WCP1952

Letter (WCP1952.1842)

[1]

Down,

Beckenham, Kent.

July 27 [1872]1

My dear Wallace

I have just read with infinite satisfaction your crushing article in Nature.2 I have been the more glad to see it, as I have not seen the book itself:3 I did not order it, as I felt sure from Dr. B[ree].'s4 former book5, that he c[oul]d. write nothing of value. But assuredly I did not suppose that anyone would have written such a mass of inaccuracies & rubbish.— How rich is everything which he says & quotes from Herbert Spencer!6 [2]

By the way I suppose that you read H[erbert]. Spencer's answer7 to Martineau8: it struck me as quite wonderfully good, & I felt even more strongly inclined than before to bow in reverence before him.— Nothing has amused me more in your Review than Dr. B[ree].s extraordinary presumption in deciding that such men as Lyell9, Owen10, H[erbert]. Spencer, Mivart11, Gaudry12 &c. &c. are all wrong. I daresay [3] it would be very delightful to feel such overweening confidence in oneself.

I have had a poor time of it of late: rarely having an hour of comfort, except when asleep or immersed in work; & then when that is over I feel dead with fatigue. I am now correcting my little book on Expression; but it will not be published till November, when of course a copy will be [4] sent to you.13 I shall now try whether I can occupy myself, without writing anything more on [one word illeg. crossed out] so difficult a subject, as evolution.

I hope you are now comfortably settled in your new house & have more leisure than you have had for some time.— I have looked out in the paper for any notice about the curatorship of the new museum14, but have seen nothing.— If anything is decided in your favour, I beg you to inform me.

My dear Wallace | Very truly yours | C. Darwin [signature]

How grandly the public has taken up Hooker's15 case.

1
An annotation adds '[18]72/' at the upper centre of page 1. The Darwin Correspondence Project have established the year of 1872 as the correct dating for this letter. See DCP-8429.
2
Wallace, A. R. 1872. The Last Attack on Darwinism. Nature 6. (25 July 1872) 237-239.
3
Bree, C. R. 1872. An Exposition of Fallacies in the Hypothesis of Mr. Darwin. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
4
Bree, Charles Robert (1811-1886). British physician and zoologist.
5
Bree, C. R. 1860. Species not Transmutable, Nor the Result of Secondary Causes: Being a Critical Examination of Mr. Darwin's Work Entitled "Origin and Variation of Species." London: Groombridge and Sons; Edinburgh: Maclachlan and Stewart.
6
Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903). British philosopher, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist.
7
Spencer, H. 1872. Mr Martineau on Evolution. Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 1 (July 1872) 313-323.
8
Martineau, James (1805-1900). British religious philosopher.
9
Lyell, Charles (1797-1875). British lawyer and geologist.
10
Owen, Richard (1804-1892). British biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist.
11
Mivart, St. George Jackson (1827-1900). British physician, zoologist and Roman Catholic polemicist.
12
Gaudry, Jean Albert (1827-1908). French geologist and palaeontologist.
13
Darwin, C. R. 1872. The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animal. London: John Murray.
14
ARW applied for the directorship of a new museum in Bethnal Green which combined natural history and art. (Raby, P. 2001 Alfred Russel Wallace: A Life. London: Random House, pp.206-2011.)
15
Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1817-1911). British botanist and explorer.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP1952.1842)]

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 (WCP1952.6049)

[1] [p. 271]

Down, Beckenham, Kent. July 27, 1872.

My dear Wallace, — I have just read with infinite satisfaction your crushing article in Nature.1 I have been the more glad to see it, as I have not seen the book itself: I [2] [p. 272] did not order it, as I felt sure from Dr. B.'s2 former book that he could write nothing of value. But assuredly I did not suppose that anyone would have written such a mass of inaccuracies and rubbish. How rich is everything which he says and quotes from Herbert Spencer!3

By the way, I suppose that you read H. Spencer's answer to Martineau:4 it struck me as quite wonderfully good, and I felt even more strongly inclined than before to bow in reverence before him. Nothing has amused me more in your review than Dr. B.'s extraordinary presumption in deciding that such men as Lyell,5 Owen,6 H. Spencer, Mivart,7 Gaudry,8 etc. etc., are all wrong. I daresay it would be very delightful to feel such overwhelming confidence in oneself.

I have had a poor time of it of late, rarely having an hour of comfort, except when asleep or immersed in work; and then when that is over I feel dead with fatigue. I am now correcting my little book on Expression; but it will not be published till November, when of course a copy will be sent to you. I shall now try whether I can occupy myself without writing anything more on so difficult a subject as Evolution.

I hope you are now comfortably settled in your new house, and have more leisure than you have had for some time. I have looked out in the papers for any notice about the curatorship of the new Museum,9 but have seen nothing. If anything is decided in your favour, I beg you to inform me. — My dear Wallace, very truly yours, | C. DARWIN.

How grandly the public has taken up Hooker's10 case.11

1
At this point a foot note is inserted into the text: "A review of Dr. Bree's book, "An Exposition of Fallacies in the Hypotheses of Mr. Darwin." — Nature, July 25, 1872."
2
Bree, Charles Robert (1811-1886). British physician and zoologist.
3
Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903). British philosopher, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist.
4
Martineau, James (1805-1900). British religious philosopher.
5
Lyell, Charles (1797-1875). British lawyer and geologist.
6
Owen, Richard (1804-1892). British biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist.
7
Mivart, St. George Jackson (1827-1900). British physician, zoologist and Roman Catholic polemicist.
8
Gaudry, Jean Albert (1827-1908). French geologist and palaeontologist.
9
ARW had applied for (unsuccessfully) the post of director of a new museum combining art and natural history ‘for the instruction of the people’ at Bethnal Green.
10
Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1817-1911). British botanist and explorer.
11
This is probably a reference to a dispute between J.D. Hooker and Acton Smee Ayrton over the funding of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP1952.6049)]

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 “WCP1952,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 26 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1952