Pen-y-bryn, St. Peter's Road, Croydon. November 21, 1880.
My dear Darwin,—Many thanks for your new book containing your wonderful series of experiments and observations on the movements of plants. I have read the introduction and conclusion, which shows me the importance of the research as indicating the common basis of the infinitely varied habits and mode of growth of plants. The whole subject becomes thus much simplified, though the nature of the basic vitality which leads to such wonderful results remains as mysterious as ever.—Yours very faithfully,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
Pen-y-bryn, St. Peter's Road, Croydon. January 1, 1881.
My dear Darwin,—I have been intending to write to you for some weeks to call your attention to what seems to me a striking confirmation (or at all events a support) of my views of the land migration of plants from mountain to mountain. In Nature of Dec. 9th, p. 126, Mr. Baker, of Kew, describes a number of the alpine plants of Madagascar as being identical species with some found on the mountains of Abyssinia, the Cameroons, and other African [pg 312]mountains. Now, if there is one thing more clear than another it is that Madagascar has been separated from Africa since the Miocene (probably the early Miocene) epoch. These plants must therefore have reached the island either since then, in which case they certainly must have passed through the air for long distances, or at the time of the union. But the Miocene and Eocene periods were certainly warm, and these alpine plants could hardly have migrated over tropical forest lands, while it is very improbable that if they had been isolated at so remote a period, exposed to such distinct climatal and organic environments as in Madagascar and Abyssinia, they would have in both places retained their specific characters unchanged. The presumption is, therefore, that they are comparatively recent immigrants, and if so must have passed across the sea from mountain to mountain, for the richness and speciality of the Madagascar forest vegetation render it certain that no recent glacial epoch has seriously affected that island.
Hoping that you are in good health, and wishing you the compliments of the season, I remain yours very faithfully,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
Down, Beckenham, Kent. January 2, 1881.
My dear Wallace,—The case which you give is a very striking one, and I had overlooked it in Nature.116 But I remain as great a heretic as ever. Any supposition seems to me more probable than that the seeds of plants should have been blown from the mountains of Abyssinia or other central mountains of Africa to the mountains of Madagascar. It seems to me almost infinitely more probable [pg 313]that Madagascar extended far to the south during the Glacial period, and that the southern hemisphere was, according to Croll, then more temperate; and that the whole of Africa was then peopled with some temperate forms, which crossed chiefly by agency of birds and sea-currents; and some few by the wind from the shores of Africa to Madagascar, subsequently ascending to the mountains.
How lamentable it is that two men should take such widely different views, with the same facts before them; but this seems to be almost regularly our case, and much do I regret it.
I am fairly well, but always feel half dead with fatigue. I heard but an indifferent account of your health some time ago, but trust that you are now somewhat stronger.—Believe me, my dear Wallace, yours very sincerely,
CH. DARWIN.
Down, Beckenham, Kent. January 7, 1881.
My dear Wallace,—You know from Miss Buckley that, with her assistance, I drew up a memorial to Mr. Gladstone with respect to your services to science. The memorial was corrected by Huxley, who has aided me in every possible way. It was signed by twelve good men, and you would have been gratified if you had seen how strongly they expressed themselves on your claims.
The Duke of Argyll, to whom I sent the memorial, wrote a private note to Mr. Gladstone. The memorial was sent in only on January 5th, and I have just received a note in Mr. Gladstone's own handwriting, in which he says: "I lose no time in apprising you that although the Fund is moderate and at present poor, I shall recommend Mr. Wallace for a pension of £200 a year." I will keep this note carefully, as, if the present Government were to go [pg 314]out, I do not doubt that it would be binding on the next Government.
I hope that it will give you some satisfaction to see that not only every scientific man to whom I applied, but that also our Government appreciated your lifelong scientific labour.—Believe me, my dear Wallace, yours sincerely,
CH. DARWIN.
I should expect that there will be some delay before you receive an official announcement.
Pen-y-bryn, St. Peter's Road, Croydon. January 8, 1881.
My dear Darwin,—I need not say how very grateful I am to you for your constant kindness, and especially for the trouble you have taken in recommending me to Mr. Gladstone. It is also, of course, very gratifying to hear that so many eminent men have so good an opinion of the little scientific work I have done, for I myself feel it to be very little in comparison with that of many others.
