THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



thing might, perhaps, be made out" 

 on the question of the origin of species 

 by " patiently accumulating and reflect- 

 ing on all sorts of facts which could 

 possibly have any bearing on it/' 

 For more than twenty years he pursued 

 this work, and was eventually hurried 

 into publication because Mr. Alfred E. 

 Wallace, who, afler studying nature 

 for a year or two on the river Amazon, 

 and for a longer period in the same 

 pursuit afc the Malay Archipelago, 

 had arrived at almost the same conclu- 

 sions as Mr. Darwin with regard to 

 the origin of species. The fact that 

 two persons working independently and 

 in ignorance of the others pursuits 

 should have reached the same results 

 is not unprecedented in science ; but 

 the manner in which these two dis- 

 tinguished men acted towards each 

 other is certainly without precedent. 

 There was no angry ebullition of " I 

 first;'' no attempt to disparage the 

 work of the other ; but it was rather 

 which should yield precedence to the 

 other and give him most honour. On 

 the same night, in the year lb 5 8, these 

 two enquirers presented papers to the 

 Linnsean Society, each of which pro- 

 mulgated the doctrine now called evo- 

 lution. Mr. Darwin says the theory 

 of natural selection is promulgated by 

 Mr. Wallace with admirable force and 

 clearness.'' Mr. Wallace says, "Here 

 my claims must cease. I have felt all 

 my life, and 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." Thus, in- 

 stead of bad feeling being engendered, 

 and valuable time wasted over an idle 

 controversy, each tried to honour the 

 other more, to their own still greater 

 honour. " The behaviour of Mr. Wal- 

 lace in relation to this subject," writes 

 Dr. Tyndall, " has been dignified in the 

 highest degree." We have rather 

 enlarged on the point because we wish 

 to point to it as an example that our 

 young friends should try to emulate 

 even in small things. 



In 1859 appeared the "Origin of 

 Species," a work that changed the 

 tone of thought on natural history. A 

 work that was at first laughed at, then 

 attempted to be replied to ; but one 

 that has not only held its own, but has 

 in less than a quarter of a century 

 conquered almost every opponent, and 

 whose doctrine is now received as truth 

 by almost every one whose thoughts are 

 of value. We cannot here refer to the 

 book at all. A few articles on " Dar- 

 winism " have lately appeared in our 

 columns, and will be continued from 

 time to time. 



Mr. Darwin has continued to issue 

 volume after volume on the same sub- 

 ject ; all showing the most careful and 

 painstaking research ; all brim-full of 

 facts and illustrations ; all in the same 

 wonderful style, by which the most 



