Alfred Russel Wallace, LL. D. 11 



In reviewing the work of Dr. Wallace one can assert that 

 it furnishes an admirable illustration of the intelligent spirit 

 which is rife in the Indo-European of the nineteenth cent- 

 ury. The desire and the determination to know is its actu- 

 uating motive, and the good of mankind is its ostensible 

 end. It is sustained by the faith that knowledge can not 

 harm us, but that it is, on the other hand, necessary for our 

 safe conduct through time, both as individuals and as a race. 

 The labors undertaken with this end in view have been 

 many and arduous, and Dr. Wallace's illustrate this aspect 

 of the times as much as those of any other man. His work 

 is a life labor conducted with persevering consistency to at- 

 tain a definite result. His life is an excellent illustration of 

 his own doctrine, that all force is will-force. The utility of 

 his life is self-evident, and the effects of it on human thought, 

 and therefore on human action, will remain as long as man- 

 kind thinks and acts. 



As regards the position occupied by Dr. Wallace among 

 the architects of our knowledge of the doctrine of evolution, 

 I do not hesitate to say that, like that of his great coadjutor 

 Darwin, he has occupied himself with a part only of the 

 work. Like the builder engaged on one side of a building, 

 he has been so attracted and impressed by the rich materials 

 ready to his hand that he has not given heed to the other 

 side of the edifice ; and the higher he has builded, the less 

 has he been able to see the hidden portions. This is natu- 

 ral, and perhaps beneficial, for had he seen the whole eleva- 

 tion in a mental coup ffml, he might not have worked so 

 well at his own nearest portion, and he might have been dis- 

 tracted by the multiplicity of his thoughts and ambitions. 

 But it is certain that admirable powers of observation do not 

 always coexist with the highest logical capacity. Whether 

 this is because of the complementary relation of parts of the 

 mental organism, or because constant occupation with the 

 arrangement of sense impressions excludes the present ac- 

 tivity of logical reflection, and vice versa, we do not know ; 

 but the two faculties are often dissociated in human minds. 



It seems to have very rarely occurred to Mr. Darwin, and 

 still more rarely to Dr. Wallace, to reflect on, or at least to 

 discuss, the question of the origin of the variations con- 

 cerning which they have said so much and so convincingly. 

 In the writings of both we frequently meet with the ex- 



Eression that such and such a character has been " caused 

 y natural selection." So habitual did this idea become 