The amount you say Mr. Gladstone proposes to recommend is considerably more than I expected would be given, and it will relieve me from a great deal of the anxieties under which I have laboured for several years. To-day is my fifty-eighth birthday, and it is a happy omen that your letter should have arrived this morning.
I presume after I receive the official communication will be the proper time to thank the persons who have signed the memorial in my favour. I do not know whether it is the proper etiquette to write a private letter of thanks to Mr. Gladstone, or only a general official one. Whenever I hear anything from the Government I will let you know.
Again thanking you for your kindness, believe me yours very faithfully,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
[pg 315]Down, Beckenham, Kent. January 10, 1881.
My dear Wallace,—I am heartily glad that you are pleased about the memorial.
I do not feel that my opinion is worth much on the point which you mention. A relation who is in a Government office and whose judgment, I think, may be fully trusted, felt sure that if you received an official announcement without any private note, it ought to be answered officially, but if the case were mine, I would express whatever I thought and felt in an official document. His reason was that Gladstone gives or recommends the pension on public grounds alone.
If the case were mine I would not write to signers of the memorial, because I believe that they acted like so many jurymen in a claim against the Government. Nevertheless, if I met any of them or was writing to them on any other subject, I should take the opportunity of expressing my feelings. I think you might with propriety write to Huxley, as he entered so heartily into the scheme and aided in the most important manner in many ways.
Sir J. Lubbock called here yesterday and Mr. F. Balfour came here with one of my sons, and it would have pleased you to see how unfeignedly delighted they were at my news of the success of the memorial.
I wrote also to tell the Duke of Argyll of the success, and he in answer expressed very sincere pleasure.—My dear Wallace, yours very sincerely,
CH. DARWIN.
Pen-y-bryn, St. Peter's Road, Croydon. January 29, 1881.
My dear Darwin,—Yours just received was very welcome, and the delay in its reaching me is of no importance whatever, as, having seen the announcement of the Queen's approval of the pension, of course I felt it was safe. The [pg 316]antedating of the first payment is a very liberal and thoughtful act; but I do not think it is any way exceptional as regards myself. I am informed it is the custom because, as no payment is made after the death of the person, if the first payment were delayed the proposed recipient might die before the half-year (or quarter-day) and thus receive nothing at all.
I suppose you sent the right address to Mr. Seymour. I have not yet heard from him, but I daresay I shall during the next week.
As I am assured both by Miss Buckley and by Prof. Huxley that it is to you that I owe in the first place this great kindness, and that you have also taken an immense amount of trouble to bring it to so successful issue, I must again return you my best thanks, and assure you that there is no one living to whose kindness in such a matter I could feel myself indebted with so much pleasure and satisfaction.—Believe me, dear Darwin, yours very faithfully,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
Down, Beckenham, Kent. July 9.
My dear Wallace,—Dr. G. Krefft has sent me the enclosed from Sydney. A nurseryman saw a caterpillar feeding on a plant and covered the whole up, but, when he searched for the cocoon [pupa], was long before he could find it, so good was its imitation, in colour and form, of the leaf to which it was attached.
I hope that the world goes well with you. Do not trouble yourself by acknowledging this.—Ever yours,
CH. DARWIN.
Accompanying this letter, which has been published in "Darwin and Modern Science" (1909), was a photograph of the chrysalis (Papilio sarpedon choredon) attached to a [pg 317]leaf of its food-plant. Many butterfly pupæ are known to have the power of individual adjustment to the colours of the particular food-plant or other normal environment; and it is probable that the Australian Papilio referred to by Darwin possesses this power.
Nutwood Cottage, Frith Hill, Godalming, July 9, 1881.
