Frith Hill, Godalming,
Jan[uar]y. 5th.1888
My dear Mr. Poulton
I received your interesting paper on the teeth of Ornithorhynchus. Many thanks for it. I am glad your Weismann book is getting on. Did you think my note on "Old age and Death" — worth using? Any how I shall be glad if you will return it.
I think it would be almost indecent for Romanes to review my book! A new argument against his Phys[iological] Select[ion] has [2] just occurred to me, & I have been obliged to put it into a note. His theory assumes sterility or infertility of first crosses, as the foundation of species, the infertility appearing before any external characters. But, in full-formed & very distinct species there is usually no such sterility — mules, & many kinds of hybrids being quite freely produced. If his theory were the true one, ‘hybrids’ between distinct species sh[oul]d be very rare or quite unknown. [3] Therefore it is not a true theory. Q. E. D.
I also prove, by figures, that it is unworkable — that his Phys[iological] Var[iations?] must die out!
It has, therefore, the two slight disadvantages of being untrue and impossible!
But of course he will stick to it.
Yours very truly| Alfred R. Wallace [signature]
P.S. The drawings of the Mantis to hand. Thanks.
A.R.W. [signature]
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP4352.4574)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Envelope addressed to "E. B. Poulton Esq., Wykeham House, Oxford", with stamp, postmarked "GODALMING | B | 6 JA | 89"; postmark on back. [Envelope (WCP4352.4575)]
Please cite as “WCP4352,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 25 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4352