WCP4033

Letter (WCP4033.3977)

[1]

The Dell, Grays, Essex1

Sept.[ember] 27th. 1874

Dear Newton2

I should be glad to help to a discussion on Migration but am really afraid to exhibit my ignorance. I want to get information on the subject, but know not where to go. Is there no fairly good work or article on the subject?

If no discussion arises; I will write a letter to get it going, likewise I would rather look in & pick up any [2] strong ideas that may be thrown out.

I am happy to say I at length see my way to finishing my book on Geog[raphical] Dist[ribution] of Animals3,- not satisfactorily, for that is impossible at present, but still in such a way as to be useful.

Believe me | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

[3] P.S. To make some of a discussion you might to have made a theory, good & bad, & pretended to be very sure about it; — then you would have found lots of opponents & hence a discussion. As I [said], you have well given us enough to discuss. A.R.W. [signature]

[4]

A.R.Wallace, Sept. 27/29 /76.

Answered Sept 29/744

1
307 is written in pencil
2
Alfred Newton (11 June 1829 — 7 June 1907) was an English zoologist and ornithologist. He was the professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907.
3
Alfred Wallace’s The Geographical Distribution of Animals (1876) was one of the first books to model traditional biogreographic regions of animals. Wallace’s system used birds and vertebrates, including non-flying animals, because their limited dispersal abilities reflect the natural divisions of the Earth.
4
These two lines appear on an otherwise blank page.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP4033.3977)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Campbell, John [2012-08-15] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15]

Please cite as “WCP4033,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4033