Ɛpsilon

WCP3785

Letter (WCP3785.3699)

[1]

Frith Hill, Godalming.

Decr. 24th. 1887

Prof. Lester F. Ward1

Dear Mr. Ward

Thank you very much for sending me a copy of your valuable work on "Social Dynamics".2 I have spoken of it to several friends here & have lent it to one of the masters of Charterhouse School, who is much pleased with many parts of it. Your excellent account of the Philosophy of H. Spencer3 & of Comte4 is greatly admired.

I am much pleased that [2] Mrs. Ward5 should have read my "Island Life"6 & been interested in it. I think she would find my "Tropical Nature"7 more generally interesting.

I should have much have liked to have seen "High Island" in May & June but the fates forbade. Your spring is so dreadfully long coming!

We have had no snow yet & very little frost, & my garden is full of young plants coming up ready for spring, narcissi, snowdrops, [3] Anemones, White Lilies, &c. while two or three species of Helleborus, which we call Christmas roses, are in flower. Thus the interest in our gardens never ceases, & every month in the year can afford some few out-of-door flowers. In this respect only California & Florida can equal us. Hoping to receive the promised seeds and plants next summer.

I remain | yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

1
Ward, Lester Frank (1841-1913). American palaeobotanist and later professor of sociology.
2
Ward, Lester Frank. 1883. Dynamic Sociology or applied social science: as based upon statical sociology and the less complex sciences. Two volumes. D. Appleton.
3
Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903). British philosopher, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist.
4
Comte, Auguste (1798-1857). French philosopher, considered founder of the discipline of sociology
5
Ward (née Simons) Rosamond Asenath (1840-1913). Second wife of Lester Ward.
6
Wallace, A. R. 1892. Island life: or, the phenomena and causes of insular faunas and floras, including a revision and attempted solution of the problem of geological climates. Second and revised edition. London and New York: Macmillan and Co.
7
Wallace, A. R. 1878. Tropical nature, and other essays. London & New York: Macmillan & Co.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3785.3699)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Hansman, Emily [2013-07-12] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-07-12] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Published letter (WCP3785.5472)

[1]1 [p. 378]

Godalming, England, December 24, 1887

Thank you very much for sending me a copy of your valuable work on Dynamic Sociology. I have spoken of it to several friends here & have lent it to one of the masters of Charterhouse School, who is much pleased with many parts of it. Your excellent account of the Philosophy of H. Spencer & of Comte is greatly admired.

I am much pleased that Mrs. Ward should have read my "Island Life" & been interested in it. I think she would find my "Tropical Nature" more generally interesting.

I should have much liked to have seen "High Island" in May & June but the fates forbade. Your spring is so dreadfully long coming! We have had no snow yet & very little frost, & my garden is full of young plants coming up ready for spring, Narcissi, Snowdrops, Anemones, White lilies, &c. while two or three species of Helleborus, which we call Christmas roses, are in flower. Thus the interest in our gardens never ceases, & every month in the year can afford some few out-of-door flowers. In this respect only California & Florida can equal us. Hoping to receive the promised seeds & plants next summer,

1
Editor Charles H. Smith's Note: Second of five letters from Wallace to Ward sent over an eleven year period, which were published in a note by Bernhard J. Stern printed in the April 1935 issue of The Scientific Monthly.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP3785.5472)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Smith, Charles Hyde [2013-02-06] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-02-08]

Please cite as “WCP3785,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3785