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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)




Nothing thwarted young Darwin's intense joy and interest in collecting
minerals and insects, and in watching and making notes upon the habits
of birds. In addition to this wholesome outdoor hobby, the tedium of
school lessons was relieved for him by reading Shakespeare, Byron and
Scott--also a copy of "Wonders of the World" which belonged to one of
the boys, and to which he always attributed his first desire to travel
in remote countries, little thinking how his dreams would be fulfilled.

Whilst Charles Darwin occupied himself with outdoor sport and
collecting, with a very moderate amount of reading thrown in at
intervals, Wallace, on the contrary, devoured all the books he could
get; and fortunately for him, his father having been appointed Librarian
to the Hertford Town Library, Alfred had access to all the books that
appealed to his mental appetite; and these, especially the historical
novels, supplemented the lack of interesting history lessons at school,
besides giving him an insight into many kinds of literature suited to
his varied tastes and temperament. In addition, however, to the hours
spent in reading, he and his brother John found endless delight in
turning the loft of an outhouse adjoining their yard into a sort of
mechanical factory. Here they contrived, by saving up all their pence
(the only pocket-money that came to them), to make crackers and other
simple fireworks, and to turn old keys into toy cannon, besides making a
large variety of articles for practical domestic purposes. Thus he
cultivated the gift of resourcefulness and self-reliance on which he had
so often to depend when far removed from all civilisation during his
travels on the Amazon and in the Malay Archipelago.

A somewhat amusing instance of this is found in a letter to his sister,
dated June 25th, 1855, at a time when he wanted a really capable man for
his companion, in place of the good-natured but incapable boy Charles,
whom he had brought with him from London to teach collecting. In reply
to some remarks by his sister about a young man who she thought would be
suitable, he wrote: "Do not tell me merely that he is 'a very nice young
man.' Of course he is.... I should like to know whether he can live on
rice and salt fish for a week on occasion.... Can he sleep on a
board?... Can he walk twenty miles a day? Whether he can work, for there
is sometimes as hard work in collecting as in anything. Can he saw a
piece of wood straight? Ask him to make you anything--a little card box,
a wooden peg or bottle-stopper, and see if he makes them neat and
square."

In another letter he describes the garden and live stock he had been
able to obtain where he was living; and in yet another he gives a long
list of his domestic woes and tribulations--which, however, were
overcome with the patience inculcated in early life by his hobbies, and
also by the fact that the family was always more or less in straitened
circumstances, so that the children were taught to make themselves
useful in various ways in order to assist their mother in the home.

As he grew from childhood into youth, Alfred Wallace's extreme
sensitiveness developed to an almost painful degree. He grew rapidly,
and his unusual height made him still more shy when forced to occupy any
prominent position amongst boys of his own age. During the latter part
of his time at Hertford Grammar School his father was unable to pay the
usual fees, and it was agreed that Alfred should act as pupil teacher
in return for the lessons received. This arrangement, while acceptable
on the one hand, caused him actual mental and physical pain on the
other, as it increased his consciousness of the disabilities under which
he laboured in contrast with most of the other boys of his own age.

At the age of 14 Wallace was taken away from school, and until something
could be definitely decided about his future--as up to the present he
had no particular bent in any one direction--he was sent to London to
live with his brother John, who was then working for a master builder in
the vicinity of Tottenham Court Road. This was in January, 1837, and it
was during the following summer that he joined his other brother,
William, at Barton-on-the-Clay, Bedfordshire, and began land surveying.
In the meantime, while in London, he had been brought very closely into
contact with the economics and ethics of Robert Owen, the well-known
Socialist; and although very young in years he was so deeply impressed
with the reasonableness and practical outcome of these theories that,
though considerably modified as time went on, they formed the foundation
for his own writings on Socialism and allied subjects in after years.

