WCP1800

Letter (WCP1800.1689)

[1]

Pen-y-Bryn1, St. Peter’s Road, Croydon.

August 22nd.2 18803

Dear Dr. Norris4

I really do not know whether I can accept your invitation to Birmingham5 or not. In the first place I am so liable to colds that settle in my throat & chest & linger for weeks or months, that I doubt if I can avoid it travel[ing] in winter. I was obliged to refuse an invitation to Dublin for the same reason. Another thing is that all my work for the last two years has been in the preparation [2] of a book6 of which I have just sent off the preface & Index to the printers & which contains all that I have to say which has any novelty. As this book will be published in a few weeks I could only give you a paper or some of the subjects treated it in it. This I could I dare say do with some modifications & amplifications, vivâ voce7; but if you want a paper to be printed in your transactions that would hardly do.

In my book I have a new [3] theory or explanation of warm Arctic climates, and also a new explanation of the biological relations of New Zealand and Australia, either of which would make an interesting paper or address, but would perhaps not be what your Society want[s].

If I did come to Birmingham I should greatly prefer to stay with you, and I think our rather old acquaintanceship should be a sufficient reason for this [4] without giving any offence to Dr. Hislop.

My only work now is using up and reasoning on other peoples’ observations (combined with my own)[.] I do not do my original natural history work, as usually understood, & therefore have a difficulty in finding fresh subjects for a paper. I will think of the matter, & you can let me know what you think.

Believe me | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

D. Rich[ar].d Norris M.D.

1
ARW referred to the house he rented between 1880 and May 1881 as "Pen-y-Bryn". The house would later be numbered 44.
2
The date here is crossed out, with "22nd" written over what apparently initially read "20th".
3
Norris 194/212 | US41/7/22/58 written in pencil, these two lines are not written in the shape or colour of ARW’s usual cursive script, indicating that this was likely a later annotation.
4
Dr. Richard Norris, MD (1831 — 1916), a professor of physiology at Queen’s College, Birmingham from 1862 to 1891. He performed important work on blood, incorporating microscope work.
5
Birmingham is a city in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside of the capital.
6
The book to which ARW refers is likely his Island Life: or, the phenomena and causes of insular faunas and floras, including a revision and attempted solution of the problem of geological climates. Published in 1880, Island life was a sequel to ARW’s 1876 text The Geographic Distribution of Animals. When published, Island Life did indeed contain chapters on topics such as New Zealand, Australia, and the Arctic.
7
Viva voce is a Latin phrase that directly translates "with living voice", but which is more often used to indicate that something is by "word of mouth".

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP1800.1689)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Clerx, William [2012-08-16] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15]

Please cite as “WCP1800,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 May 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1800