Darwin wrote to Bates describing it as ‘the best book of Natural History’ and was
delighted with his support of evolution. Darwin thought that the conservative magazine
Athenaeum had reviewed the book ‘coldly and insolently’ and in his own appreciation
for the Natural History Review he references Bates’ lack of reading material in the
Amazon jungle and produces some subtle wit that shows a sense of humour Darwin
may have had in person, but is rarely seen in his writing:
Mr. Bates must indeed have been driven to great straits as regards his mental food, when, as
he tells us, he took to reading the Athenaeum three times over, ‘the first time devouring the
more interesting articles—the second, the whole of the remainder—and the third, reading
all the advertisements from beginning to end’.When Wallace finally completed his scientific work, and after writing thirty papers
for publication in various scientific journals, he then had time to start thinking about
a book of his travels in the Far East and he writes to Charles Darwin in January 1864:
I am at last making a beginning of a small book on my Eastern journey, which, if I can
persevere, I hope to have ready by Christmas. I am a very bad hand at writing anything like
narrative. I want something to argue on, and then I find it much easier to go ahead. I rather
despair therefore of making so good a book as Bates’, though I think my subject is better.In the spring of 1865 Wallace contacted the Mitten family who lived in the Sussex
village of Hurstpierpoint, where he delighted to see the wildflowers growing in the
woods around their house and enjoyed botanizing with their eldest daughter Annie. As
he described in his autobiography, ‘This similarity of taste led to a close intimacy, and
in the spring of the following year I was married to Mr Mitten’s eldest daughter, then
about eighteen years old’. In June 1867 Annie gave birth to a boy who was christened
Herbert Spencer Wallace in memory of Wallace’s younger brother, and possibly also
Herbert Spencer, who first used the term ‘survival of the fittest’ in his book Principles
of Biology in 1864. They returned from London to live in Hurstpierpoint where
Annie’s family could help with the baby and Wallace could benefit from the isolation
to work on his travel book. In 1868 Wallace’s contribution to science was recognized
by the award of the Royal Medal by the Royal Society, which was an important
acknowledgement of his scientific contributions, and in January 1869 his daughter
Violet was born.
The Malay Archipelago was published in March 1869. Fortunately the reviews and
sales were positive, which provided Wallace with some steady income for the first time
(^188) Where Australia Collides with Asia
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