Alfred Russel Wallace 



Letter IV 

 C. Darwin to A. K. Wallace 



Down, Bromley y Kent, April 6, 1859. 



My dear Mr. Wallace, — I this morning received your 

 pleasant and friendly note of Nov. 30th. The first part of 

 my MS.' is in Murray's hands, to see if he likes to publish 

 it. There is no Preface, but a short Introduction, which 

 must be read by everyone who reads my book. The second 

 paragraph in the Introduction' I have had copied verhatim 

 from my foul copy, and you will, I hope, think that I have 

 fairly noticed your papers in the Linnean Transactions,'^ You 

 must remember that I am now publishing only an Abstract, 

 and I give no references. I shall of course allude to your 

 paper on Distribution ;* and I have added that I know from 

 correspondence that your explanation of your law is the same 

 as that which I offer. You are right, that I came to the con- 

 clusion that Selection was the principle of change from study 

 of domesticated productions; and then reading Malthus I 

 saw at once how to apply this principle. Geographical dis- 

 tribution and geographical relations of extinct to recent 

 inhabitants of South America first led me to the subject. 

 Especially the case of the Galapagos Islands. 



I hope to go to press in early part of next month. It will 

 be a small volume of about 500 pages or so. I will, of course, 

 send you a copy. 



I forget whether I told you that Hooker, who is our 



1 " The Origin of Species." 

 « First Edit., 1859, pp. 1, 2. 



* '* On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties and on the Perpetuation 

 of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection." By C. Darwin and 

 A. R. Wallace. Communicated by Sir C. Lyell and J. D. Hooker. Journ. 

 Linn. Soc, 1859. iii. 45. Read July 1st, 1858. 



* " On the Law which has regulated the Introduction of New Species." 

 Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., 1855, xvi. 184. 



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