Alfred Russel Wallace 



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



The Ferns, Witcombe, Gloucester. July 11, 1909. 



Dear Mr. Wallace, — ... I have just got F. Darwin's 

 " Foundations." He tries to make out that his father 

 could have dispensed with Malthus. But the selection 

 death-rate in a slightly varying large population is the 

 pith of the whole business. The Darwin -Wallace theory 

 is, as you say, " the continuous adjustment of the organic 

 to the inorganic world." It is what mathematicians call 

 *' a moving equilibrium." In fact, I have always main- 

 tained that it is a mathematical conception. 



It seemed to me there was a touch of insincerity about 

 the whole celebration,^ as the younger Cambridge School 

 as a whole do not even begin to understand the theory. . . . 

 I take it that the reason is, as you pointed out, that none of 

 them are naturalists. — Yours sincerely, 



W. T. Thiselton-Dybr. 



To Dr. Archdall Rbid 

 Old Orchard, Broadstone, Dorset. December 28, 1909. 



Dear Dr. Archdall Reid, — Many thanks for your very 

 interesting and complimentary letter. I am very glad to 

 hear of your new book, which I doubt not will be very 

 interesting and instructive. The subjects you treat are, 

 however, so very complex, and require so much accurate 

 knowledge of the facts, and so much sound reasoning 

 upon them, that I cannot possibly undertake the labour 

 and thought required before I should feel justified in ex- 

 pressing an opinion upon your treatment of them. . . . 



I rejoice to hear that you have exposed the fallacy of 

 the claims of the Mendelians. I have also tried to do so, 



' The Darwin Celebration. 

 92 



