Ɛpsilon

WCP4005

Letter (WCP4005.3948)

[1]

5, Westbourne Grove Terrace. W.

April 2nd. 1864

Dear Newton1

A friend of mine, Mr. Louis Leslie,2 is going to Cambridge next week to enter the university, & I have taken the liberty of giving him an introduction to you. He is a pleasant young fellow, but I am sorry to say utterly unconscious of Natural History. He intends [2] I believe becoming a country pastor, so I hope you may be able to inoculate him.

I hope shortly to come & pay you my long deferred visit. I have made a popular abstract of my paper3 at the Linnaean for the "Reader",4 & as it is not in this week I hope it will appear next, but they are so overwhelmed with matter that communications generally [3] have to wait a fortnight.

I had a note from Darwin5 the other day. He says the Doctors still tell him he will recover, — in the mean time he can only read and write by deputy, & in limited quantities.

With best wishes │ Believe me │Dear Newton│ yours very sincerely | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Alfred Newton Esq.

[4]6

1
Newton, Alfred (1829-1907). British zoologist and ornithologist. Founding member of the British Ornithologists' Union.
2
Leslie, Louis John (1838-1873). British brother of ARW's fiancée Marion Leslie.
3
Wallace, A. R. 1865. On the phenomena of variation and geographical distribution as illustrated by the Papilionidae of the Malayan region. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 25, pp. 1-71.
4
Wallace, A. R. 1864. Mr. Wallace on the phenomena of variation and geographical distribution as illustrated by the Malayan Papilionidae [abstract 16 April]. Reader 3: 491b-493b.
5
Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882). British naturalist, geologist and author, notably of On the Origin of Species (1859).
6
In Newton’s handwriting, "A. R. Wallace, London. April 2/4/64. Answered April 6/64." The letter has not been found.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP4005.3948)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Royce, Isobel [2012-10-29] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Costa, Leslie [2020-10-08] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Please cite as “WCP4005,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4005