15 Alfred Russel Wallace – The ‘Letter from Ternate’
On Wallace’s return to Macassar after a nine-month absence in Aru he found a pile
of mail waiting for him. This included a letter from Charles Darwin dated 1 May
1857 related to the publication of Wallace’s ‘Sarawak Law’ and his indirect challenge
to Darwin to provide at least a ‘conjectural explanation’ for his observations in the
Galapagos Islands. Darwin wrote:
I can plainly see that we have thought much alike and to a certain extent have come to
similar conclusions. In regard to your paper in the Annals, I agree to the truth of almost
every word ... and I daresay that you will agree with me that it is very rare to find oneself
agreeing pretty closely with any theoretical paper. This summer will mark the 20th year (!)
since I have opened my first note-book, on the question how and in what way do species and
varieties differ from each other. – I am now preparing my work for publication, but I find
the subject so very large, that though I have written many chapters, I do not suppose I shall
go to press for two years ... It is really impossible to explain my views in the compass of a
letter on the causes and means of variation in a state of nature; but I have slowly adopted a
distinct and tangible idea. – Whether true or false others must judge.In December Darwin wrote again:
You say that you have been somewhat surprised at no notice having been taken of your
paper in the Annals: I cannot say that I am; for so few naturalists care for anything beyond
the mere description of species. But you must not suppose that your paper has not been
attended to: two very good men, Sir C. Lyell and Mr E. Blyth at Calcutta specially called
my attention to it.Wallace was excited to receive letters directly from his boyhood hero that included159