WCP5619

Published letter (WCP5619.6392)

[1] [p. 31]

Holly House, Barking, E. February 2, 1871.

Dear Miss Buckley, — I have read Darwin's1 first volume2, and like it very much. It is overwhelming as proving the origin of man from some lower form, but that, I rather think, hardly anyone doubts now.

He is very weak, as yet, on my objection about the "hair,"3 but promises a better solution in the second volume.

Have you seen Mivart's4 book, "Genesis of Species"5? It is exceedingly clever, and well worth reading. The arguments against Natural Selection as the exclusive mode of development are some of them exceedingly strong, and very well put, and it is altogether a most readable and interesting book.

Though he uses some weak and bad arguments, and underrates the power of Natural Selection, yet I think I agree with his conclusion in the main, and am inclined to think it is more philosophical than my own. It is a book that I think will please Sir Charles Lyell6. — Believe me, yours very truly,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

1
Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882). British naturalist, geologist and author, notably of On the Origin of Species (1859).
2
A footnote on page 31 of the publication reads "The Descent of Man." Referring to: Darwin, C. 1871. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray.
3
ARW disagreed with Darwin's argument in the Descent of Man on the origin of hairlessness in humans. See Wallace, A. R. 1871. Darwin's 'The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex'. Academy. 2: 177-83. [pp.179-180].
4
Mivart, St. George Jackson (1827-1900). British physician, zoologist and Roman Catholic polemicist.
5
Mivart, St. G. J. 1871. On the Genesis of Species. London: Macmillan and Co.
6
Lyell, Charles (1797-1875). British geologist and author, notably of the influential Principles of Geology (1830-1833). President of the Geological Society of London, 1835-7 and 1849-51.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Published letter (WCP5619.6392)]

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Revision history

Transcribed by Preston, Tim [2019-12-17] Transcription checked by Costa, Leslie [2022-07-19]

Please cite as “WCP5619,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP5619