WCP1932

Letter (WCP1932.1822)

[1]

Down Beckenham

Kent

Mar 31 [1870]1

My dear Wallace

Many thanks for the wood-cut2, which, judging from the rate at which I crawl on, will hardly be wanted till this time next year. Whether I shall have it reduced, or beg Mr Mcmillan3 for a stereotype, as you said I might, I have not yet decided—

[2] I heartily congratulate you on your removal being over, & I much more heartily condole with myself at your having left London, for I shall thus miss some my talks with you which I always greatly enjoy.

I was excessively pleased at your review4 of Galton5, [3] & I agree to every word of it. I must add that I have just re-read y[ou]r article in the Anthropol[ogical]. Rev[iew]6. & I defy you to upset y[ou]r own doctrine.

ever yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin [signature]

1
The year of 1870 is established by the Darwin Correspondence Project see DCP-LETT-7154.
2
Darwin refers to E. W. Robinson's woodcut of the skull of a Babirusa from p.434 in the first volume of ARW's Malay Archipelago. (Wallace, A. R. 1869. The Malay Archipelago; the Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise, 2 vols. London, UK: Macmillan. Vol 1. p.454).
3
Macmillan, Alexander (1818-1896). British publisher and co-founder with his brother Daniel of Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
4
Galton, Francis (1822-1911). British polymath and founder of eugenics.
5
Wallace, A. R. 1870. Review [of Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry Into Its Laws and Consequences by Francis Galton, 1869]. Nature 1: 501-503.
6
Wallace, A. R. 1864. The Origin of Human Races and the Antiquity of Man Deduced From the Theory of "Natural Selection. Journal of the Anthropological Society of London, 2: clviii-clxx.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP1932.1822)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Darwin Correspondence Project [2012-11-20] Transcription checked by Beros, Matt [2019-12-20]

Published letter (WCP1932.6017)

[1] [p. 251]

Down, Beckenham, Kent. March 31, 1870.

My dear Wallace, — Many thanks for the woodcut, which, judging from the rate at which I crawl on, will hardly be wanted till this time next year. Whether I shall have it reduced, or beg Mr. Macmillan1 for a stereotype, as you said I might, I have not yet decided.

I heartily congratulate you on your removal being over, and I much more heartily condole with myself at your having left London, for I shall thus miss my talks with you which I always greatly enjoy.

I was excessively pleased at your review2 of Galton,3 and I agree to every word of it. I must add that I have just re-read your article4 in the Anthropological Review,4 and I defy you to upset your own doctrine. — Ever yours very sincerely | CH. DARWIN.

1
Possibly Macmillan, Alexander (1818-1896). Co-founder of Macmillan Publishers.
2
ARW reviewed Francis Galton's 'Hereditary Genius, an Inquiry into Its Laws and Consequences' in 'Nature' 17 March 1870.
3

Galton, Francis (1822-1911). British polymath and founder of eugenics.

4.

4
A British anthropological journal published by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland from 18630 to 1870.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP1932.6017)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Paterson, Gavin [2019-12-17]

Please cite as “WCP1932,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 26 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1932