Ɛpsilon

WCP4013

Letter (WCP4013.3956)

[1]

9, St. Mark's Crescent,

Regent's Park, N.W.

Novr. 9th. 1865

Dear Newton1

Blyth2 is certainly very queer. He is half mad about some grand new scheme of explaining everything by the Recession of the Equinoxes, & if he once gets working that into his paper for the "Ibis", you will never have it.

I should write to him again, telling him: you cannot do without his paper, begging him to return it immediately as it was [2] with a note saying that since writing it he has arrived at some new ideas in the subject which will be developed in another work.

It would certainly do him good now to have some mechanical work to do to keep him from dwelling too much on his new theory.

You might remind him of his former uncompleted contribution to the "Ibis".

[3] You will probably see him at the Zool. on Tuesday.

Yours very sincerely | Alfred R. Wallace — [signature]

A. Newton Esq.

[4]3

1
Newton, Alfred (1829-1907). British zoologist and ornithologist. Founding member of the British Ornithologists' Union.
2
Blyth, Edward (1810-1873). British zoologist; Curator of the Museum of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal 1841-62.
3
In Newton’s handwriting, "A. R. Wallace, London Nov. 9/10/65. Answered Nov. 11/65." The letter has not been found.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP4013.3956)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Royce, Isobel [2012-11-13] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Lucas, Paula [2020-08-27] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Please cite as “WCP4013,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4013