Ɛpsilon

From J. D. Hooker   26 November 1880

Nov. 26/80

Dear Darwin

Huxley spoke to me yesterday about the pension for Wallace, which you proposed to me not very long ago, & which we both thought at the time would be a hopeless attempt under the circumstance of his Spiritualism, & the fact that he had obtained £500 by the bet on the Sphericity of the Globe.—1

H. tells me that the bet tells all the other way, for that he believes he gave the money to a charity: & if this be so, which I have no reason to doubt, though he certainly has the credit if the contrary—there remains only the Spiritualism: which should not I think be an objection to urging his claim,—though I am doubtful as to whether it should not be mentioned privately to the Minister. I am writing to Huxley to this effect. ie. asking his opinion.2

I need not add that if you & he decide I will follow & do my best.

Ever aff Yrs | J. D. Hooker.

1
CD had sent Thomas Henry Huxley a draft memorial and a list of potential signatories in support of a civil-list pension for Alfred Russel Wallace; see letter from T. H. Huxley, 14 November 1880. For Hooker’s and CD’s previous opinions on Wallace’s chances of a pension, see Correspondence vol. 27, letter from J. D. Hooker, 18 December 1879, and letter to A. B. Buckley, 19 December 1879. Wallace had denied that natural selection could account for the development of human intelligence and looked to spiritualist explanations; for his interest in spiritualism from the mid-1860s, see Kottler 1974 and Fichman 2004, pp. 139–210. In 1870, Wallace, a qualified surveyor, had accepted John Hampden’s challenge to scientific men to prove the convexity of a stretch of inland water, offering £500 if the proof was accepted by an intelligent referee. Wallace’s proof was accepted by the referee, who gave him the £500, but Hampden refused to accept the result and subjected Wallace to a twenty-year campaign of abuse. Although Wallace mostly won the many court battles that resulted, the legal costs were so great that he lost out financially. (See Raby 2001, pp. 206–7.)
2
Hooker also informed Huxley of his objections (letter from J. D. Hooker to T. H. Huxley, 26 November 1880; Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives, Huxley 3: 259).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12860,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12860