Ɛpsilon

WCP3054

Letter (WCP3054.3022)

[1]

14, BEAUFORT GARDENS,

S.W.

24th February 98

Dear Sir

Your pamphlet1 on vaccination only reached me today, or I should before this have acknowledged your note2 of the 16th, in which you refer to your friendship with [2] my brother. It was a friendship which he very highly prized, & he often spoke of you. Especially you were continually in our minds when we paid a visit to Java & Malacca, during which time your "Malay Archipelago"3 was our constant handbook.

[3] I will read the pamphlet with pleasure, & I may mention that I am already a declared opponent to compulsory vaccination.

Believe me | yours very truly | W. Wedderburn4 [signature]

1
Wallace, A. R. 1898. Vaccination a Delusion; Its Penal Enforcement a Crime: Proved by the Official Evidence in the Reports of the Royal Commission (18 Feb.), p. 353. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd., London. (According to My Life (Vol. 2, p. 353), "brought out" as a booklet for distribution in Jan. 1898); pp. (1)-96; 12 fold-out diagrams. (Smith).
2
The note has not been found.
3
Wallace, A. R. 1869. The Malay Archipelago: The land of the orang-utan, and the bird of paradise. A narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature. London: Macmillan and Co. Two volumes.
4
Wedderburn, William (1838-1918). Scottish-born British civil servant and politician. Liberal Party member of Parliament (MP). One of the founding members of the Indian National Congress. President of Congress 1889-1910 for the Allahabad session. Brother of David Wedderburn (1835-1882).

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3054.3022)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Benny, Ruth [2014-12-19] Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2014-12-19] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Please cite as “WCP3054,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3054