CHARLES DARWIN III 



ii. The publication of Darwin's theory was finally Da. win and 

 brought about by an extraordinary coincidence. Alfred 

 Russel Wallace, a naturalist then traveling in the Malay 

 Archipelago, was attacked with malarial fever when at 

 Ternate in the Moluccas. During his periods of pros- 

 tration he had time to think over problems which in- 

 terested him, and his mind followed along the very lines 

 which Darwin's had in 1838. He also had read Malthus 

 on Population, and like Darwin was well prepared by 

 his great knowledge of living nature to appreciate the 

 struggle for existence. He immediately perceived that 

 he had hit upon a great principle, and as soon as he was 

 well enough wrote out a rather full statement of it, with 

 a view to publication. Wondering what he should do 

 with the paper, he thought of Darwin as a man who 

 would be likely to understand and appreciate the argu- 

 ment. So he forwarded the manuscript to him, asking 

 him to have it published by some society if it seemed 

 worth while. Darwin was amazed to read an account 

 of the very theory he had been elaborating for so many 

 years, in words practically identical with those he would 

 have used himself. Here was a chance for rivalry, but 

 it is pleasant to record that the two men were rivals only 

 in the sense of each endeavoring to give fuller credit to 

 the other than was claimed. Darwin was so conscien- 

 tious that he at first wished to publish Wallace's paper 

 and say nothing about his own labors. For, said he, 

 "it was by the merest accident that Wallace sent his 

 paper to me. Had he sent it elsewhere, it would have 

 been printed, and he would have had priority, for I had 

 no intention of publishing at present." Fortunately he 

 consulted Sir Charles Lyell, the geologist, and Sir 

 Joseph Hooker, the botanist, his two best scientific 

 friends, who already knew about his work. They pro- 



