WCP1968

Letter (WCP1968.1858)

[1]

Down

Beckenham

Jun[e] 17. 1876

My dear Wallace

I have now finished the whole of Vol I, with the same interest & admiration as before; and I am convinced that my judgement was right and that it is a memorable book, the basis of all future work on the subject. I have nothing particular to say, but perhaps you would like to hear my impressions on two or three points. Nothing has struck me more than the admirable & convincing manner in which you treat Java. To allude to a very trifling point, it is capital about the unadorned head of the Argus-pheasant How plain a thing is, when it [one word illegible crossed out] is once pointed out! What a wonderful case is that of Celebes: I am glad that you have slightly modified your views with respect to Africa. And [2] this leads me to say that I cannot swallow, the so-called continent of Lemuria, i.e. the direct connection of Africa & Ceylon. The facts do not seem to me many and strong enough to justify so immense a change of level. Moreover Mauritius and the other islands appear to me oceanic in character. But do not suppose that I place my judgement on this subject on a level with yours. A wonderfully good paper was published about a year ago on India in the Geolog: J[ournal],— I think by Blandford. Ramsay agreed with me that it was one of the best published for a long time. The author shows that India has been a continent with enormous fresh water lakes from the Permian period to the present day. If I remember right he believes in a former connection with S.[outh] Africa.

I am sure that I read, some 20 to 30 years [3] ago, in a French Journal an account of teeth of mastodon found in Timor; but the statement may have been an error.

With respect to what you say about the colonising of N.[ew] Zealand, I somewhere have an account of a frog frozen in the ice of a Swiss glacier, and which revived when thawed. I may add that there is an Indian toad which can resist the salt water & haunts the sea side. Nothing ever astonished me more than the case of the Galaxias; but it does not seem known whether it may not be a migratory fish like the salmon. It seems to me that you complicate rather too much the successive colonisations into N. Zealand. I should prefer believing that the Galaxias was a species, of like the Emys of the Sevalik Hills, which has long retained the same form. Your remarks on the [4] insects & flowers of N.[ew]Z[ealand]: have greatly interested me; but aromatic leaves I have always looked at as a protection against their being eaten by insects or other animals; and as insects are there rare such protection would not be [one letter illegible crossed out] much needed. I have written more than I intended; & I must again say how profoundly your book has interested me.

Now let me turn to a very different subject. I have only just heard of & procured your two articles in the Academy. I thank you most cordially for your generous defence of me against Mr. Mivart. In the Origin I did not discuss the [one word illegible crossed out] derivation of any one species; but that I might not be accused of conceding my opinion I went out of my way & inserted a sentence which seemed to me (& still so seems) to [5] declare plainly my belief. This was quoted in my Descent of Man. Therefore it is very unjust, not to say dishonest, of Mr Mivart to accuse me of base fraudulent concealment. I care little about myself; but Mr Mivart in an article in the Q. Review (which I know was written by him) accused my son George of encouraging profligacy, & this without the least foundation I can assert this positively as I laid George's article & the Q. Review, before Hooker, Huxley & others, & all agreed that the accusation was a deliberate falsification.

Huxley wrote to him on the subject & has almost or quite cut him in consequence; & so would Hooker, but he was advised not to do so as Pres.[ident] of the [6] Royal Soc.[iety]— Well he has gained [one word illegible crossed out] his object in giving me pain, & good God to think of the flattering almost fawning speeches which he has made to me. I wrote of course to him to say that I would never speak to him again. I ought, however, to be contented, as he is the one man who has ever, as far as I know, treated me basely. Forgive me for writing at such length &

believe me | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin [signature]

P.S. I am very sorry that you have given up Sexual Selection.— I am not at all shaken & stick to my colours like a true Briton. When I think about the unadorned head of the Argus pheasant, I might exclaim, "et tu Brute"!

