Alfred Russel Wallace 



good laugh. As an instance of this, I will recount the 

 following incident : When I had returned home after my first 

 visit to ' The Old Orchard,' my sister, three years older 

 than myself, and I had a heated argument on the subject of 

 the number of stomachs in a cow. I insisted it was three; 

 she, on the other hand, held that it was seven. After a long 

 and fierce dispute, I exclaimed : ' Well, let us write to 

 Dr. Wallace, and he will settle it for us and tell us the real 

 number.' This we did, the brazen audacity of the proceeding 

 not striking us at the time. By return of post we received a 

 letter which, alas ! I have unfortunately not preserved, but 

 the substance of which I well remember. ' Dear Irene and 

 Reggie,' it ran, ' Your dispute as to the number of stomachs 

 which a cow possesses can be settled and rectified by a simple 

 mathematical process usually called subtraction, thus : 



Irene's Cow 7 stomachs 



Reggie's Cow 3 stomachs 



The Farmer's Cow 4 stomachs.' 



'' Dr. Wallace then Avent on to explain the names and uses 

 of the four stomachs. 



" Two instances of his fun come to my mind as I write. 

 ' Why,' I asked, ' do you sometimes take off your spectacles 

 to read the paper ? ' ' Because I can see better without 

 'em,' he said. ' Then why,' I asked again, ' do you ever 

 wear them ? ' ' Because I can see better with 'em,' was the 

 reply. The other instance relates to chloroform. He was 

 describing the agonies suffered by those who had to undergo 

 amputation before the discovery of anaesthetics, whereas 

 nowadays, he said, ' you are put under chloroform, then 

 wake up and find your arm cut off, having felt nothing. Or 

 you wake up and find your leg cut off. Or you wake up and 

 find your head cut off ! ' He then laughed heartily at his 

 own joke. 



" These are just a few miscellaneous reminiscences, many 

 of them no doubt trivial, but they may perhaps be not entirely 

 devoid of interest, when it is remembered that they are the 



126 