As one of our aims in this section is to suggest an outline of the
contrasting influences governing the early lives of Wallace and Darwin,
it is interesting to note that at the ages of 14 and 16 respectively,
and immediately on leaving school, they came under the first definite
mental influence which was to shape their future thought and action. Yet
how totally different from Wallace's trials as a pupil teacher was the
removal of Darwin from Dr. Butler's school at Shrewsbury because "he was
doing no good" there, and his father thought it was "time he settled
down to his medical study in Edinburgh," never heeding the fact that
his son had already one passion in life, apart from "shooting, dogs, and
rat-catching," which stood a very good chance of saving him from
becoming the disgrace to the family that his good father feared. So that
while Wallace was imbibing his first lessons in Socialism at 14 years of
age, Darwin at 16 found himself merely enduring, with a feeling of
disgust, Dr. Duncan's lectures, which were "something fearful to
remember," on materia medica at eight o'clock on a winter's morning,
and, worse still, Dr. Munro's lectures on human anatomy, which were "as
dull as he was himself." Yet he always deeply regretted not having been
urged to practise dissection, because of the invaluable aid it would
have been to him as a naturalist.

By mental instinct, however, Darwin soon found himself studying marine
zoology and other branches of natural science. This was in a large
measure due to his intimacy with Dr. Grant, who, in a later article on
Flustra, made some allusion to a paper read by Darwin before the Linnean
Society on a small discovery which he had made by the aid of a "wretched
microscope" to the effect that the so-called ova of Flustra were really
larvae and had the power of independent action by means of cilia.

During his second year in Edinburgh he attended Jameson's lectures on
geology and zoology, but found them so "incredibly dull" that he
determined never to study the science.

Then came the final move which, all unknowingly, was to lead Darwin into
the pursuit of a science which up to that time had only been a hobby and
not in any sense the serious profession of his life. But again how wide
the difference between his change from Edinburgh to Cambridge, and that
of Wallace from a month's association with a working-class Socialistic
community in London to land surveying under the simplest rural
conditions prevalent amongst the respectable labouring farmers of
Bedfordshire--Darwin to the culture and privileges of a great University
with the object of becoming a clergyman, and Wallace taking the first
road that offered towards earning a living, with no thought as to the
ultimate outcome of this life in the open and the systematic observation
of soils and land formation.

But the inherent tendencies of Darwin's nature drew him away from
theology to the study of geology, entomology and botany. The ensuing
four years at Cambridge were very happy ones. While fortunate in being
able to follow his various mental and scientific pursuits with the
freedom which a good social and financial position secured for him, he
found himself by a natural seriousness of manner, balanced by a cheerful
temperament and love of sport, the friend and companion of men many
years his seniors and holding positions of authority in the world of
science. Amongst these the name of Professor Henslow will always take
precedence. "This friendship," says Darwin, "influenced my whole career
more than any other." Henslow's extensive knowledge of botany, geology,
entomology, chemistry and mineralogy, added to his sincere and
attractive personality, well-balanced mind and excellent judgment,
formed a strong and effective bias in the direction Darwin was destined
to follow.

Apart, however, from the strong personal influence of Henslow, Sedgwick
and others with whom he came much in contact, two books which he read at
this time aroused his "burning zeal to add the most humble contribution
to the noble structure of Natural Science"; these were Sir J. Herschel's
"Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy," and Humboldt's
"Personal Narrative." Indeed, so fascinated was he by the description
given of Teneriffe in the latter that he at once set about a plan
whereby he might spend a holiday, with Henslow, in that locality, a
holiday which was, indeed, to form part of his famous voyage.

By means of his explorations in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, and one
or two visits to North Wales, Darwin's experimental knowledge of geology
and allied sciences was considerably increased. In his zeal for
collecting beetles he employed a labourer to "scrape the moss off old
trees in winter, and place it in a bag, and likewise to collect the
rubbish at the bottom of the barges in which reeds were brought from the
fens, and thus ... got some very rare species."

During the summer vacation of 1831, at the personal request of Henslow,
he accompanied Professor Sedgwick on a geological tour in North Wales.
In order, no doubt, to give him some independent experience, Sedgwick
sent Darwin on a line parallel with his own, telling him to bring back
specimens of the rocks and to mark the stratification on a map. In later
years Darwin was amazed to find how much both of them had failed to
observe, "yet these phenomena were so conspicuous that ... a house burnt
down by fire could not tell its story more plainly than did the valley
of Cwm Idwal."

