WCP1928

Letter (WCP1928.1818)

[1]

Down.

Beckenham Bromley.

Kent. S.E.

Dec. 5 [1869]1

My dear Wallace

I wrote to Dr. Meyer2 that the Photograph in England w[oul]d. cost much, & that they did not seem to me worth the cost to him, but that I of course had no sort of objection.— I sh[oul]d. be greatly obliged if you w[oul]d kindly take the trouble to order any one which you think best: possibly it would be best to wait, unless you feel sure, till you hear again from Dr. M[eyer].

[2] I sent him a copy of our joint paper.—3 He has kindly sent me the translation of your book,4 which is splendidly got up & which I thought I could not better use than by sending it to Fritz Müller5 in Brazil, who will appreciate it.—

I liked your Reviews6 on Mr Murphy7 very much; they are capitally written like every [3] thing which is turned out of your workshop.— I was specially glad about the Eye.—8 If you agree with me take some opportunity of bringing forward case of perfected greyhound or race-horse, as proofs of possibility of the selection of many correlated variations. I have remarks on this head in my last book.9 If you throw light on the want of geological time, may honour, [4] eternal glory & blessings crowd thick on your head.

Yours most sincerely | Ch. Darwin [signature]

I forgot to say that I wrote to Dr M. to say that I sh[oul]d. not soon be in London, & that of all things in the world I hate most, the bother of sitting for photograph, so I declined with many apologies.— I have recently refused several applications.—

1
"1869-70?" is written in ARW's hand in red crayon in the upper right-hand corner of page 1. The date of 1869 has been established by the Darwin Correspondence Project. See DCP-LETT-7020.
2
Meyer, Adolf Bernard (1840-1911). German naturalist and Director of the Royal Zoological and Anthropological-Ethnographic Museum in Dresden, 1871-1901.
3
Darwin, C. & Wallace, A. 1858. On the tendency of species to form varieties; and on the perpetuation of varieties and species by natural means of selection. Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London (Zoology). 3(9): 45-62.
4
Meyer published a German translation of ARW's Malay Archipelago in 1869. See Wallace, A. R. 1869. Der Malayische Archipel. Die Heimath des Orang-Utan und des Paradiesvogels. 2 Vols. Braunschweig: Georg Westermann.
5
Müller, Johann Friedrich Theodor ("Fritz") (1821-1897). German biologist in Brazil and an early advocate of Darwinism.
6
Wallace, A. R. 1869. The Origin of Species Controversy I. Nature 1: 105-107, / II. Nature 1: 132-133.
7
Murphy, Joseph John (1827-1894). Irish author on philosophy, logic, psychology and religion.
8
ARW argued against Murphy's claim that it is not possible "that any apparatus, consisting of lenses, can be improved by any method whatever, unless the alterations in the density and the curvature are perfectly simultaneous." (Wallace, A. R. 1869. The Origin of Species Controversy I. Nature 1: 106-107).

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP1928.1818)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Darwin Correspondence Project [2012-11-19] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Beros, Matt [2020-12-31]

Published letter (WCP1928.6014)

[1] [p. 249]

Down, Beckenham, Kent, S.E. December 5, 1869.

My dear Wallace, — I wrote to Dr. Meyer1 that the photographs in England would cost much and that they did not seem to me worth the cost to him, but that I of course had no sort of objection. I should be greatly obliged if you would kindly take the trouble to order any one which you think best: possibly it would be best to wait, unless you feel sure, till you hear again from Dr. M. I sent him a copy of our joint paper. He has kindly sent me the translation of your book, which is splendidly got up, and which I thought I could not better use than by sending it to Fritz Müller2 in Brazil, who will appreciate it.

I liked your reviews on Mr. Murphy3 very much; they are capitally written, like everything which is turned out of your workshop. I was specially glad about the eye. If you agree with me, take some opportunity of bringing forward the case of perfected greyhound or racehorse, in proof of the possibility of the selection of many correlated variations. I have remarks on this head in my last book.

If you throw light on the want of geological time, may honour, eternal glory and blessings crowd thick on your head. — Yours most sincerely, | CH. DARWIN.

I forgot to say that I wrote to Dr. M. to say that I should not soon be in London, and that, of all things in the world, I hate most the bother of sitting for photographs, so I declined with many apologies. I have recently refused several applications.

1
Meyer, Adolf Bernard (1840-1911). German naturalist and Director of the Royal Zoological and Anthropological-Ethnographic Museum in Dresden, 1871-1901.
2
Müller, Johann Friedrich Theodor ("Fritz") (1821-1897). German biologist and an early advocate of Darwinism.
3
Murphy, Joseph John (1827-1894). Irish author on philosophy, logic, psychology and religion.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP1928.6014)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Lo, Yen-Nyuk [2019-12-17]

Please cite as “WCP1928,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 16 February 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1928