WCP4287

Letter (WCP4287.4409)

[dated by DCP as after 20 August 1862]

[1]

[top half of MS page torn and beginning of letter missing] I have only the 1st. Edition of the "Origin"1— I suppose the one you kindly sent2 to Singapore must have reached after I left3 & they did not think it worth while to return it. I should be much pleased to have the 3rd. Ed[itio]n.4

I have never considered the Ostriches to have any real connection with Mammals, & should imagine [2] [top half of MS page torn and section of letter missing] difficult [MS torn, several words missing] of anomalous semiaquatic animals which should easily admit of modification into these three forms. —

I find myself very delicate & dread the winter, as I have been suffering here from inflamation of the pleura,5 & bad cough through a little exposure to night air.

I remain | My dear Mr Darwin | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

C. Darwin Esq.

Darwin, C. R. 1859. On the origin of species by means of natural selection. London: John Murray.
Darwin, C. R. 1860. On the origin of species by means of natural selection. Second ed. London: John Murray.
Darwin, C. R. 1861. On the origin of species by means of natural selection. Third ed. London: John Murray.
Wallace returned to England in the spring of 1862 following eight years of exploring and collecting in the Malay Archipelago.
"The serous membrane lining each half of the thoracic cavity and covering the lung" (OED).

Please cite as “WCP4287,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4287