WCP4224

[1]

Parkstone, Dorset.

April 25th. 1891

My dear Mr. Cockerell¹

I sincerely congratulate you on your appointment in Jamaica which will be in so many ways suitable for you. How you will revel in the Land Molluscs, & how you will punish the poor slugs who have hitherto been unregarded by collectors!

I presume your Museum is in Kingston, the Capital, which is said to be unhealthy. Any how it would be very hot & trying for you ^{and for your wife;} and, if any how possible, I would strongly recommend you to get a house [2] a few miles out in the country at an elevation of at least a thousand feet above the sea, & if nearer 2000 — so much the better. At those altitudes you have always cool nights, ^{much purer air,} & about the most delightful general climate possible. As I see the highest mountains in Jamaica (over 7000 ft.) are only about 12 or 15 ft miles from Kingston you ought to be able to get over 1000 feet, or perhaps even 2000 feet in 5 or 6 miles, — and as, in Jamaica, every body keeps a buggy, you could drive in & out to your work at the Museum, and also to such [3] social festivities as you will be obliged to take part in. You will be able to have a garden, & to be within easy reach of the higher ranges of mountains where hosts of new insects & molluscs remain for you to discover! As you will treat the poor niggers as "men & brothers" you will have no difficulty in getting any servants you require, & I presume their wages are low. You will get all information needed from Ms. Morris, the Assistant Director at Kew, who was at the Botanic Gardens at Jamaica.

[4] Mr. Henslow² is almost as slippery a customer as Romanes³! How cool is his assumption, at line 10 of his reply,⁴ that "[1 word illeg.]" and "gigantism" are due to "direct action of the environment"! begging the very question at issue!! And how innocent is his next case, of the parsnip, as if it proved anything in his favour! And again his remarks about cold from radiation, which are totally beside the question, since whatever the cold at night from radiation, the advantage of close proximity to the warmed soil and shelter from winds by irregularities of surface is the same, or in fact is more important on account of the cold. So with his (5) the shelter is important because of the "prevailing exposure". With such men reasoning is a hopeless task. — yet I hope you will give him a few more "words of wisdom" — not for him but for other leaders of "Nature." We had another excursion to Lytchet[sic] on Friday & revelled in daffodils in the forbidden⁵ wood! A very flower garden!

Yours very truly | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]