PAET II (Continued) 



II.— The Complete Extant Correspondence 

 between Wallace and Darwin 



[1857—81] 



" I hope it is a satisfaction to you to reflect — and very few things in my life 

 have been more satisfactory to me — that we have never felt any jealousy 

 towards each other, though in some senses rivals. I believe I can say this of 

 myself with truth, and I am absolutely sure that it is true of you." — Darwin 

 to Wallace. 



** To have thus inspired and retained this friendly feeling, notwithstanding 

 our many differences of opinion, I feel to be one of the greatest honours of my 

 life." — Wallace to Darwin. 



" I think the way he [Wallace] carries on controversy is perfectly beautiful, 

 and in future histories of science the Wallace-Darwin episode will form one of 

 the few bright points among rival claimants." — Erasmus Darwin to his niece, 

 Henrietta Darwin, 1871. 



THE first eight letters from Darwin to Wallace were 

 found amongst the latter' s papers, carefully preserved 

 in an envelope on the outside of which he had written 

 the words reproduced on the next page. Neither Wallace's 

 part of this correspondence, nor the original MS. of his 

 essay " On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely 

 from the Original Type,'' which he sent to Darwin from 

 Ternate, has been discovered. But these eight letters from 

 Darwin explain themselves and reveal the inner story of the 

 independent discovery of the theory of Natural Selection. 



With respect to the letters which follow the first eight, 

 both sides of the correspondence, with few exceptions, have 

 been brought together. Some of the letters have already 

 appeared in ^^ The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin " 

 and '' More Letters," others in '* My Life," by A. R. 

 Wallace, whilst many have not before been published. 



Some of these letters, in themselves, have little more than 

 ephemeral interest, and parts of other letters could have been 



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