Ɛpsilon

WCP3060

Letter (WCP3060.3028)

[1]

Leckhampton House,

Cambridge.

April 14/98

My dear Wallace

I can see no answer to your statistics & arguments. Of course I should like to see what the doctors can say in reply, as [illeg.] it is difficult to believe in such a wide-spread blunder. But so far as the statistics with wh. you deal go — & that is by far — I cannot imagine a convincing answer. I am much obliged to you for letting me see the pamphlet;1 & I shall hand it on to John Gorst2 first, with your letter,3 [2] & a letter of my own.

The unveracity of WB Carpenter,4 & especially of Ernest Hart,5 ought not to surprise me after what I already know of their standards in controversy: — but it is staggering all the same!

Yours most truly | FWH Myers6 [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
Gorst, John Eldon (1835-1916). British Politician and lawyer.
3
The letter has not been found.
4
Carpenter, William Benjamin (1813-1885). British physician, invertebrate zoologist and physiologist.
5
Hart, Ernest Abraham (1835-1898). British medical journalist.
6
Myers, Frederic William Henry (1843-1901). British poet, classicist, philologist, and founder of the Society of Psychical Research. Brother of Arthur Thomas Myers.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3060.3028)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Benny, Ruth [2015-02-18] Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2015-02-18] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Envelope (WCP3060.8375)

Envelope addressed to "A. R. Wallace Esq. FRS, Parkstone, Dorset", with stamp, postmarked "CAMBRIDGE | 7:30PM | AP 14 | 98". Note is written on front in ARW's hand: "Myers. | Two Letters. (1) Is a believer in Vaccination | (2) My argument is conclusive." Back of envelope stamped "T. FISHER UNWIN | 1. ADELPHI TERRACE | LONDON | W.C"; postmark on back. It is unknown why the address of publisher Thomas Fisher Unwin appears on the envelope, unless Myers used it on occasion as an alternative postal address. [Envelope (WCP3060.8375)]

Please cite as “WCP3060,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3060