THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY. 



MARCH, 1903. 



HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED LETTERS OF CHARLES 



DARWIN.* 



To A. R. Wallace. 



Down, April 6th, 1859. 

 I this morning received your pleasant and friendly note of No- 

 vember 30th. The first part of my MS.-j- is in Murray's hands to 

 see if he likes to publish it. There is no preface, but a short intro- 

 duction, which must be read by every one who reads my book. The 

 second paragraph in the introduction I have had copied verbatim from 

 my foul copy, and you will, I hope, think that I have fairly noticed 

 your paper in the Linn. Journal. You must remember that I am 

 now publishing only an abstract, and I give no references. I shall, 

 of course, allude to your paper on distribution; and I have added that 

 I know from correspondence that your explanation of your law is 

 the same as that which I offer. You are right, that I came to the 

 conclusion that selection was the principle of change from the study 

 of domesticated productions; and then, reading Malthus, I saw at 

 once how to apply this principle. Geographical distribution and geo- 

 logical relations of extinct to recent inhabitants of South America 



* ' The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin,' edited by his son, Professor 

 Francis Darwin, and published in this country in 1887 by Messrs. D. Appleton 

 and Company, is not surpassed in interest by any similar records, and for the 

 man of science it is of unparalleled importance. From unused material and 

 additional letters, Professor Francis Darwin and Mr. A. C. Seward have com- 

 piled a second series, entitled ' More Letters of Charles Darwin : A record of 

 his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters,' which will be published 

 shortly in two volumes by Messrs. D. Appleton and Company. By their cour- 

 tesy we are enabled to print here a number of letters which show the surpassing 

 interest of the work. Editor. 



f ' Origin of Species.' 



