470 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



" I am — for me — very busy now with two small books in hand, 

 one semi-philosophical — on Environment and Morality — promised 

 these two years — and the other on the Labour Problem. But I now 

 have to work very slowly, and the ivar-neios every day must be read." 



I recall with the utmost pleasure a breakfast at Professor Meldola's 

 the morning after the meeting of the Linnean Society on June 18th, 

 1896, when Wallace read his last paper before a scientific Society. 

 The party, which also included Mr. (now Sir) Francis Darwin, sat 

 and talked until far into the morning. Finally, as Wallace rose, he 

 said " Well, I should like to go on in this way all day ! " 



Another marked characteristic of Wallace was his keen and 

 generous appreciation of the work and successes of other men. I 

 well remember the enthusiasm with which he read in 1889 of Stanley's 

 journey across Africa. " He certainly is the prince of African 

 travellers," he said. Again, he wrote on June 13th, 1897 : — 



" I was delighted with your account of Prichard's wonderful 

 anticipation of Galton and Weismann ! It is so perfect and com- 

 plete. . . . His facts and arguments are really useful now, and 

 I should think Weismann must be delighted to have such a supporter 

 come from the grave ; . . . had he been a zoologist and traveller he 

 might have anticipated the work of both Darwin and Weismann ! " 



The last letter but one I received from Wallace, dated June 3rd 

 of the present year, contains a generous if somewhat uncritical 

 defence of the authenticity of G. W. Sleeper's " Eecent Lectures,' 

 dated 1819 (Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond., 1912-13, pp. 26-45). Alluding 

 to the possibility of fraud, he said : — 



"The writer was too earnest and too clear a thinker to descend 

 to any such trick, and for what? ' Agnostic ' is not in Shakespeare, 

 but it may well have been used by some one before Huxley." 



It is impossible on this occasion to speak of Wallace's scientific 

 work, and even less possible to dwell upon the other subjects on 

 which his eager intellect occupied itself. But a very interesting 

 letter proves — as many must have suspected — that his mind was a 

 continuous whole, whose varied activities influenced one another. 

 He had asked me to read the proof-sheets of " Darwinism," and I 

 finally came to the concluding parts which deal with the evolution 

 of man. He replied to my criticisms Feb. 22nd, 1889 : — 



" Many thanks for your kindness in looking over my proofs. I 

 will not trouble you with the last sheet, which would only horrify 

 you still more. I am quite aware my views as to Man will be — as 

 they have been — criticized. I have referred to Weismann's opinion 



