9 St. Mark’s Crescent
April 28th. 1869
Dear Sir Charles,
I am glad the article1 gives satisfaction to yourself / your friends. Darwin tells me he likes it greatly, all except the conclusion which he would have thought written by some one else.2 He says however that he will consider the point I mention in what he is now writing about man. I fear that being in the "Quarterly" it will not attract the attention of scientific men.
It seems to me that if we once admit the necessity of any action beyond "natural selection", in developing [2] man we have no reason whatever for confining that action to his brain. On the mere doctrine of chances it seems to me in the highest degree improbable, that so many points of structure all tending to [one illeg. struck through] favour his mental development should concur in man, and in man alone of all animals. If the erect posture, the freedom of the anterior limbs from purposes of locomotion, the powerful and opposable thumb, the naked skin[,] the great symmetry of form, the perfect organs of speech;— and in his mental faculties, — calculation of numbers, ideas of symmetry, of justice, of abstract reasoning, of the infinite, of a future state, — & many others can [3] not be shewn3 to be each and all useful to man in the very lowest state of civilization, how are we to explain their coexistence in him alone of the whole species of organised beings? Years ago I saw a Bushman boy & girl in London, & the girl played very nicely on the piano. Blind Tom4 the idiot negro had a "musical ear" or brain, superior perhaps to that of any living man. Unless Darwin can show me how this rudimentary or latent musical faculty in the lowest races can have been developed by survival of the fittest, — can have been of use to the individual or the race, so as to cause those who possessed it in a fractionally greater degree than others to win in the struggle for life, I must believe [4] that some other power caused that development, — and so on with every other especially human characteristic. It seems to me that onus probandi [Latin: burden of proof] will lay lie with those who maintain that man, body & mind, could have been developed from a quadrumanous animal by "natural selection".
Believe me | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]
Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP4881.5282)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
[1] [p. 224]
"It seems to me that if we once admit the necessity of any action beyond 'natural selection' in developing man, we have no reason whatever for confirming that agency to his brain. On the mere doctrine of chances it seems to me in the highest degree improbable that so many points of structure, all tending to favour his mental development, should concur in man alone of all animals. If the erect posture, the freedom of the anterior limbs from purposes of locomotion, the powerful and opposable thumb, the naked skin, the great symmetry of form, the perfect organs of speech, and, in his mental faculties, calculation of numbers, ideas of symmetry, of justice, of abstract reasoning, of the infinite, of a future state, and many others, cannot be shown to be each and all useful to man in the very lowest state of civilisation—how are we to explain their co-existence in him alone of the whole series of organized being? Years ago I saw in London a bushman boy and girl, and the girl played very nicely on the piano. Blind Tom, the half-idiot negro slave, had a 'musical ear' or brain, superior, perhaps, to that of the best living musicians. Unless Darwin can show me how this latent musical faculty in the lowest races can have been developed through survival of the fittest, can have been of use to the individual or the race, so as to cause those who possessed it in a fractionally greater degree that others to win in the struggle for life, I must believe that some other power (than natural selection) caused that development. It seems to me that the onus probandi [Latin: the burden of proof] will lie with those who maintain that man, body and mind, could have developed from a quadrumanous animal by 'natural selection.'"
Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP4881.6926)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP4881,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on