My dear Darwin,—I am just doing, what I have rarely if ever done before—reading a book through a second time immediately after the first perusal. I do not think I have ever been so attracted by a book, with perhaps the exception of your "Origin of Species" and Spencer's "First Principles" and "Social Statics." I wish therefore to call your attention to it, in case you care about books on social and political subjects, but here there is also an elaborate discussion of Malthus's "Principles of Population," to which both you and I have acknowledged ourselves indebted. The present writer, Mr. George, while admitting the main principle as self-evident and as actually operating in the case of animals and plants, denies that it ever has operated or can operate in the case of man, still less that it has any bearing whatever on the vast social and political questions which have been supported by a reference to it. He illustrates and supports his views with a wealth of illustrative facts and a cogency of argument which I have rarely seen equalled, while his style is equal to that of Buckle, and thus his book is delightful reading. The title of the book is "Progress and Poverty." It has gone through six editions in America, and is now published in England by Kegan Paul. It is devoted mainly to a brilliant discussion and refutation of some of the most widely accepted maxims of political economy, such as the relation of wages and capital, the nature of rent and interest, the laws of distribution, etc., but all treated as [pg 318]parts of the main problem as stated in the title-page, "An Enquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth." It is the most startling novel and original book of the last twenty years, and if I mistake not will in the future rank as making an advance in political and social science equal to that made by Adam Smith a century ago.
I am here settled in my little cottage engaged in the occupation I most enjoy—making a garden, and admiring the infinite variety and beauty of vegetable life. I am out of doors all day and hardly read anything. As the long evenings come on I shall get on with my book on the "Land Question," in which I have found a powerful ally in Mr. George.
Hoping you are well, believe me, yours most faithfully,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
The following is the last letter Wallace received from Darwin, who died on Wednesday, April 19, 1882, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.
Down, Beckenham, Kent. July 12, 1881.
My dear Wallace,—I have been heartily glad to get your note and hear some news of you. I will certainly order "Progress and Poverty," for the subject is a most interesting one. But I read many years ago some books on political economy, and they produced a disastrous effect on my mind, viz. utterly to distrust my own judgment on the subject and to doubt much everyone else's judgment! So I feel pretty sure that Mr. George's book will only make my mind worse confounded than it is at present. I, also, have just finished a book which has interested me greatly, but whether it would interest anyone else I know not: it is "The Creed of Science," by W. Graham, A.M. Who [pg 319]and what he is I know not, but he discusses many great subjects, such as the existence of God, immortality, the moral sense, the progress of society, etc. I think some of his propositions rest on very uncertain foundations, and I could get no clear idea of his notions about God. Notwithstanding this and other blemishes, the book has interested me extremely. Perhaps I have been to some extent deluded, as he manifestly ranks too high what I have done.
I am delighted to hear that you spend so much time out of doors and in your garden; for with your wonderful power of observation you will see much which no one else has seen. From Newman's old book (I forget the title) about the country near Godalming, it must be charming.
We have just returned home after spending five weeks on Ullswater: the scenery is quite charming; but I cannot walk, and everything tires me, even seeing scenery, talking with anyone or reading much. What I shall do with my few remaining years of life I can hardly tell. I have everything to make me happy and contented, but life has become very wearisome to me. I heard lately from Miss Buckley in relation to Lyell's Life, and she mentioned that you were thinking of Switzerland, which I should think and hope you will enjoy much.
I see that you are going to write on the most difficult political question, the Land. Something ought to be done—but what is to rule? I hope that you will [not] turn renegade to natural history; but I suppose that politics are very tempting.
With all good wishes for yourself and family, believe me, my dear Wallace, yours very sincerely,
CHARLES DARWIN.
Wallace's last letter to Darwin was written in October, 1881: [pg 320]
Nutwood Cottage, Frith Hill, Godalming. October 18, 1881.
My dear Darwin,—I have delayed writing to thank you for your book on Worms till I had been able to read it, which I have now done with great pleasure and profit, since it has cleared up many obscure points as to the apparent sinking or burying of objects on the surface and the universal covering up of old buildings. I have hitherto looked upon them chiefly from the gardener's point of view—as a nuisance, but I shall tolerate their presence in the view of their utility and importance. A friend here to whom I am going to lend your book tells me that an agriculturist who had been in West Australia, near Swan River, told him many years ago of the hopelessness of farming there, illustrating the poverty and dryness of the soil by saying, "There are no worms in the ground."
I do not see that you refer to the formation of leaf-mould by the mere decay of leaves, etc. In favourable places many inches or even feet of this is formed—I presume without the agency of worms. If so, would it not take part in the formation of all mould? and also the decay of the roots of grasses and of all annual plants, or do you suppose that all these are devoured by worms? In reading the book I have not noticed a single erratum.
I enclose you a copy of two letters to the Mark Lane Express, written at the request of the editor, and which will show you the direction in which I am now working, and in which I hope to do a little good.—Believe me yours very faithfully,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.