Ɛpsilon

WCP4365

Letter (WCP4365.4601)

[1]

Frith Hill, Godalming.

March 3rd. 1889

My dear Mr. Poulton1

Many thanks for your kind invitation, which I may perhaps accept for a day or two if I can manage it, — but my health is but poorly and I hardly feel up to paying visits.

I hear there has been a discussion in the Pall Mall — Huxley,2 Auberon Herbert,3 & Ray Lankester4 — a triangular duel — but unfortunately the first & last of these at all [2] events know absolutely nothing of the subject they venture to write about. In any new experimental research Crookes’5 5 years work may be supposed to outweigh 5 hours, even if those 5 hours were devoted to the subject by Huxley & Ray Lankester!

If we meet I shall be quite pleased to have a talk on the matter.

Yours faithfully| Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

My book6 is approaching the end.

1
Poulton, Edward Bagnall (1856-1943). British entomologist. Hope Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Jesus College.
2
Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825-1895). British biologist and author, known as "Darwin's Bulldog".
3
Herbert, Auberon Edward William Molyneux (1838-1906). British writer, theorist, philosopher, and 19th century individualist.
4
Lankester, Edwin Ray ("Ray") (1847-1929). British authority zoology. Made important contributions to comparative anatomy, embryology, parasitology, and anthropology.
5
Crookes, William (1832-1919). British chemist, physicist, science journalist, and spiritualist. Secretary of the Royal Institution.
6
Wallace, A. R. 1889. Darwinism: an exposition of the theory of natural selection with some of its applications. London & New York: Macmillan & Co.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP4365.4601)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Lord, Annette [2012-07-16] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Envelope (WCP4365.4602)

Envelope addressed to "E. B. Poulton Esq., Wykeham House, Oxford", with stamp, postmarked "GODALMING | B | MR 4 | 89"; postmark on back. [Envelope (WCP4365.4602)]

Please cite as “WCP4365,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4365