Old Orchard,
Broadstone,
Dorset.
Decr. 4th. 1912
Sir W. T. Thislelton [sic] -Dyer1
My dear Sir T. T. Dyer
Many thanks for your interesting & useful paper. It is astonishing to me that so many Geologists & Zoologists still think that it is reasonable to raise think and sink full-sized Continents to explain any two or three fresh little difficulties in Distribution. Even our friend Lydekker2 has again called in the aid of an Antarctic Continent, to explain how the Marsupials reached [2] Australia from S. America (See footnote at p. 241. of my "World of Life".)3 In an f Appendix to that Chapter— (pp. 267 — 270) I have again stated some of the physical difficulties against such a hypothesis. He and others never seemed to have even measured on a globe how long such a Continental "bridge" as he calls in must have been — 7000 miles! longer than the whole continent of S. America! And the whole result to get over one ancestral type of mammal! O ridiculus mus! And as he would want it quite early in the [3] Tertiary — Others want it later, others in the Secondary — But any or all of these would render it impossible to explain the fundamental differences of the whole fauna and flora of the two regions.
What a nuisance is the mania for large size Scientific publications. The Linnean, Anthropological and Geographical, have all increased their Journals or Proceedings to huge 8vos, doubling the cost of binding & rendering it impossible to get them on ordinary 8vo. bookshelves! What delightful little books are Dent's "Everymans LIbrary" — the most wonderful shilling's worth in style and substance of any of the cheap [4] series. I have just got—
It is such a charming idea putting all the ornament in backs. — and each author a different Colour.
I have just finished a very small booklet on "Social Environment and Moral Progress."10 for the "New Tracts for the Times" Series of the National Council of Public Morals, in which I put forward some rather startling theories or conclusions.
With best wishes — | yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3743.3650)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
[1]1
To Sir W.T.Thistelton Dyer.) Old Orchard, Broadstone, Dorset
Dec. 4th. 1912
My dear Sir W.T.Thistelton-Dyer
My dear Sir W.T.Dyer Many thanks for your interesting & useful paper. It is astonishing to me that so many Geologists & Zoologist still think that it is reasonable to raise and sink full-sized Continents to explain any two or three fresh little difficulties in Distribution. Even our friend Lydekker has again called in the aid of an Antarctic Continent, to explain how Marsupials reached Australia from S. America (see footnote at p. 241. of my "World of Life".) In an appendix to that chapter — (pp.267-270) I have again stated some of the physical difficulties against such a hypothesis. He and others never seem to have measured on a globe how long such a Continental "bridge" as he calls it must have been — 7000 miles! longer than the whole continent of S.America! And the whole result to get over one ancestral type of mammal! O ridiculus mus [Latin: Oh ridiculous mouse]! And as he would want it quite early in the Tertiary — Others want it later, others in the Secondary — But any or all of these would render it impossible to explain the fundamental differences of the whole fauna and flora of the two regions.
What a nuisance is the mania for large size Scientific publications. The Linnean, Anthropological and Geographical, have all increased their journals or proceedings to huge 8vos, doubling the cost of binding & rendering it impossible to get them on ordinary 8vo. book-shelves! What delightful little books are Dent's "Everyman's Library" — the most wonderful shilling's worth in style and substance of any of the cheap series. I have just got Galton's Human Faculty — Carlyle's Past & Present, Mill's— Liberty &c.
It is such a charming idea putting all the ornament in the backs, — and each author a different colour.
I have just finished a very small booklet on "Social Environment and Moral Progress". for the "New Tracts for the Times" Series of the National Council of Public Morals, in which I put forward some rather startling theories or conclusions.
With best wishes Yours very faithfully Alfred R. Wallace.
Status: Draft transcription [Transcription (WCP3743.4360)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP3743,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on