Ɛpsilon

WCP3220

Letter (WCP3220.3188)

[1]1

Belgrave View, Ventnor

April 18 1904

My dear Dr. Wallace

I feel that I must thank you for the very great pleasure your book "Mans [sic] place in the Universe"2 has given me to read, I consider it a wonderful book, and am amazed at your being able to bring all the stupendous facts of the creation to bear — as you have done — on your argument — which I consider you have proved; concerning myself, and my opinion I will quote Tennyson3—

:"but what am I?

An infant crying in the night:

An infant crying for the Light:

And with no Language but a cry."

My belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and his incarnation [2] making Him one with our race God with man, confirms me in this wonderful, and as far as I am aware of, original revelation of the scheme of your volume;

John the Baptist said "no man can receive any thing except it be given him from Heaven"; the revelation of the mystery of Gravitation must have been given by God to man through Isaac Newton, as surely as the Phrophesies [sic] of our Lord's Nativity — God with us — was made known to man through the seers and prophets of old time; so I cannot but feel that the truth of Evolution was given by God to man through Darwin4 and yourself —

[3] "Let Knowledge grow from more to more

But more of Reverence in us dwell

That mind and soul according well

May make one music as before,

But Vaster"

Your chapters 10, 11 and 12 gave me the greatest pleasure to read, and I think I have been able to grasp all your arguments, any way, there is very little that I have not been able to "take in". I quite agree with you in your conclusion that there is nothing that need alarm the scientific, or the Religious mind. I agree with all you say to the end of that chapter — I wish you would kindly tell me where those lovely verses come from "Question" , "Answer" [4] you conclude your book with?

I hope you are generally satisfied with reviews of the volume?

Good Bye — our kind regards to your self and to Mrs. Wallace5

Yours Very truly | Edmund Evans6 [signature]

Dr. A. R. Wallace

1
In ARW’s handwriting, "Answd". See WCP4789. https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4789
2
Wallace, A. R. 1903. Man's place in the universe; a study of the results of scientific research in relation to the unity or plurality of worlds. London: Chapman & Hall.
3
Tennyson, Alfred (1809-1892). British Poet.
4
Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882). British naturalist, geologist and author, notably of On the Origin of Species (1859).
5
Wallace (née Mitten), Annie (1846-1914). British. Wife of ARW; daughter of William Mitten.
6
Evans, Edmund (1826-1905). Wood engraver and colour printer.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3220.3188)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Ghosh, Susan [2015-02-24] Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2015-02-24] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Please cite as “WCP3220,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3220