Ɛpsilon

WCP1668

Transcription (WCP1668.1542)

[1]1

ARW to Dr. R. Norris.

Old Orchard,

Broadstone,

Dorset.

June 15th. 1912.

My dear Dr Norris,2

…………………………………

I send you today a copy of "Nature"3 with my portrait., to illustrate their including me in their series of "Scientific worthies".

The account of my books, work, &c. is admirably done by an American biologist4 who has paid me the highest compliment I have received yet by placing me in the same group as Darwin,5 Lyell,6 & Galton.7

I am fairly well, but my poor legs do not get much better. I am now trying to apply the "Salisbury" treatment more carefully — minced beef & hot water; I have a nice little book on the subject, which describes the results of it on the writer so enthusiastically that I still have hopes.

The weather just now is delightful — alternate showers and sunshine, just what we should have had in April. But our garden has never been more luxuriant or more beautiful than it is now.

With kind remembrances to your daughter,8 believe me your friend & well-wisher Alfred R. Wallace

1
This letter was probably typewritten by WGW.
2
Norris, Richard Hill (1830-1916). British physiologist, spiritualist and photographer.
3
Osborn, Henry Fairfield. 1912. Scientific Worthies: Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, D.C.L., O.M., F.R.S. Nature 89 (13 June), pp. 367-370.
4
Osborn, Henry Fairfield (1857-1935). American geologist, paleontologist, and eugenist.
5
Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882). British naturalist, geologist and author, notably of On the Origin of Species (1859).
6
Lyell, Charles (1797-1875). British geologist and author, notably of the influential Principles of Geology (1830-1833). President of the Geological Society of London, 1835-37 and 1849-51.
7
Galton, Francis (1822-1911). British biostatistician, polymath and founder of eugenics. One of the key figures in 19th Century research into heredity. Half-cousin of Charles Darwin.
8
Norris’s daughter has not been identified.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Transcription (WCP1668.1542)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Buckingham, Amanda Belle [2014-09-02] Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2014-09-02] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2025-03-03]

Please cite as “WCP1668,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1668