[7]

Darwin on

"Geog. Dist of Animals"

& on Mivart

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP1968.1858)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Darwin Correspondence Project [2012-11-21] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15]

Published letter (WCP1968.6066)

[1] [p. 289]

Down, Beckenham. June 17, 1876.

My dear Wallace, — I have now finished the whole of Vol. I., with the same interest and admiration as before ; and I am convinced that my judgment was right and that it is a memorable book, the basis of all future work on the subject. I have nothing particular to say, but perhaps you would like to hear my impressions on two or three points. Nothing has struck me more than the admirable and convincing manner in which you treat Java. To allude to a very trifling point, it is capital about the unadorned head of the Argus pheasant.1 How plain a thing is, when it is once pointed out! What a wonderful case is that of Celebes!2 I am glad that you have slightly modified your views with respect to Africa,3 and this leads me to say that I cannot swallow the so-called continent of Lemuria, i.e. the direct connection of Africa and Ceylon4 The facts do not seem to me many and strong enough to justify so immense a change of level. Moreover, Mauritius and the other islands appear to me oceanic in character, But do not suppose [2] [p. 290] that I place my judgment on this subject on a level with yours. A wonderfully good paper was published about a year ago on India in the Geological Journal5 — I think by Blandford!6 Ramsay7 agreed with me that it was one of the best published for a long time. The author shows that India has been a continent with enormous fresh-water lakes from the Permian8 period to the present day. If I remember right he believes in a former connection with South Africa.

I am sure that I read, some 20 to 30 years ago, in a French journal, an account of teeth of mastodon found in Timor; but the statement may have been an error.

With respect to what you say about the colonising of New Zealand, I somewhere have an account of a frog frozen in the ice of a Swiss glacier, and which revived when thawed. I may add that there is an Indian toad which can resist salt water and haunts the seaside. Nothing ever astonished me more than the case of the Galaxias;9 but it does not seem known whether it may not be a migratory fish like the salmon. It seems to me that you complicate rather too much the successive colonisations with New Zealand. I should prefer believing that the Galaxias was a species, like the Emys10 of the Sewalik Hills,11 which has long retained the same form. Your remarks on the insects and flowers of New Zealand have greatly interested me; but aromatic leaves I have always looked at as a protection against their being eaten by insects or other animals; and as insects are there rare, such protection would not be much needed. I have written more than I intended, and I must again say how profoundly your book has interested me.

Now let me turn to a very different subject. I have [3] [p. 291] only just heard of and procured your two articles in the Academy.12 I thank you most cordially for your generous defence of me against Mr. Mivart.13 In the "Origin"14 I did not discuss the derivation of any one species; but that I might not be accused of concealing my opinion I went out of my way and inserted a sentence which seemed to me (and still so seems) to declare plainly my belief. This was quoted in my "Descent of Man."15 Therefore it is very unjust, not to say dishonest, of Mr. Mivart to accuse me of base fraudulent concealment; I care little about myself; but Mr. Mivart, in an article in the Quarterly Review16 (which I know was written by him), accused my son George17 of encouraging profligacy, and this without the least foundation.18 I can assert this positively, as I laid George's article and the Quarterly Review before Hooker,19 Huxley20 and others, and all agreed that the accusation [4] [p. 292] was a deliberate falsification. Huxley wrote to him on the subject and has almost or quite cut him in consequence; and so would Hooker, but he was advised not to do so as President of the Royal Society. Well, he has gained his object in giving me pain, and, good God, to think of the flattering, almost fawning speeches which he has made to me! I wrote, of course, to him to say that I would never speak to him again. I ought, however, to be contented, as he is the one man who has ever, as far as I know, treated me basely.

Forgive me for writing at such length, and believe me yours very sincerely, |

CH. DARWIN.

P.S. — I am very sorry that you have given up sexual selection. I am not at all shaken, and stick to my colours like a true Briton. When I think about the unadorned head of the Argus pheasant, I might exclaim, Et tu, Brute!

