Ɛpsilon

WCP6646

Published letter (WCP6646.7695)

[1] [p. 117]

[February 2, 1888]1

With many thanks I return the old letter you have sent me. The particular one, or more than one, that I wanted to see must be much earlier. I think you will find I mentioned the Darwin2 and Wallace paper3 to you as soon as I became acquainted with it, and that was in August, 1858, just after my return from Iceland, having taken Castle Eden on my way home. During our stay in Iceland Wolley4 and I had been continually discussing what should be held to constitute a "species" and how new "species" began. Of course, we came to no [2] [p. 118] conclusion worth anything. Then when I was with you you showed me that marvellous collection of Larks and Chats, including so many "Desert forms," something like which (in the way of local variation) poor Baird5 had shown me the year before in Washington6. I was wholly bewildered. Towards the end of the month appeared that part of the Linnean Journal7, and behold all to me became as clear as possible! Such a revelation never was before nor will be, I think, again to me. I want to work all this into a paper8 I have to do for Macmillan9 á propos [French: to the purpose] of Darwin's "Life and Letters"10; but it has to be done AT ONCE, and therefore please let me have any letters you can find showing my frame of mind at that time, or at least before the publication of the "Origin,11" which was not until Nov. (or perhaps Dec.), 1859. To the best of my belief I took in the whole thing, details apart, from the first; but I find I cannot trust my memory, and the letters would be a great help to me.12

1
The date of this published letter is given on the final page.
2
Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882). British naturalist, geologist and author, notably of On the Origin of Species (1859).
3
Darwin, C. & Wallace, A. 1858. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection. Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London (Zoology). 3(9): 45-62.
4
Wolley, John (1824-1859). British naturalist and collector, notably of bird eggs.
5
Baird, Spencer Fullerton (1823-1887). American naturalist and ornithologist. Director of the US National Museum (Smithsonian Institution), 1850-78.
6
Washington, District of Columbia.
7
The Proceedings of the Linnean Society. See endnote 3 above.
8
Newton, Alfred. 1888. Early days of Darwinism. Macmillan's Magazine 57: [pp. 241-249].
9
MacMillan's Magazine. A British monthly published from 1859-1907.
10
Darwin, F. (Ed.). 1887. The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, including an autobiographical chapter. London, UK: John Murray.
11
Darwin, C. 1859. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. London, UK: John Murray.
12
A footnote on page 118 of the publication reads "Letter to H[enry]. B[aker]. Tristram, February 2, 1888."

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Published letter (WCP6646.7695)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Abouhawas, Abid [2020-06-09] Transcription checked by Costa, Leslie [2020-06-09]

Please cite as “WCP6646,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP6646