has whistled from the end of a bright-yellow bill: it utters a note above Belfast Lough – a blackbird from a yellow-heaped branch" (in a translation by Gerard Murphy). Or perhaps: "The little bird has whistled from the tip of his bright yellow beak; the blackbird from a bough laden with yellow blossom has tossed a cry over Belfast Lough" (translation by David Greene & Frank O'Connor).

Perhaps the poem's recent appeal has something to do with the character of the plucky little bird singing out over Belfast – the site of so much tragedy during the past three decades. Blackbird = poet? That, at least, is one way of looking at it.

Poetic versions, and rewrites, and reinterpretations of the poem abound, by John Montague, and John Hewitt, and Seamus Heaney, and Thomas Kinsella (in The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse), and Tomás Ó Floinn (in modern Irish), and by the current director of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, Ciaran Carson.

Carson tells the story of how, when appointed as the first director of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, he saw a blackbird pecking around in the little garden outside the School of English and thought it might make an interesting symbol for the newly established centre for creative writing. And so "The Blackbird of Belfast Lough", in word and image, became the Centre's motto and emblem.

Some years later, as writer in residence at the Heaney Centre, I found myself in conversation with two artists, the brothers Oliver and Rory Jeffers. We'd occasionally meet, the three of us, on Saturday mornings to drink coffee and to talk about art and literature, and Oliver would sometimes bring along work-in-progress and Rory would try to explain to me the structure and meaning of the language of images (which I never understood). On a whim, and high on caffeine and big ideas, I thought I would invite a number of local and international artists to read "The Blackbird of Belfast Lough" in its original Irish and its English translations, and to make of it what they would. Which is how I found myself putting together an exhibition now on show at the Heaney Centre.

In his preface to the exhibition catalogue Seamus Heaney suggests that the images might be a way of keeping "the perpetual motion machine of art on the go". I couldn't – obviously – have put it better myself.

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