202 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXV. 



THE DARWIN-WALLACE CELEBRATION. 



The Linnean Society of London has just issued a most interest- 

 ing record of the Darwin-Wallace celebration, held on ist July 

 last. The meeting was arranged for the purpose of celebrating 

 the fiftieth anniversary of the joint communication made by 

 Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace to the society on ist 

 July, 1858, entitled — "On the Tendency of Species to form 

 Varieties, and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by 

 Natural Selection." In addition to the fellows, foreign members, 

 and associates, invitations were issued to certain distinguished 

 naturalists, every university in the United Kingdom, and to 

 societies publishing on subjects of biology, the result being a 

 great attendance of interested persons, including Dr, Wallace and 

 several members of the Darwin family. The president of the 

 Linnean Society, Dr. Dukinfield H. Scott, presided, and briefly 

 outlined the object of the meeting, and then called on Dr. 

 Wallace to receive the first Darwin-Wallace medal, instituted in 

 commemoration of the event, and alluded to the self-sacrificing 

 position Dr. Wallace had always taken in relation to the great 

 theories first made public in the paper of 1858. 



Dr. Wallace, who was received with great enthusiasm, replied 

 at some length, and in doing so took the opportunity of detailing 

 the actual relations between Darwin and himself prior to July, 

 1858, in order to correct the misapprehensions of popular 

 writers as to what his share in Darwin's work really amounted to. 

 He said he had even been credited with being the first discoverer, 

 whereas the idea had occurred to Darwin in October, 1838, 

 nearly twenty years before it had occurred to him, in February, 

 1858. Darwin had spent the twenty years in collecting evidence, 

 conducting original observations and experiments, the results of 

 which would be found in his " Origin of Species," and especially 

 in that wonderful storehouse of knowledge his " Animals and 

 Plants under Domestication." In 1844 Darwin had outlined his 

 views to his friends Sir Charles Lyell and Dr. (now Sir Joseph) 

 Hooker. The former strongly urged him to publish an abstract 

 of his theory, in case some other person should precede him, but 

 he always refused, on the plea that he had not got together all 

 the materials for his great work. Then without any warning 

 Lyell's prediction came true, for in June, 1858, he (Dr. Wallace) 

 had forwarded to Darwin a letter, asking him to hand an essay 

 enclosed, " On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely 

 from the Original Type," to Sir Charles Lyell for publication if 

 deemed suitable. Darwin and Lyell at once saw that the essay, if 

 published, would anticipate the former's work, and, on Dr. Hooker 

 being consulted, it was decided to make an abstract of 

 Darwin's work and his essay as a joint communication to the 

 society. Dr. Wallace alluded to the very different way in 



