BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION, 



{BY THE EDITOR.) 



MR. ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, the co-discoverei 

 with Mr. Darwin of the principle of natural selec- 

 tion as the main agent in the evolution of species, has in 

 his published works travelled over a much more diversified 

 range of subjects than Mr. Darwin. To books of travel, of 

 philosophical and of systematic natural history, he has added 

 others dealing with the causes of depression of trade, proposing 

 land nationalisation, defending belief in miracles and in 

 modern spiritualism, and attacking vaccination. Although it 

 would not be right here to enter into a criticism of such con- 

 troversial works, enough may be said to indicate that their 

 author, admittedly a master-mind in regard to the philosophy 

 and the details of evolution, is widely qualified in regard to 

 political and social questions. 



Born at Usk in Monmouthshire on the 8th of January, 1823, 

 and educated at Hertford Grammar School, the future adven- 

 turous traveller early became a voyager on a small scale, during 

 his residence with an elder brother, a land surveyor and archi- 

 tect. From 1836 to 1848 while so Occupied he resided in 

 various parts of England and Wales, and acquired some 

 knowledge of agriculture and of the social and economic 

 conditions of the labouring classes. While living in South 

 Wales, about 1840, he first turned his attention to natural 

 history, devoting all his spare time to collecting and preserving 

 the native plants, and eagerly reading books of travel. While 

 residing at Leicester in 1844-5 ( as an English master in the 

 Collegiate School), he made the acquaintance of Mr. H. W. 

 Bates, an ardent entomologist, and when, some years later, 

 the desire to visit tropical countries became too strong to be 



