Alfred Russel Wallace 



and he must have written once to me. . . . But at that 

 time I had not the remotest notion that he had already 

 arrived at a definite theory — still less that it was the 

 same as occurred to me, suddenly, in Ternate in 1858.'' 

 It is clear, therefore, that the essay written at Sarawak 

 formed the first real link with Darwin, although not fully 

 recognised at the time. In May, 1857, Darwin wrote to 

 Wallace : *^ I am much obliged for your letter . . . and 

 even still more by your paper in the Annals^ a year or 

 more ago. I can plainly see that we have thought much 

 alike and to a certain extent have come to similar con- 

 clusions. ... I agree to almost every word of your paper; 

 and I dare say that you will agree with me that it is 

 very rare to find oneself agreeing pretty closely with 

 any theoretical paper.'' He concludes : ^^ You have my 

 very sincere and cordial good wishes for success of all 

 kinds, and may all your theories succeed, except that on 

 Oceanic Islands, on which subject I will do battle to the 

 death." 



The three years from 1855 to 1858 were for Wallace 

 crowded with hard work, and perilous voyages by sea 

 and hardships by land. January, 1858, found him at 

 Amboyna, where, in all probability, he found a pile of 

 long-delayed correspondence awaiting him, and among this 

 a letter from Bates referring to the article which had 

 appeared in print September, 1855. In reply he says : 

 ** To persons who have not thought much on the subject 

 I fear my paper on the ' Succession of Species ' will not 

 appear so clear as it does to you. That paper is, of course, 

 merely the announcement of the theory, not its development. 

 I have prepared the plan and written portions of a work 

 embracing the whole subject, and have endeavoured to prove 

 in detail what I have as yet only indicated. ... I have been 

 much gratified by a letter from Darwin, in which he says 



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