This tour was the introduction to a momentous change in his life. On
returning to Shrewsbury he found a letter awaiting him which contained
the offer of a voyage in H.M.S. _Beagle_. But owing to several
objections raised by Dr. Darwin, he wrote and declined the offer; and if
it had not been for the immediate intervention of his uncle, Mr. Josiah
Wedgwood (to whose house he went the following day to begin the shooting
season), who took quite a different view of the proposition, the
"Journal of Researches during the Voyage of H.M.S. _Beagle_," by Charles
Darwin, would never have been written.

At length, however, after much preparation and many delays, the
_Beagle_ sailed from Plymouth on December 27th, 1831, and five years
elapsed before Darwin set foot again on English soil. The period,
therefore, in Darwin's life which we find covered by his term at
Edinburgh and Cambridge, until at the age of 22 he found himself
suddenly launched on an entirely new experience full of adventure and
fresh association, was spent by Wallace in a somewhat similar manner in
so far as his outward objective in life was more or less distinct from
the pursuits which gradually dawned upon his horizon, though they were
followed as a "thing apart" and not as an ultimate end.

With Wallace's removal into Bedfordshire an entirely new life opened up
before him. His health, never very good, rapidly improved; both brain
and eye were trained to practical observations which proved eminently
valuable. His descriptions of the people with whom he came in contact
during these years of country life reveal the quiet toleration of the
faults and foibles of others, not devoid of the keen sense of humour and
justice which characterised his lifelong attitude towards his
fellow-men.

The many interests of his new life, together with the use of a pocket
sextant, prompted him to make various experiments for himself. The only
sources from which he could obtain helpful information, however, were
some cheap elementary books on mechanics and optics which he procured
from the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; these he studied
and "puzzled over" for several years. "Having no friends of my own age,"
he wrote, "I occupied myself with various pursuits in which I had begun
to take an interest. Having learnt the use of the sextant in surveying,
and my brother having a book on Nautical Astronomy, I practised a few of
the simpler observations. Among these were determining the meridian by
equal altitudes of the sun, and also by the pole-star at its upper or
lower culmination; finding the latitude by the meridian altitude of the
sun, or of some of the principal stars; and making a rude sundial by
erecting a gnomon towards the pole. For these simple calculations I had
Hannay and Dietrichsen's Almanac, a copious publication which gave all
the important data in the Nautical Almanac, besides much other
interesting matter useful for the astronomical amateur or the ordinary
navigator. I also tried to make a telescope by purchasing a lens of
about 2 ft. focus at an optician's in Swansea, fixing it in a paper tube
and using the eye-piece of a small opera-glass. With it I was able to
observe the moon and Jupiter's satellites, and some of the larger
star-clusters; but, of course, very imperfectly. Yet it served to
increase my interest in astronomy, and to induce me to study with some
care the various methods of construction of the more important
astronomical instruments; and it also led me throughout my life to be
deeply interested in the grand onward march of astronomical
discovery."[2]

At the same time Wallace became attracted by, and interested in, the
flowers, shrubs and trees growing in that part of Bedfordshire, and he
acquired some elementary knowledge of zoology. "It was," he writes,
"while living at Barton that I obtained my first information that there
was such a science as geology.... My brother, like most land-surveyors,
was something of a geologist, and he showed me the fossil oysters of the
genus Gryphaea and the Belemnites ... and several other fossils which
were abundant in the chalk and gravel around Barton.... It was here,
too, that during my solitary rambles I first began to feel the influence
of nature and to wish to know more of the various flowers, shrubs and
trees I daily met with, but of which for the most part I did not even
know the English names. At that time I hardly realised that there was
such a science as systematic botany, that every flower and every meanest
and most insignificant weed had been accurately described and
classified, and that there was any kind of system or order in the
endless variety of plants and animals which I knew existed. This wish to
know the names of wild plants, to be able to speak ... about them, had
arisen from a chance remark I had overheard about a year before. A lady
... whom we knew at Hertford, was talking to some friends in the street
when I and my father met them ... [and] I heard the lady say, 'We found
quite a rarity the other day--the Monotropa; it had not been found here
before.' This I pondered over, and wondered what the Monotropa was. All
my father could tell me was that it was a rare plant; and I thought how
nice it must be to know the names of rare plants when you found
them."[3]

One can picture the tall quiet boy going on these solitary rambles, his
eye becoming gradually quickened to perceive new forms in nature,
contrasting them one with another, and beginning to ponder over the
_cause_ which led to the diverse formation and colouring of leaves
apparently of the same family.

