142 PIONEERS OF EVOLUTION. 



the authors and their theme." Nothing can deprive 

 Mr. Wallace of the honour due to him as the co- 

 originator of the theory, which, regarded in its appli- 

 cation to the origin, history, and destiny of man, in- 

 volves the most momentous changes in belief, and 

 there may be fitly quoted here his own modest and, 

 doubtless, correct, assessment of limitations which in 

 no wise invalidate his high claims. In the Preface 

 to his Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selec- 

 tion (1870), Mr. Wallace says the book will prove 

 that he both saw at the time the value and scope of 

 the law which he had discovered, and has since been 

 able to apply to some purpose in a few original lines 

 of investigation. " But," he adds, " here my claims 

 cease. I have felt all my life, and I still feel, the 

 most sincere satisfaction that Mr. Darwin had been 

 at work long before me, and that it was not left for 

 me to attempt to write the Origin of Species. I 

 have long since measured my own strength, and 

 know full well that it would be quite unequal to 

 that task. Far abler men than myself may confess 

 that they have not that untiring patience in accumu- 

 lating, and that wonderful skill in using, large masses 

 of facts of the most varied kind — ^that wide and 

 accurate physiological knowledge — that acuteness in 

 devising and skill in carrying out experiments, and 

 that admirable style of composition at once clear, 

 persuasive, and judicial — qualities which, in their 

 harmonious combination, mark out Mr. Darwin as 

 the man, perhaps of all men now living, best fitted 



