WCP2265

Letter (WCP2265.2155)

[1]

Univ[ersity]. Libr[ary].

Cambridge.

15th [January 1870].1

My dear Sir

I cannot refrain from writing to you about your very valuable letter in "Nature"2 which I hope will be taken up by others & continued by yourself — who they got to do the editorial I cannot imagine — but he obviously failed to understand anything — I think individual effort would not do — we could not collect elephants [2] as amateurs — but societies & private endowments like Hospitals would grow up directly if there is any real value in this Natural History knowledge— & if not we certainly don't want taxing for it. The only institution I know doing real good — spend but little — & is purely private in its origin — the "Smithsonian".3 The printed book Department of the Museum should be [3] most useful — if only they were restrained from fancy prices for Caxton4 & Wynkyn de Worde5 — as all classes are appealed to in the formation of a library. There can be no doubt that if the Museum was fully up to the time & had everything studied & arranged — & the duplicates sent over the country it would receive countless donations — at Paris they naturally receive nothing now.

[4] I fully believe that we want to put forward the voluntary part of science now just as the religious people [one illeg. word] not for the "offertory"6 & that while advanced people want to own the Church from the state with one hand, [that] they should want to unite the state & Science with the other is to me monstrous[.]

Yours v[er]y t[rul]y | G R Crotch [signature]

The date of 15th January 1870 is established by the relationship of this letter to ARW's LTTE in Nature (13 Jan 1870). "1870" is written in pencil in ARW's hand at the upper left-hand corner of page 1.
Wallace, A. R. 1870. Government Aid to Science. Nature 1 (13 Jan. 1870): 288-289.
The Smithsonian Institution was founded in Washington on 10 August 1864 by the donor James Smithson as an establishment for "the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." The American experimental physicist, Joseph Henry was elected as the first secretary of the Smithsonian. Under Henry the Smithsonian played a significant role in funding and disseminating original scientific research in American. Construction began on the Smithsonian Institution Building in 1849 which was completed in 1855. In 1881 the Arts and Industries Building was constructed to provide the Smithonsian with a facility to display its collections to the public. (Ewing, H. 2007. The Lost World of James Smithson: Science, Revolution and the Birth of the Smithsonian. New York: Bloomsbury. p.330).
Caxton, William (1415?-1492). British printer, merchant, and diplomat.
Worde, Wynkyn de (?-1534?). German-born British printer and publisher, known for his work with William Caxton.
An offering or a collection of money during a church service (OED).

Please cite as “WCP2265,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP2265