Correspondence on Biology, etc. 



compendious index to the five volumes, as regards this 

 subject. 



Especially admirable is the way in which you have 

 always kept Darwin before us as the centre of the whole 

 discussion, while at the same time fairly stating the some- 

 times adverse \4ews of those who differ from him on certain 

 points. . . . —Yours very truly, Alfred R. Wallace. 



Sir W. T. Thiselton-Dyer to A. R. Wallace 



The Ferns, Witcombe, Gloucester. June 25, 1909. 



Dear Dr. Wallace, — It is difficult for me to tell you 

 how gratified I am by your extraordinarily kind letter. 

 . . . The truth is that success was easy. It has been my 

 immense good fortune to know most of those who played 

 in the drama. The story simply wanted a straightfor- 

 ward amanuensis to tell itself. But it is a real pleasure 

 to me to know that I have met with some measure of 

 success. 



There are many essays in the book that you will not 

 like any more than I do. The secret of this lies in the 

 fact, which you pointed out in your memorable speech at 

 the Linnean Celebration, that no one but a naturalist can 

 really understand Darwin. 



I did not go to Cambridge — I had my hands full here. 

 I was not sorry for the excuse. There seemed to me a 

 note of insincerity about the whole business. I am short- 

 tempered. I cannot stand being told that the origin of 

 species has still to be discovered, and that specific differ- 

 ences have no ''reality" (Bateson's Essay, p. 89). People 

 are of course at liberty to hold such opinions, but decency 

 might have presented another occasion for ventilating them. 

 —Yours sincerely, ^^ T^ Thiselton-Dyer. 



91 



