WCP1938

Letter (WCP1938.4089)

[1]

Holly House, Barking E.

Jan. 27th. 1871

Dear Darwin

Many thanks for your 1st. volume which I have just finished reading through with the greatest pleasure and interest;1 and I have also to thank you for the great tenderness with which you have treated me and my heresies.

On the subject of "sexual selection" & "protection" you do not yet convince me that you I am wrong, — but I expect your heaviest artillery will be brought up in your 2nd. volume, & I may have to capitulate. You seem however to have somewhat misunderstood my exact meaning, & I do not think [2] the difference between us is quite so great as you seem to think it. There are a number of passages in which you argue against the view, that the female has, in any large number of cases been "specially modified" for protection, — or that colour has generally been obtained by either sex for purposes of protection.

But my view is, & I thought I had made it clear, that the female has (in most cases) been simply prevented from acquiring the gay tints of the male (even when there was a tendency for her to inherit it), because it was hurtful; — and, that when [3] protection is not needed, gay colours are so generally acquired by both sexes as to show, that inheritance by both sexes of colour variations is the most usual, when not prevented from acting by nat[ural]. selection. The colour itself may be acquired either by sexual selection or by other unknown causes.

There are however difficulties in the very wide application you give to sexual selection which at present stagger me, though no one was or is more ready than myself to admit the perfect truth of the principle or the immense importance & great [4]2 variety of its applications.

Your chapters on "Man" are of intense interest, — but as touching my special heresy not as yet altogether convincing, though of course, I fully agree with every word and every argument which goes to prove the "evolution" or "development" of man out of a lower form. My only difficulties are, as to whether you have accounted for every step of the developments by ascertained laws.

Feeling sure that the book will keep up & increase your high reputation & be immensely successful, as it deserves to be,

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

C. Darwin F.R.S.

Darwin, C. R. 1871. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, 2 vols. London, UK: John Murray.
Darwin adds '4 Charlotte St' as a vertical pencil annotation in the lower left-hand margin of page 4.

Transcription (WCP1938.1828)

[1]1

To C. Darwin.) Holly House, Barking.E. Jan.27th.1871

Dear Darwin Many thanks for your 1st volume which I have just finished reading through with the greatest pleasure and interest, and I have also to thank you for the great tenderness with which you have treated me and my heresies.

On the subject of "sexual selection" & "protection" you do not yet convince me that I am wrong,— but I expect your heaviest artilieery will be brought up in your 2nd.vol.& I may have to capitulate. You seem however to have somewhat misunderstood my exact meaning, & I do not think the difference between us is quite so great as you seem to think it. There are a number of passages in which you argue against the view, that the female has, in any large number of cases been "specially modified" for protection,— or that colour has generally been obtained by either sex for purposes of protection.

But my view is, & I thought I had made it clear, that the female has (in most cases ) been simply prevented from acquiring the gay tints of the male (even when there was a tendency for her to inherit it ) because it was hurtful;— and, that when protection is not needed, gay colours are so generally acquired by both sexes as to show, that inheritance by both sexes of colour variations is the most usual, when not prevented from acting by nat.selection.

The colour itself may be acquired either by sexual selection or by other unknown causes. There are however difficulties in the way very wide application you give to sexual selection which at present stagger me, though no one was or is more ready than myself to admit the perfect truth of the principle or the immense importance & great variety of its applications. Your chapters on "Man" are of intense interest,— but as touching my special heresy not as yet altogether convincing, though of course I fully agree with every word and every argument which goes to prove the "evolution" or "development" of man out of a lower form. My only difficulties are, as to whether you have accounted for every step of the development by ascertained laws. Feeling sure that the book will keep up & increase your high reputation & be immensely successful, as it deserves to be, Believe me Dear Darwin Yours very faithfully (Signatnur) [sic]

Page is numbered (1) at top centre, and subsequently struck out in pencil.

Transcription (WCP1938.4495)

[1]

To C.Darwin.) Holly House, Barking, E. Jan.27th.1871

Dear Darwin

Many thanks for your 1st volume1 which I have just finished reading through with the greatest pleasure and interest, and I have also to thank you for the great tenderness with which you have treated me and my heresies.

