Correspondence on Biology, etc. 



through all the ages, and especially of that one line of descent 

 which culminated in man. That, I think, is a subject no one 

 has yet dealt with.— Yours very faithfully, 



Alfred R. Wallace. 



To Prof. Poulton 

 Old Orchard, Broadstone, Wimhorne. March 1, 1909. 



Dear Poulton,— ... I am glad that Lankester has 

 replied to the almost disgraceful Centenary article in the 

 Times. But it is an illustration of the widespread mischief 

 the Mutationists, etc., are doing. I have no doubt, however, 

 it will all come right in the end, though the end may be far 

 off, and in the meantime we must simply go on, and show, 

 at every opportunity, that Darwinism actually does explain 

 the whole fields of phenomena that they do not even attempt 

 to deal with, or even approach. . . . — Yours very truly, 



Alfred R. Wallace. 



To Mrs. Fisher 



Old Orchard, Broadstone, Wimborne. March 6, 1909. 



Dear Mrs. Fisher, — . . . Another point I am becoming 

 more and more impressed with is, a teleology of fundamental 

 laws and forces rendering development of the infinity of 

 life-forms possible (and certain) in place of the old tele- 

 ology applied to the production of each species. Such are 

 the case of feathers reproduced annually, which I gave 

 at end of lecture, and the still more marvellous fact of the 

 caterpillar, often in two or three weeks of chrysalis life, 

 having its whole internal, muscular, nervous, locomotive 

 and alimentary organs decomposed and recomposed into a 

 totally different being — an absolute miracle if ever there is 

 one, quite as wonderful as would be the production of a 

 complex marine organism out of a mass of protoplasm, 



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