Alfred Russel Wallace 



large volumes entitled ^' My Life " were written by Wal- 

 lace when he was 82, for the pleasure of reviewing his long 

 career. These records are characterised by that charming 

 modesty and simplicity of life and manner which was so 

 marked a feature of both men. 



In the circumstances surrounding their early days there 

 w^as very little to indicate the similarity in character 

 and mental gifts which became so evident in their later 

 years. A brief outline of the hereditary influences imme- 

 diately affecting them will enable us to trace something of 

 the essential differences as well as the similarities which 

 marked their scientific and literary attainments. 



The earliest records of the Darwin family show that in 

 1500 an ancestor of that name (though spelt differently) was 

 a substantial yeoman living on the borders of Lincolnshire 

 and Yorkshire. In the reign of James I. the post of Yeoman 

 of the Koyal Armoury of Greenwich was granted to William 

 Darwin, whose son served with the Koyalist Army under 

 Charles I. During the Commonwealth, however, he became 

 a barrister of Lincoln's Inn, and later the Recorder of the 

 City of Lincoln. 



Passing over a generation, we find that a brother of 

 Dr. Erasmus Darwin '^ cultivated botany," and, when far 

 advanced in years, published a volume entitled '' Principia 

 Botanica,'' while Erasmus developed into a poet and philo- 

 sopher. The eldest son of the latter " inherited a strong 

 taste for various branches of science . . . and at a very 

 early age collected specimens of all kinds." The youngest 

 son, Robert Waring, father of Charles Darwin, became a 

 successful physician, '^ a man of genial temperament, 

 strong character, fond of society," and was the possessor 

 of great psychic power by which he could readily sum up 

 the characters of others, and even occasionally read their 

 thoughts. A judicious use of this gift was frequently 



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