1
At this point a foot note is inserted: "See "The Descent of Man," 1st Edit., pp.90 and 143, for drawings of the Argus pheasant and its markings. The ocelli on the wing feathers were favourite objects of Darwin's, and sometimes formed the subject of the little lectures which on rare occasions he would give to a visitor interested in Natural History. In Wallace's book, the meaning of the ocelli comes in by the way, in the explanation of Plate IX., "A Malayan Forest with some of its Peculiar Birds." The case is a "remarkable confirmation of Mr. Darwin's views, that gaily coloured plumes are developed in the male bird for the purpose of attractive display."
2
The island of Sulawesi in Indonesia.
3
At this point a foot note is inserted: "Geographical Distribution of Animals," i. 286-7.
4
At this point a foot note is inserted: "Geographical Distribution," i. 76. The name Lemuria was proposed by Mr. Sclater for an imaginary submerged continent extending from Madagascar to Ceylon and Sumatra. Wallace points out that if we confine ourselves to facts Lemuria is reduced to Madagascar, which he makes a subdivision of the Ethiopian Region.
5
Blanford, Henry Francis (1834-1893). British meteorologist and palaeontologist who worked in India.
6
At this point a foot note is inserted: "H. F. Blandford, "On the Age and Correlations of the Plant-bearing Series of India and the Former Existence of an Indo-Oceanic Continent" (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., 1875, xxxi. 519)."
7
Ramsay, Andrew Crombie (1814-1891). British geologist.
8
Geological period spanning from 299 million to 252 million years ago.
9
A genus of small, Freshwater fish, found in the southern hemisphere.
10
A type of Indian tortoise.
11
A range of the outer Himalyas mountains in Nepal and India.
12
A review of literature and general topics published in London from 1869 to 1902.
13
Mivart, St. George Jackson (1827-1900). British physician, zoologist and Roman Catholic polemicist.
14
Darwin, C.R. (1859) 'The Origin of Species' London, UK: John Murray.
15
Darwin, C.R. (1871) 'The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex' London, UK: John Murray.
16
A British literary and political periodical which published from 1809 to 1967.
17
Darwin, George Howard (1845-1912). Astronomer and mathematician and 2nd son of Charles Robert Darwin.
18
At this point a foot note is inserted: "In the Contemporary Review for August, 1873, Mr. George Darwin wrote an article "On Beneficial Restrictions to Liberty of Marriage." In the July number of the Quarterly Review, 1874, p.70, in an article entitled "Primitive Man — Tylor and Lubbock," Mr. Mivart thus referred to Mr. Darwin's article: "Elsewhere (pp 424-5) Mr. George Darwin speaks (1) in an approving strain of the most oppressive laws and of the encouragement of vice to check population. (2) There is no sexual criminality of Pagan days that might not be defended on the principles advocated by the school to which this writer belongs." In the Quarterly Review for October, 1874, p.587, appeared a letter from Mr. George Darwin "absolutely denying" charge No. 1, and with respect to charge No. 2 he wrote : "I deny that there is any thought or word in my essay which could in any way lend itself to the support of the nameless crimes here referred to." To the letter was appended a note from Mr. Mivart, in which he said : "Nothing would have been further from our intention than to tax Mr. Darwin personally (as he seems to have supposed) with the advocacy of laws or acts which he saw to be oppressive or vicious. We, therefore, most willingly accept his disclaimer, and are glad to find that he does not, in fact, apprehend the full tendency of the doctrines which he has helped to propagate. Nevertheless, we cannot allow that we have enunciated a single proposition which is either 'false' or 'groundless.'... But when a writer, according to his own confession, comes before the public 'to attack the institution of marriage... he must expect searching criticism ; and, without implying that Mr. Darwin has in 'thought' or 'word' approved of anything which he wishes to disclaim, we must still maintain that the doctrines which he advocates are most dangerous and pernicious." — EDITOR."
19
Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1817-1911). British botanist and explorer.
20
Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825-1895). British biologist known as "Darwin's Bulldog".

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP1968.6066)]

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 “WCP1968,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 25 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1968