Alfred Russel Wallace 



my memory contribute to the knowledge of some im- 

 portant events in his career. It having been intimated to 

 me that this was in a measure true, I have selected as such 

 an event one germane to this Celebration and also engraven 

 on my memory, namely, the considerations which determined 

 Mr. Darwin to assent to the course which Sir Charles Lyell 

 and myself had suggested to him, that of presenting to the 

 Society, in one communication, his own and Mr. Wallace^s 

 theories on the effect of variation and the struggle for exist- 

 ence on the evolution of species. 



You have all read Francis Darwin's fascinating work as 

 editor of his father's ^^ Life and Letters," where you will 

 find (Vol. II., p. 116) a letter addressed, on the 18th of 

 June, 1858, to Sir Chai'les Lyell by Mr. Darwin, who states 

 that he had on that day received a communication from 

 Mr. Wallace written from the Celebes Islands requesting 

 that it might be sent to him (Sir Charles). 



In a covering letter Mr. Darwin pointed out that the 

 enclosure contained a sketch of a theory of Natural Selec- 

 tion as depending on the struggle for existence so identical 

 with one he himself entertained and fully described in MS. 

 in 1842 that he never saw a more striking coincidence : had 

 Mr. Wallace seen his sketch he could not have made a better 

 short abstract, even his terms standing '^ as heads of chap- 

 ters.'' He goes on to say that he would at once write to Mr. 

 Wallace offering to send his MS. to any journal; and con- 

 cludes : *' So my originality is smashed, though my book [the 

 forthcoming * Origin of Species '], if it will have any value 

 will not be deteriorated, as all know the labour consists in 

 the application of the theory." 



After writing to Sir Charles Lyell, Mr. Darwin informed 

 me of Mr. Wallace's letter and its enclosure, in a similar 

 strain, only more explicitly announcing his resolve to 

 abandon all claim to priority for his own sketch. I could 

 not but protest against such a course, no doubt reminding 

 him that I had read it and that Sir Charles knew its con- 

 tents some years before the arrival of Mr. Wallace's letter ; 

 and that our withholding our knowledge of its priority would 

 be unjustifiable. I further suggested the simultaneous pub- 



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