It was in 1841, four years later, that he heard of, and at once
procured, a book published at a shilling by the S.P.C.K. (the title of
which he could not recall in after years), to which he owed his first
scientific glimmerings of the vast study of botany. The next step was to
procure, at much self-sacrifice, Lindley's "Elements of Botany,"
published at half a guinea, which to his immense disappointment he found
of very little use, as it did not deal with British plants! His
disappointment was lessened, however, by the loan from a Mr. Hayward of
London's "Encyclopedia of Plants," and it was with the help of these two
books that he made his first classification of the specimens which he
had collected and carefully kept during the few preceding years.

"It must be remembered," he says in "My Life," "that my ignorance of
plants at this time was extreme. I knew the wild rose, bramble,
hawthorn, buttercup, poppy, daisy and foxglove, and a very few others
equally common.... I knew nothing whatever as to genera and species, nor
of the large number of distinct forms related to each and grouped into
natural orders. My delight, therefore, was great when I was ... able to
identify the charming little eyebright, the strange-looking cow-wheat
and louse-wort, the handsome mullein and the pretty creeping toad-flax,
and to find that all of them, as well as the lordly foxglove, formed
parts of one great natural order, and that under all their superficial
diversity of form was a similarity of structure which, when once clearly
understood, enabled me to locate each fresh species with greater ease."
This, however, was not sufficient, and the last step was to form a
herbarium.

"I soon found," he wrote, "that by merely identifying the plants I found
in my walks I lost much time in gathering the same species several
times, and even then not being always quite sure that I had found the
same plant before. I therefore began to form a herbarium, collecting
good specimens and drying them carefully between drying papers and a
couple of boards weighted with books or stones.... I first named the
species as nearly as I could do so, and then laid them out to be pressed
and dried. At such times," he continues--and I have quoted the passage
for the sake of this revealing confession--"I experienced the joy which
every discovery of a new form of life gives to the lover of nature,
almost equal to those raptures which I afterwards felt at every capture
of new butterflies on the Amazon, or at the constant stream of new
species of birds, beetles and butterflies in Borneo, the Moluccas, and
the Aru Islands."[4]

Anything in the shape of gardening papers and catalogues which came in
his way was eagerly read, and to this source he owed his first interest
in the fascinating orchid.

"A catalogue published by a great nurseryman in Bristol ... contained a
number of tropical orchids, of whose wonderful variety and beauty I had
obtained some idea from the woodcuts in Loudon's 'Encyclopedia.' The
first epiphytal orchid I ever saw was at a flower show in Swansea ...
which caused in me a thrill of enjoyment which no other plant in the
show produced. My interest in this wonderful order of plants was further
enhanced by reading in the _Gardener's Chronicle_ an article by Dr.
Lindley on one of the London flower shows, where there was a good
display of orchids, in which ... he added, 'and _Dendrobium Devonianum_,
too delicate and beautiful for a flower of earth.' This and other
references ... gave them, in my mind, a weird and mysterious charm ...
which, I believe, had its share in producing that longing for the
tropics which a few years later was satisfied in the equatorial forests
of the Amazon."[5]

For a brief period, when there was a lull in the surveying business and
his prospects of continuing in this profession looked uncertain, he
tried watchmaking, and would probably--though not by choice--have been
apprenticed to it but for an unexpected circumstance which caused his
master to give up his business. Alfred gladly, when the occasion
offered, returned to his outdoor life, which had begun to make the
strongest appeal to him, stronger, perhaps, than he was really aware.

