[1] [p. 207]
'7 Whitehall Gardens,
'London, S.W.
'February 19, 1901.
'Dear Sir,
'I trust you will forgive a stranger troubling you with a letter, but a friend has asked me whether, as a matter of fact, Darwin held that all living creatures are descended from one and the same ancestor, and that the pedigree of Humming-bird [2] [p. 208] and that of a Hippopotamus would meet if traced far enough back. Can you tell me whether Darwin did teach this?
'I should have thought that as Life was developed once, it probably could and would be developed many times in different places, as month after month, and year after year, went by; and that, from the very first, it probably took many different forms and characters, in the same way as crystals take different forms and shapes, even when composed of the same substance. From these many developments of "life" would descend as many separate lines of Evolution, one ending in the Humming-bird, another in the Hippopotamus, a third in the Kangaroo, etc., and their pedigrees (however far back they might be traced) would not join until they reached some primitive form of protoplasm.
'Believe me,
'Yours very truly,
'Samuel Waddington.
'A. R. Wallace, Esq.'
Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP5206.5720)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
[1] [p. 77]
7 Whitehall Gardens, London, S.W.
February 19, 1901
Dear Sir,—I trust you will forgive a stranger troubling you with a letter, but a friend has asked me whether, as a matter of fact, Darwin1 held that all living creatures descending from one and the same ancestor, and that the pedigree of a humming-bird and that of a hippopotamus would meet if traced far enough back. Can you tell me whether Darwin did teach this?
I should have thought that as life was developed once, it probably could and would be developed many times in different places, as month after month, and year after year went by; and that, from the very first, it probably took many different forms and characters, in the same way as crystals take different forms and shapes, even when composed of the same substance. From these many developments of "life" would descend as many separate lines of evolution, one ending in the humming-bird, another in the hippopotamus, a third in the kangaroo, etc., and their pedigrees (however far back they might be traced) would not join until they reached some primitive form of protoplasm.—Yours faithfully,
Samuel Waddington
Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP5206.6443)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP5206,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5206