On the subject of "sexual selection" & "protection" you do not yet convince me that I am wrong,—but I expect your heaviest artillieery will be brought up in your 2nd. vol.2 & I may have to capitulate. You seem however to have somewhat misunderstood my exact meaning, & I do not think the difference between us is quite so great as you seem to think it. There are a number of passages in which you argue against the view, that the female has, in any large number of cases been "specifically modified" for protection,—or that colour has generally been obtained by either sex for purposes of protection.

But my view is, & I thought I had made it clear, that the female has (in most cases) been simply prevented from acquiring the gay tints of the male (even when there was a tendency for her to inherit it) because it was hurtful:—and, that when protection is not needed, gay colours are so generally acquired by both sexes as to show, that tha inheritance by both sexes of colour variations is the most usual, when not prevented from acting by nat[ural]. selection.

The colour itself may be acquired either by sexual selection or by other unknown causes. There are however difficulties in the way very wide application you give to sexual selection which at present stagger me, though no one was or is more ready than myself to admit the perfect truth of the principle or the immense importance & great variety of its applications. Your chapters on "Man" are of intense interest,—but as touching my special heresy3 not as yet altogether convincing, though of course I fully agree with every word and every argument which goes to prove the "evolution" of "development" of man out of a lower form. My only difficulties are, as to whether you have accounted for every step of the development by ascertained laws. Feeling sure that the book will keep up & increase your high reputation & be immensely successful, as it deserves to be,

Believe me | Dear Darwin | Yours very faithfully | 4 (Signatnur)[sic]5

Here ARW refers to Vol. 1 of Darwin’s The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, originally published in two volumes 1871. Much of the text is believed to be written in response to doubts expressed by ARW concerning the evolution of humans.
A reference to Vol. 2 of Darwin’s The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex; see endnote 1.
Wallace’s "special heresy"—and the root of many of the doubts to which Darwin responded in The Descent of Man—refers to Wallace’s belief that certain features of the human species (especially human mind and spirituality) lie outside the scope of natural selection.
The letter used to create this transcript was itself a typed transcript of the original. While all the valedictions listed above are found on a single line, each separated by multiple spaces, at the end of the typed transcript used, it is believed that they would have been found on multiple lines in the original. For this reason, vertical bars are placed between them in this transcript as seen.
This was likely ARW’s signature in the original letter; however, the letter used to create this transcript was itself a typed transcript of the original. In the typed transcript used, there is no indication of whether this was ARW’s actual signature.

Published letter (WCP1938.6023)

[1] [p. 255]

Holly House, Barking, E. January 27, 1871

Dear Darwin, — Many thanks for your first volume,1 which I have just finished reading through with the greatest pleasure and interest, and I have also to thank you for the great tenderness with which you have treated me and my heresies.

[2] On the subject of sexual selection and protection you do not yet convince me that I am wrong, but I expect your heaviest artillery will be brought up in your second volume, and I may have to capitulate. You seem, however, to have somewhat misunderstood my exact meaning, and I do not think the difference between us is quite so great as you seem to think. There are a number of passages in which you argue against the view that the female has, in any large number of cases, been "specially modified" for protection, or that colour has generally been obtained by either sex for purposes of protection.

But my view is, and I thought I had made it clear, that the female has (in most cases) been simply prevented from acquiring the gay tints of the make (even when there was a tendency for her to inherit it) because it was hurtful; and, that when protection is not needed, gay colours are so generally acquired by both sexes as to show that inheritance by both sexes of colour variations is the most usual, when not prevented from acting by Natural Selection.

The colour itself may be acquired either by sexual selection or by other unknown causes. There are, however, difficulties in the very wide application you give to sexual selection which at present stagger me, though no one was or is more ready than myself to admit the perfect truth of the principle or the immense importance and great variety of its applications. Your chapters on Man are of intense interest, but as touching my special heresy not as yet altogether convincing, though of course I fully agree with every word and every argument which goes to prove the "evolution" or "development" of man out of a lower form. My only difficulties are as to whether you have accounted for every step of the development by ascertained laws. Feeling sure that the book will keep up and [3] increase your high reputation and be immensely successful,as it deserves to be, believe me, dear Darwin, yours very faithfully, | Alfred R. Wallace.

A footnote inserted here reads "The Descent of Man."

Please cite as “WCP1938,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1938