PART II 

 I.— The Discovery of Natural Selection 



" There are not many joys in human life equal to the joy of the sudden 

 birth of a generalisation, illuminating the mind after a long period of patient 

 research. What has seemed for years so chaotic, so contradictory, and so 

 problematic takes at once its proper position within an harmonious whole. 

 Out of the wild confusion of facts and from behind the fog of guesses — con- 

 tradicted almost as soon as they are born — a stately picture makes its appear- 

 ance, like an Alpine chain suddenly emerging in all its grandeur from the 

 mists which concealed it the moment before, glittering under the rays of the 

 sun in all its simplicity and variety, in all its mightiness and beauty. And 

 when the generalisation is put to a test, by applying it to hundreds of separate 

 facts which seemed to be hopelessly contradictory the moment before, each 

 of them assumes its due position, increasing the impressiveness of the picture, 

 accentuating some characteristic outline, or adding an unsuspected detail full 

 of meaning. The generalisation gains in strength and extent ; its foundations 

 grow in width and solidity ; while in the distance, through the far-off mist 

 on the horizon, the eye detects the outlines of new and still wider generalisa- 

 tions. He who has once in his life experienced this joy of scientific creation 

 will never forget it ; he will be longing to renew it ; and he cannot but feel 

 with pain that this sort of happiness is the lot of so few of us, while so many 

 could also live through it — on a small or on a grand scale — if scientific methods 

 and leisure were not limited to a handful of men." — Prince Kropotkin, 

 *' Memoirs of a Revolutionist.'* 



THE social and scientific atmosphere in which Wallace 

 found himself on his return from his eight years' 

 exile in the Malay Archipelago was considerably more 

 genial than that which he had enjoyed during his previous 

 stay in London following his exploration of the Amazon. 

 His position as one of the leading scientists of the day was 

 already recognised, dating from the memorable 1st of July, 

 1858, when the two Papers, his own and Darwin's, on the 

 theory of Natural Selection had been read before the Linnean 

 Society. 



During the four years which had elapsed since that date 



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