WCP2952

Letter (WCP2952.2842)

[1]1

THE FERNS,

WHITCOMBE,

GLOUCESTER

25. vi. [19]092

Dear Dr Wallace

It is difficult for me to tell you how gratified I am by your extraordinarily kind letter. I can never judge myself of the merit, if any, of anything I write. I am therefore immensely encouraged by what you are so very good as to say. Sir Joseph Hooker3 was kind enough to read the essay in print and likes it. Your approval in addition makes me a proud man.

The truth is that success was [2] too easy. It has been my immense good fortune to know most of those who played a part in the drama. The story simply wanted a straight forward amanuensis to tell itself. But it is a real pleasure to me to know that I have met with some measure of success.

There are many essays in the book that you will not like any more than I do. The secret of this lies in the fact, which [3]4 you pointed out in your memorable speech at the Linnean celebration5, that no one but a naturalist can really understand Darwin.

I did not go to Cambridge6. I had my hands full here. I was not sorry for the excuse. There seemed to me a note of insincerity about the whole business. I am short-tempered. I cannot stand being told that Darwin[’]s mantle has fallen on Bateson7, the ‘origin of species’ has still to be discovered, & that specific differences have no ‘reality’ (Bateson’s Essay8, p[age]. 89) [4] People are of course at liberty to hold such opinions. But decency might have prescribed another occasion for ventilating them[.]

I may be permitted, I hope, to congratulate you on the sustained intellectual vigour and keen interest displayed in your letter. The only parallel I know is that of my father-in-law, now 92, who wrote my wife a wonderful account of the Cambridge proceedings. I shall treasure your letter with his[.]

Yours sincerely | W. T. Thiselton-Dyer9 [signature]

1
Page numbered 57 in pencil in top RH corner and "Ans[wered]" written in ink across the top LH corner of page.
2
Year deduced from birth and death dates of author.
3
Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1817-1911). British botanist and explorer, founder of geographical botany. He succeeded his father William Jackson Hooker as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on his death in 1865 and held the post for 20 years. Thiselton-Dyer married Harriet Anne Hooker, daughter of Joseph Dalton Hooker, in 1877.
4
Page numbered 58 in pencil in top RH corner.
5
The Darwin-Wallace celebration held on Thursday, 1st July, 1908 by the Linnean Society of London to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the joint communication made by Charles Darwin and ARW to the Society, "On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection."
6
On 22-24 June 1909 over 400 scientists and dignitaries from 167 different countries gathered at Cambridge to celebrate the centenary of Darwin's birth and the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species.
7
Bateson, William (1861-1926). English geneticist, the first person to use the term genetics to describe the study of heredity and biological inheritance. He was the chief populariser of the ideas of Gregor Mendel following their rediscovery in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns.
8
Bateson W. (1909) Heredity and variation in modern lights in Seward, A. C. ed. Darwin and modern science. Essays in commemoration of the centenary of the birth of Charles Darwin and of the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The origin of species. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
9
British Museum stamp underneath.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP2952.2842)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by O'Dell, Sandra [2015-05-14] Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2015-05-14] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10]

Published letter (WCP2952.6462)

[1] [p. 91]

SIR W. T. THISELTON-DYER TO A. R. WALLACE

The Ferns, Witcombe, Gloucester. June 25, 1909.

Dear Dr. Wallace, — It is difficult for me to tell you how gratified I am by your extraordinarily kind letter.1

...The truth is that success was easy. It has been my immense good fortune to know most of those who played in the drama. The story simply wanted a straightforward amanuensis2 to tell itself. But it is a real pleasure to me to know that I have met with some measure of success.

There are many essays in the book3 that you will not like any more than I do. The secret of this lies in the fact, which you pointed out in your memorable speech at the Linnean Celebration,4 that no one but a naturalist can really understand Darwin.5

I did not go to Cambridge — I had my hands full here. I was not sorry for the excuse. There seemed to me a note of insincerity about the whole business. I am short- tempered. I cannot stand being told that the origin of species has still to be discovered, and that specific differences have no "reality" (Bateson's6 Essay, p. 89).7 People are of course at liberty to hold such opinions, but decency might have presented another occasion for ventilating them. — Yours sincerely, | W. T. THISELTON-DYER.

1
[Add reference to ARW's letter].
2
A literary or artistic assistant, in particular one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts.
3
Possibly Seward, A.C. (1909) 'Darwin and Modern Science: Essays in Commemoration of the Centenary of the Birth of Charles Darwin and of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Publication of 'The Origin of Species' ' (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press)
4
Possibly a reference to Wallace's remarks on receiving the first Darwin-Wallace Medal on 1 July 1908. Printed in The Darwin-Wallace Celebration Held on Thursday, 1st July 1908, as published by the Linnean Society of London in 1909.
5
Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882). British naturalist, geologist and author, notably of On the Origin of Species (1859).
6
Bateson, William (1861-1926). British biologist.
7
. Possibly Bateson, W. 'Hereditary and Variation in Modern Lights:' in Seward, A.C. (1909) 'Darwin and Modern Science: Essays in Commemoration of the Centenary of the Birth of Charles Darwin and of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Publication of 'The Origin of Species' (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press)

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP2952.6462)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Paterson, Gavin [2020-03-23]

Please cite as “WCP2952,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 3 May 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP2952