Ɛpsilon

WCP4495

Letter (WCP4495.4803)

[1]1

Frith Hill, Godalming.

August 17th. 1886

My dear Meldola2

Just a line to tell you that my reply3 to Romanes4 will appear in next "Fortnightly" — just in time for the Brit. Ass. I think I have shown the entire fallacy of his whole argument, — & I also think I have hit upon the true key to the solution — but it will want further working out. I wonder [2] if it is the same as yours.

I suppose you will send your reply to "Nature".

Is not Romanes fearfully long-winded & tedious? even in what he calls his "abstract" in "Nature". I am getting on with my lectures & hope to be ready in time. I did not expect much, if anything, from your friend’s Steamer Comp. I shall, I think, go by the National Line[.]

Yours faithfully| Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Kind remembrances to Mrs. R. Meldola.5

1
In pencil in unknown handwriting, “To Greenock”.
2
Meldola, Raphael (1849-1915). British chemist and entomologist.
3
Wallace, A. R. 1886. Romanes versus Darwin: an episode in the history of the evolution theory. Fortnightly Review (n.s.) 40 (237): 300-316.
4
Romanes, George John (1848-1894). Canadian-born British evolutionary biologist and physiologist.
5
Meldola (née Davis), Ella Frederica (1863-1932). Wife of Raphael Meldola.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP4495.4803)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Lord, Annette [2012-07-20] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Please cite as “WCP4495,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4495