Alfred Russel Wallace 



although intense interest was excited, no discussion took 

 place : '' the subject was too novel, too ominous, for the 

 old school to enter the lists before armouring." . . . 



It must also be noticed that for the detailed history given 

 above there is no documentary evidence beyond what Francis 

 Darwin has produced in the '' Life and Letters." There are 

 no letters from Lyell relating to it, not even answers to Mr. 

 Darwin's of the 18th, 25th, and 26th of June ; and Sir Leonard 

 Lyell has at my request very kindly but vainly searched his 

 uncle's correspondence for any relating to this subject beyond 

 the two above mentioned. There are none of my letters to 

 either Lyell or Darwin, nor other evidence of their having 

 existed beyond the latter' s acknowledgment of the receipt of 

 some of them ; and, most surprising of all, Mr. Wallace's 

 letter and its enclosure have disappeared. Such is my re- 

 collection of this day, the fiftieth anniversary of which we 

 are now celebrating, and of the fortnight that immediately 

 preceded it. 



It remains for me to ask your forgiveness for intruding 

 upon your time and attention with the half-century-old real 

 or fancied memories of a nonagenarian as contributions to 

 the history of the most notable event in the annals of Biology 

 that had followed the appearance in 1735 of the " Systema 

 Naturae " of Linnaeus. 



Following Sir J. Hooker, the President, referring to Prof. 

 Haeckel, who was unable to be present, said that he was '^ the 

 great apostle of the Darwin -Wallace theory in Germany 

 . . . his enthusiastic and gallant advocacy [having] chiefly 

 contributed to its success in that country. ... A man 

 of world-wide reputation, the leader on the Continent of 

 the ' Old Guard ' of evolutionary biologists, Prof. Haeckel 

 was one whom the Linnean Society delighted to honour." 

 Two more German scientists were honoured with the Medal, 

 namely Prof. August Weismann (who was also absent), and 

 Prof. Eduard Strasburger, the latter paying a special tribute 

 to Wallace in saying : '^ When I was young the investiga- 



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