Early in 1844 another break occurred, due to the sudden falling off of
land surveying as a profitable business. His brother could no longer
afford to keep him as assistant, finding it indeed difficult to obtain
sufficient employment for himself. As Wallace knew no other trade or
profession, the only course which occurred to his mind as possible by
which to earn a living was to get a post as school teacher.

After one or two rather amusing experiences, he eventually found himself
in very congenial surroundings under the Rev. Abraham Hill, headmaster
of the Collegiate School at Leicester. Here he stayed for a little more
than a year, during which time--in addition to his school work and a
considerable amount of hard reading on subjects to which he had not
hitherto been able to devote himself--he was led to become greatly
interested in phrenology and mesmerism, and before long found himself
something of an expert in giving mesmeric demonstrations before small
audiences. Phrenology, he believed, proved of much value in determining
his own characteristics, good and bad, and in guiding him to a wise use
of the faculties which made for his ultimate success; while his
introduction to mesmerism had not a little to do with his becoming
interested and finally convinced of the part played by spiritualistic
forces and agencies in human life.

The most important event, however, during this year at Leicester was his
meeting with H.W. Bates, through whom he was introduced to the absorbing
study of beetles and butterflies, the link which culminated in their
mutual exploration of the Amazon. It is curious that Wallace retained no
distinct recollection of how or when he met Bates for the first time,
but thought that "he heard him mentioned as an enthusiastic
entomologist and met him at the Library." Bates was at this time
employed by his father, who was a hosiery manufacturer, and he could
therefore only devote his spare time to collecting beetles in the
surrounding neighbourhood. The friendship brought new interests into
both lives, and though Wallace was obliged a few months later to leave
Leicester and return to his old work of surveying (owing to the sudden
death of his brother William, whose business affairs were left in an
unsatisfactory condition and needed personal attention), he no longer
found in it the satisfaction he had previously experienced, and his
letters to Bates expressed the desire to strike out on some new line,
one which would satisfy his craving for a definite pursuit in the
direction of natural science.

Somewhere about the autumn of 1847, Bates paid a visit to Wallace at
Neath, and the plan to go to the Amazon which had been slowly forming
itself at length took shape, due to the perusal of a little book
entitled "A Voyage up the River Amazon," by W.H. Edwards. Further
investigations showed that this would be particularly advantageous, as
the district had only been explored by the German zoologist, von Spix,
and the botanist von Martins, in 1817-20, and subsequently by Count de
Castelnau.

During this interval we find, in a letter to Bates, the following
allusion to Darwin, which is the first record of Wallace's high estimate
of the man with whom his own name was to be dramatically associated ten
years later. "I first," he says, "read Darwin's Journal three or four
years ago, and have lately re-read it. As the journal of a scientific
traveller it is second only to Humboldt's Narrative; as a work of
general interest, perhaps superior to it. He is an ardent admirer and
most able supporter of Mr. Lyell's views. His style of writing I very
much admire, so free from all labour, or egotism, yet so full of
interest and original thought."[6]

The early part of 1848 was occupied in making arrangements with Mr.
Samuel Stevens, of King Street, Covent Garden, to act as their agent in
disposing of a duplicate collection of specimens which they proposed
sending home; by this means paying their expenses during the time they
were away, any surplus being invested against their return. This and
other matters being satisfactorily settled, they eventually sailed from
Liverpool on April 20th in a barque of 192 tons, said to be "a very fast
sailer," which proved to be correct. On arriving at Para about a month
later, they immediately set about finding a house, learning something of
the language, the habits of the people amongst whom they had come to
live, and making short excursions into the forest before starting on
longer and more trying explorations up country.

Wallace's previous vivid imaginings of what life in the tropics would
mean, so far as the surpassing beauty of nature was concerned, were not
immediately fulfilled. As a starting-point, however, Para had many
advantages. Besides the pleasant climate, the country for some hundreds
of miles was found to be nearly level at an elevation of about 30 or 40
ft. above the river; the first distinct rise occurring some 150 miles up
the river Tocantins, south-west of Para; the whole district was
intersected by streams, with cross channels connecting them, access by
this means being comparatively easy to villages and estates lying
farther inland.

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