WCP4438

[1]

Old Orchard,

Broadstone,

Wimborne.

Nov[embe]^r.. 2^nd. 1908

My dear Poulton

It would I think be very imprudent and quite useless for me (at my time of life) to promise any help or advice in any way in your proposed periodical. And I had therefore rather not have my name in any way put forward — except as wishing you success. But, new periodicals are so costly and so difficult to establish that [2] unless you have a wealthy publisher to take all the risk & cost, I am afraid it cannot succeed.

"Nature" ought to do what you propose doing — but it is so filled up, with long reviews of every new text book, great or small, of not the slightest interest except to teachers — that it does not give us that semi-popular yet full and accurate record of the progress of modern sciences that it might do, & that I had [3] hoped at one time they ^it would give.

You may perhaps have heard that I have been invited by the Royal Institution (through Sir W[illiam] Crookes) to give them a lecture — on their Jubilee of the<ir> "Origin of Species", in January.

After some consideration I accepted, because I think I can give a broad and general view of Darwinism, that will finally squash up the Mutationists and Mendelians, and be both generally intelligible & interesting. So far as I know this has never yet been done, and the R[oyal] Institution [4]¹ audience is just the intelligent but non-specialist one I shall be glad to give it to — if I can.

I have been very poorly the last three weeks, but am now recovering my health & strength — slowly — It will take me all my time the next 2 months to get this ready — & now I must write a letter in reply to the absurd and gross misrepresentation of Prof[essor] Hubrecht as to imaginary difference between Darwin & myself in the last "Contemporary"!

Have you any good slides showing cases of mimicry between distinct orders of insects? They are the only kind to carry conviction to the general public.

Yours very truly| Alfred R. Wallace [signature]