WCP6748

Published letter (WCP6748.7810)

[1] [p. 173]

EVERSLEY, April 13, 1863.

"'Les beaux esprits se rencontrent.' [French: great minds meet ]1 I was in the act of writing off to my bookseller for your delightful book, 'Travels on the Amazons,'2 when to my surprise and pleasure it appeared last night with your kind and flattering letter. It fell out thus. Clements Markham3 came down to me, and found me in great wonder and admiration over your extraordinary paper in the Linnean4 on the Mocking butterflies, and told me of your new book; and I agreed that I would write a review for 'Macmillan'5 of it, poor Spruce's6 pamphlet7, &c., Markham's translations of the old Amazon voyages8, and the Amazon in general. I have glanced at your book, and find it all I took it for granted it would be; and shall recommend it as strongly as possible. I may have to ask you some questions as to Wallace and Spruce; that I may do justice to every one. Is it Wallace who went to New Guinea, and brought home the birds of Paradise9? If so, I know him.

"One thing more. I think your explanation of the Mocking butterflies is one of the best instances of Darwin's10 theories, explaining what nothing else will that I know. But have you not overlooked the causes of this adaption which would greatly accelerate it?"....

"May not these be the descendants of true fertile hybrids (however rare) between Ithomia, &c., and Peptalis at a remote epoch? The possibility of any one or all of these cases I believe in. Pray think them [2] [p. 174] over, and give me your opinion if they seem to you anything beyond nonsense."

1
Attributed to Voltaire; also "great minds think alike". See LeMonde.fr Global Edition. 2020. The dictionary of quotes. LeMonde.fr Global Edition <https://dicocitations.lemonde.fr/citations/citation-10095.php> [accessed 24 July 2020].
2
Bates, H. W. 1863. The Naturalist on the River Amazons. London: John Murray.
3
Markham, Clements Robert (1830-1916). British geographer, explorer, and writer. Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society 1863-88.
4
Bates, H. W. 1862. Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon valley: Lepidoptera: Heliconidae. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, 23: 495-566.
5
Macmillan's Magazine was a monthly British magazine from 1859 to 1907. See Ockerbloom J. M. (Ed.) 2020. Macmillan's Magazine. The Online Books Page. <https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=macmillans > [accessed 26 July 2020].
6
Spruce, Richard (1817-1893). British botanist, explorer and collector in the Amazon; lifelong friend of ARW.
7
Possibly referring to Spruce, R. 1861. Report on the Expedition to Procure Seeds and Plants of the Cinchona Succirubra, or Red Bark Tree. London: G. E. Eyre & W. Spottiswoode.
8
Markham, C. L. (Ed.) 1859. Expeditions into the Valley of the Amazons, 1539, 1540, 1639. [Translated and Edited, with Notes, by Clements R. Markham]. London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society, T. Richards.
9
See Anon. 1862. Birds of paradise in the Regent's Park. The London Review [12 April] 4(93): 345-346.
10
Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882). British naturalist, geologist and author, notably of On the Origin of Species (1859).

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Published letter (WCP6748.7810)]

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

Revision history

Transcription checked by Costa, Leslie [2020-05-08] Transcribed by Sherwood, Danni [2020-06-09] Transcription checked by Siewert, Betsy [2020-10-30]

Please cite as “WCP6748,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP6748