WCP1857

[1]¹

5, Westbourne Grove Terrace, W.

May 10th.1864.

My dear Darwin,

I was very much gratified to hear by your letter of a month back that you were a little better, & I have since heard occasionally through Huxley & Lubbock that you are not worse. I sincerely hope the summer weather & repose may do you real good.

The Borneo Cave exploration is to go on at present without a subscription. The New British Consul who is going out to Sarawak this month will undertake to explore some of the cares nearest the town, & if anything of interest is obtained a good large sum can no doubt be raised for a thorough exploration of the whole country. Sir J. Brooke will give every assistance & will supply men for the preliminary work.

I send you now my little contribution to the theory of the origin of man — I hope you will be able to agree with me — If you are able I shall be glad to have your criticisms.

I was led to the subject by the necessity of explaining the vast mental & cranial differences between man & the apes combined with such small structural differences in other parts of the body, — & also by an endeavour to account for the diversity of human races combined with man’s almost perfect stability of form during all historical epochs.

It has given me a settled opinion on these subjects, if nobody can shew a fallacy in the argument.

The Anthropologicals did not seem to appreciate it much, but we had a long discussion which appears almost verbatim in the "Anthropolog. Review".

As the Linnean Transactions will not be out till the end of the year I sent a pretty full abstract of the more interesting parts of my paper Papilionidae paper to the "Reader" which as you say is a splendid paper. Trusting Mrs Darwin & all your family are well & that you are improving.

Believe me Yours most sincerely | Alfred R. Wallace.

[1]

To C. Darwin.) 5, Westbourne Grove Terrace, W. May 10th. 1864.

My dear Darwin,

I was very much gratified to hear by your letter of a month back that you were a little better, & I have since heard occasionally through Huxley¹ & Lubbock² that you are not worse. I sincerely hope the summer weather & repose may do you real good.

The Borneo Cave exploration is to go on at present without a su subscription. The New British Consul³ who is going out to Sarawak this month will undertake to explore some of the caves nearest the town, & if anything of interest is obtained a good large sum can no doubt be raised for a thorough exploration of the whole county. Sir J. Brooke⁴ will give every assistance & will supply men for the preliminary work.

I send you now my little contribution to the theory of the origin of man — I hope you will be able to agree with me — If you are able I shall be glad to have your criticisms.

I was led to the subject by the necessity of explaining the vast mental & cranial differences between man & the apes combined with such small structural differences in other parts of the body, — & also by an endeavor to account for the diversity of human races combined with man’s almost perfect stability of form during all historical epochs—

It has given me a settled opinion on these subjects, if nobody can shoe a fallacy in the argument.

The Anthropologicals⁵ did not seem to appreciate it much, but we had a long discussion which appears almost verbatim in the "Anthropolog. Review".

As the Linⁿean Transactions will not be out till the end of the year I sent a pretty full abstract of the more interesting parts of my paper Papilionidae paper⁶ to the "Reader" which as you say is a splendid paper- Trusting Mrs Darwin⁷ & all your family are well & that you are improving

Believe me | Yours most sincerely | Alfred R. Wallace.

[1] [p. 152]

5 Westbourne Grove Terrace, W. May 10, 1864.

My dear Darwin,— I was very much gratified to hear by your letter of a month back that you were a little better, and I have since heard occasionally through Huxley and Lubbock that you are not worse. I sincerely hope the summer weather and repose may do you real good.

The Borneo Cave exploration is to go on at present without a subscription. The new British consul who is going out to Sarawak this month will undertake to explore some of the caves nearest the town, and if anything of interest is obtained a good large sum can no doubt be raised for a thorough exploration of the whole country. Sir J. Brooke will give every assistance, and will supply men for the preliminary work.

I send you now my little contribution to the theory of the origin of man. I hope you will be able to agree with me. If you are able, I shall be glad to have your criticisms. I was led to the subject by the necessity of explaining the vast mental and cranial differences between man and the apes combined with such small structural differences in other parts of the body, and also by an endeavour to account for the diversity of human races combined with [2] man's almost perfect stability of form during all historical epochs.

It has given me a settled opinion on these subjects, if nobody can show a fallacy in the argument.

The Anthropologicals did not seem to appreciate it much, but we had a long discussion which appears almost verbatim in the Anthropological Review.¹ As the Linnean Transactions will not be out till the end of the year I sent a pretty full abstract of the more interesting parts of my Papilionidae paper² to the Reader, which, as you say, is a splendid paper.

Trusting Mrs. Darwin and all your family are well, and that you are improving, believe me yours most sincerely, ALFRED R. WALLACE.