Social and Political Views 



to man, not to God, and that when we once realise this to 

 its full extent we shall be able, not only to eliminate almost 

 completely what we now term evil, but shall then clearly 

 perceive that all those propensities and passions that under 

 bad conditions of society inevitably led to it, will under good 

 conditions add to the variety and the capacities of human 

 nature, the enjoyment of life by all, and at the same time 

 greatly increase the possibilities of development of the whole 

 race. I myself feel confident that this is really the case, and 

 that such considerations, when followed out to their ultimate 

 issues, afford a complete solution of the great problem of the 

 ages — the origin of evil."* 



"^-Closely allied with the welfare of the child is another 

 *•' reform " with which Wallace's name will long be asso- 

 ciated. That is his strong denunciation of Vaccination. 

 For seven years he laboured to show medical and scientific 

 men that statistics proved beyond doubt the futility of this 

 measure to prevent disease. A few were converted, but 

 public opinion is hard to move. 



In his ideal of the future. Dr. Wallace gave a large and 

 honoured sphere to women. He considered that it was in 

 the highest degree presumptuous and irrational to attempt 

 to deal by compulsory enactments with the most vital and 

 most sacred of all human relationships, regardless of the 

 fact that our present phase of social development is not 

 only extremely imperfect, but, as already shown, vicious 

 and rotten to the core. How could it be possible to deter- 

 mine by legislation those relations of the sexes which shall 

 be best alike for individuals and for the race in a society in 

 which a large proportion of our women are forced to work 

 long hours daily for the barest subsistence, with an almost 

 total absence of the rational pleasures of life, for the want 

 of which thousands are driven into uncongenial marriases 

 » " My Ute," li. 237-8. 

 149 



