Astronomy 



To Mr. F. Birch 



Sept. 12, 1907. 



Dear Fred, — . . . For the last two or three months I 

 have had a hard struggle with Mars — not the god of war, 

 but the planet — writing a small book, chiefly criticising 

 Lowell's last book, called " Mars and its Canals," pub- 

 lished less than a year back by Macmillan, who will also 

 publish my reply. / think it is crushing, but it has cost 

 me a deal of trouble, a« Lowell has also printed a long 

 and complex mathematical article trying to prove that 

 though Mars receives less than half the sun-heat we do, 

 yet it is very nearly as warm and quite habitable! But 

 his figures and arguments are alike so shaky and involved 

 that I cannot get any of my mathematical friends to tackle 

 it or point out his errors. However, I think I have done 

 it myself by the rules of common sense. . . . — Your sincere 

 friend, Alfred K. Wallace. 



To Mr. H. Jamyn Brooke 



Old Orchard, Broadstone, Wimbome. December 2, 1910. 



Dear Sir, — Your " monistic " system is to me a system 

 of mere contradictory words. Y'ou begin with three things 

 — then you say they are correlated with one substance — co- 

 extensive with the universe. This you cannot possibly know, 

 and it is about as intelligible and as likely to be true as the 

 Athanasian Creed !— Yours truly, Alfred R. Wallace. 



To Prof. Knight 



Old Orchard, Broadstone, Dorset. October 1, 1913. 



Dear Mr. Knight, — I have written hardly anything on 



the direct proofs of " immortality " except in my book on 



" Miracles and Modern Spiritualism," and also in " My 



Life," Vol. II. But my two works, " Man's Place in the 



M 177 



