![]() Their correspondence is full of lively debate on the origins of hybrid sterility and sexual dimorphism, the role of sexual selection, and the limits of natural selection in the development of mental and moral faculties. Although the men referred to each other in their published work, letters were a space where they discussed the details of evolutionary theory, and aired their differences openly. Wallace became one of Darwin’s most important correspondents, especially on theoretical topics. He formed a close friendship with Herbert Spencer, and took up Spencer’s phrase ‘survival of the fittest’, urging Darwin to adopt it as an alternative to ‘natural selection’, which he regarded as too metaphorical and prone to misinterpretation (see letter from A. He quickly established ties with other naturalists and specialist societies, worked on his large collections, and published papers on zoology, biogeography, and anthropology. Lacking the social connections that were still essential for securing a livelihood in science, he struggled to find a paid position, supporting himself through writing, lecturing, and the sale of specimens. All the merit I claim is the having been the means of inducing you to write & publish at once.” You had worked it out in details I had never thought of, years before I had a ray of light on the subject, & my paper would never have convinced anybody or been noticed as more than an ingenious speculation, whereas your book has revolutionized the study of Natural History, & carried away captive the best men of the present Age. “As to the theory of ‘Natural Selection'’ itself,” he wrote on 29 May, “I shall always maintain it to be actually yours & your's only. But Wallace continued, both privately and publically, to assume a subordinate role in the discovery. ![]() Darwin sometimes scolded Wallace for being too modest in his own publications, not taking more credit for his co-discovery: “You are the only man I ever heard of who persistently does himself an injustice & never demands justice” (14 April 1869). ![]() “I never saw a more striking coincidence”, Darwin wrote to Lyell on 18 June, “if Wallace had my M.S. sketch written out in 1842 he could not have made a better short abstract!” This pivotal event galvanized Darwin to finally publish his own theory, initially in a joint paper with Wallace to the Linnean Society, and then in Origin of Species the following year. It may have been this shared interest in the problem of species, along with Darwin’s encouraging words, that led Wallace to send a draft of his own theory of descent to Down in 1858. Latter in the year he remarked, “I get on very slowly, partly from ill-health … I infinitely admire & honour your zeal & courage in the good cause of Natural Science … may all your theories succeed” (22 December 1857). In a letter of, he alluded to his own unfinished work: “This summer will make the 20 th year (!) since I opened my first-note-book, on the question how & in what way do species & varieties differ from each other”. Darwin was impressed by Wallace’s observations and theoretical abilities. ![]() In 1857, Darwin and Wallace exchanged several letters on species variation and distribution. This extensive field experience formed the basis of theoretical work, especially on geographical distribution (the so-called ‘Wallace line’ dividing Indian and Australasian faunal zones), the origin of human races, and most famously, the problem of species change. He became one of the most well-travelled and experienced field naturalists of his day, with unsurpassed knowledge on tropic flora, fauna, and native peoples. Between 18, he travelled some 14,000 miles across different islands, often living with native inhabitants, and collected around 125,000 specimens, especially butterflies and birds, many of which were unknown to European science. Despite losing most of his collection in a fire on the return to England in 1852, Wallace became known for his exotic specimens and was able to finance another extended voyage to Malaysia. In 1844 he became friends with the entomologist Henry Walter Bates, and the two men travelled to Brazil in 1848 to pursue natural history. He joined an older brother in London as a builder’s apprentice, and the following year started work as a land surveyor with another brother, travelling to different parts of England and Wales and collecting plants. At the age of 13, he was forced to leave school and enter a trade because of financial hardship. He was born in 1823 in Usk, a small town in south-east Wales, and attended a grammar school in Hertford. Wallace was a leading Victorian naturalist, with wide-ranging interests from biogeography and evolutionary theory to spiritualism and politics.
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