WCP5207

[1]¹ [p. 208]

To this letter Dr. Wallace kindly sent me the following reply which quite removed any possibility of doubt upon the subject:—

[2] [p. 209] 'Parkstone, Dorset,

'February 23, 1901.

'Dear Sir,

'Darwin believed that all living things originated from "a few forms or from one," as stated in the last sentence of his "Origin of Species." But privately, I am sure he believed in the one origin. Of course there is a bare possibility that there were several distinct origins from inorganic matter, but it is extremely improbable, because in that case we should expect to find some difference in the earliest forms of the germs of life. But there is no such difference, the primitive germ-cells of a man, fish, or oyster, being almost indistinguishable, formed of identical matter, and going through identical primitive changes. As to the Humming-bird and Hippopotamus, there is no doubt whatever of a common origin, if Evolution is accepted at all; since both are vertebrates, a very high type of organism whose ancestral forms can be traced back to a simple type much earlier than the common origin of mammals, birds, and reptiles.

'Yours very truly,

'Alfred R. Wallace.

Samuel Waddington, Esq.'