Alfred Russel Wallace 



beard and whiskers, which were also white. His eyes were 

 blue and his complexion rather pale. He habitually wore 

 spectacles, and to us he never looked quite natural without 

 them. Towards the end of his life his eyes were subject 

 to inflammation, and the glasses were blue. His hands, 

 though large, were not clumsy, and were capable of very 

 delicate manipulation, as is shown by his skill in handling 

 and preserving insects and bird- skins, and also in sketch- 

 ing, where delicacy of touch was essential. His hand- 

 writing is another example of this; it remained clear and 

 even to the end, in spite of the fact that he wrote all his 

 books, articles, and letters with his own hand until the 

 last few years, when he occasionally had assistance with 

 his correspondence; but his last two books, ^'Social En- 

 vironment " and ** The Eevolt of Democracy," written 

 when he was 90 years of age, were penned by himself, and 

 the MSS. are perfectly legible and regular. 



He was very domestic, and loved his home. His interest 

 extended to the culinary art, and he was fond of telling 

 us how certain things should be cooked. This became 

 quite a joke among us. He was very independent, and it 

 never seemed to occur to him to ask to have anything done 

 for him if he could do it himself — and he could do many 

 things, such as sewing on buttons and tapes and packing 

 up parcels, with great neatness. When unpacking parcels 

 he never cut the string if it could be untied, and he would 

 fold it up before removing the paper, which in its turn was 

 also neatly folded. 



His clothes were always loose and easy-fitting, and 

 generally of some quiet-coloured cloth or tweed. Out of 

 doors he wore a soft black felt hat rather taller than the 

 clerical pattern, and a black overcoat unless the weather 

 was very warm. He wore no ornaments of any kind, and 

 even the silver watch-chain was worn so as to be in- 



104 



