DARWIN AND WALLACE. 243 



p. 32), he speaks of the effects of use as probably 

 becoming hereditary, showing that he still did not 

 consider the evidence as convincing as that relat- 

 ing to disuse (loc. cit., p. 32). " The chief agents 

 in causing organs to become rudimentary seem 

 to have been disuse, at that period of life when the 

 organ is chiefly used (and this is generally during 

 maturity), and also inheritance at a corresponding 

 period of life." It should be repeated that these 

 decided changes of opinion were, in part, a tacit 

 acceptance of work done elsewhere, especially in 

 Germany, rather than the direct outcome of Dar- 

 win's own observations. In part they certainly 

 reflected his own observations and maturer judg- 

 ment. 



DARWIN AND WALLACE. 



Finally, we record the most striking of all the 

 many coincidences and independent discoveries in 

 the history of the Evolution idea. Darwin's long 

 retention of his theory from publication between 

 1837 and 1858 came near costing him his eminent 

 claims to priority; for in the latter year Alfred 

 Russel Wallace had also reached a similar theory. 

 By the happy further coincidence of a friendship, 

 which always remained of the most generous order, 

 Wallace sent his freshly completed manuscript to 

 Darwin. But for his friends Hooker and Lyell, 

 Darwin would even then have held back his work. 

 By their co-operation, two modest papers appeared 



