Alfred Russell Wallace 281 



be exploited. But all of these vigorous growths have 

 their real roots in Darwinism. If we study Darwin's 

 correspondence, and the successive essays in which he 

 embodied his views at different periods, we shall find 

 that variation by mutation (or per saltum), the influence 

 of environment, the question of the inheritance of ac- 

 quired characters, and similar problems, were constantly 

 present to Darwin's ever open mind, his views upon them 

 changing from time to time, as fresh facts were gathered." 

 Like everything else, these new theories were deeply 

 rooted in the past. 



We have already alluded to Alfred Russell Wallace 

 (1823-1913) and to the magnanimity with which he and 

 Darwin treated each other in the matter of their simul- 

 taneous discovery of the causes which had brought about 

 " The Origin of Species." Wallace was one of the last 

 of the great travelling naturalists and collectors. He 

 explored the Amazon with his friend Bates in the years 

 1848-1852. Two years later he visited and lived for some 

 years in the Indo-Malay Islands, and in both parts of the 

 globe he accumulated a vast series of facts from which 

 some of his widest generalisations sprang, 



Wallace had a fine gift for writing, and his " Malay 

 Archipelago " is one of the most fascinating books in a 

 naturalist's library. Perhaps his most celebrated books are 

 his " Geographical Distribution of Animals " and " Island 

 Life," published in 1876, for, as Professor H. F. Osborn 

 reminds us, "Wallace takes rank as the founder of the 

 science of zoo-geography." " Wallace's Line " between 

 Bali and Lombok, the frontier between the Indian and 

 Australian regions, will ever recall his fame in this branch 

 of science. 



He was a man of strong humanitarian instincts and 

 devoted a considerable amount of time in trying to devise 

 plans to help mankind and the state, and although many of 

 his views did not commend themselves to the majority his 

 sincerity was always fully recognized. 



We must now return to many zoologists of about 

 Darwin's period who more than held their own as compared 

 with some continental claimants of scientific superiority. 



