Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 1

by Alfred Russel Wallace; Sir James Marchant

Following Sir J. Hooker, the President, referring to Prof. Haeckel, who was unable to be present, said that he was "the great apostle of the Darwin-Wallace theory in Germany ... his enthusiastic and gallant advocacy [having] chiefly contributed to its success in that country.... A man of world-wide reputation, the leader on the Continent of the 'Old Guard' of evolutionary biologists, Prof. Haeckel was one whom the Linnean Society delighted to honour." Two more German scientists were honoured with the Medal, namely Prof. August Weismann (who was also absent), and Prof. Eduard Strasburger, the latter paying a special tribute to Wallace in saying: "When I was young the investigations [pg 121]and the thought of Alfred Russel Wallace brought me a great stimulus. Through his 'Malay Archipelago' a new world of scientific knowledge was unfolded before me. On this occasion I feel it my duty to proclaim it with gratitude." The Medal was then presented to Sir Francis Galton, who delivered a notable speech in responding. The last on this occasion to receive the Medal was Sir E. Ray Lankester, who, in replying to the President's graceful speech, referred to the happy relationships which had existed between the contemporary men of science of his own time, but with special reference to Darwin and Wallace he said:

Never was there a more beautiful example of modesty, of unselfish admiration for another's work, of loyal determination that the other should receive the full merit of his independent labours and thoughts, than was shown by Charles Darwin on that occasion....

Subsequently, throughout all their arduous work and varied publications upon the great doctrine which they on that day unfolded to humanity ... the same complete absence of rivalry characterised these high-minded Englishmen, even when in some outcomes of their doctrine they were not in perfect agreement.... I think I am able to say that great as was the interest excited by the new doctrine in the scientific world, and wild and angry as was the opposition to it in some quarters, few, if any, who took part in the scenes attending the birth and earlier reception of Darwin's "Origin of Species" had a prevision of the enormous and all-important influence which that doctrine was destined to exercise upon every line of human thought.... It is in its application to the problems of human society that there still remains an enormous field of work and discovery for the Darwin-Wallace doctrine.

In the special branch of study which Wallace himself set going—the inquiry into the local variations, races, and species of insects as evidence of descent with modification, [pg 122]and of the mechanism by which that modification is brought about—there is still great work in progress, still an abundant field to be reaped.... Several able observers and experimenters have set themselves the task of improving, if possible, the theoretical structure raised by Darwin and Wallace.... But I venture to express the opinion that they have none of them resulted in any serious modification of the great doctrine submitted to the Linnean Society on July 1st, 1858, by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. Not only do the main lines of the theory of Darwin and Wallace remain unchanged, but the more it is challenged by new suggestions and new hypotheses the more brilliantly do the novelty, the importance, and the permanent value of the work by those great men, to-day commemorated by us, shine forth as the one great epoch-making effort of human thought on this subject.

Sir Francis Darwin and Sir William Thiselton-Dyer spoke on behalf of Schools which had sent representatives to the meeting; Prof. Lönnberg and Sir Archibald Geikie on behalf of the Academies and Societies; while Lord Avebury delivered the concluding address.

Any summary of this period in the lives of Darwin and Wallace would be incomplete without some distinct reference to one other name, namely, that of Herbert Spencer, whom I have linked with them in the Introduction.

While we owe to Darwin and Wallace a definite theory of organic development, it must be remembered that Spencer included this in the general scheme of Evolution which grew as slowly but surely in his mind—and as independently as did that of the origin of species in the minds of Darwin and Wallace. Huxley recalls: "Within the ranks of biologists, at that time, I met with nobody except Dr. Grant, of University College, who had a word to say for Evolution—and his advocacy was not calculated to advance the cause. Outside these ranks, the only person known to [pg 123]me whose knowledge and capacity compelled respect, and who was, at the same time, a thorough-going evolutionist, was Mr. Herbert Spencer.... Many and prolonged were the battles we fought on this topic.... I took my stand upon two grounds: first, that up to that time the evidence in favour of transmutation was wholly insufficient; and, secondly, that no suggestions respecting the causes of the transmutations assumed ... were in any war adequate to explain the phenomena. Looking back at the state of knowledge at that time, I really do not see that any other conclusion was justifiable."[25]

And Prof. Raphael Meldola, in a lecture on Evolution wherein he compares the impression left by each of these great founders of that school upon the current of modern thought, says: "Through all ... his [Spencer's] writings the underlying idea of development can be traced with increasing depth and breadth, expanding in 1850 in his 'Social Statics' to a foreshadowing of the general doctrine of Evolution. In 1852 his views on organic evolution had become so definite that he gave public expression to them in that well-known and powerful essay on 'The Development Hypothesis.' ... In the 'Principles of Psychology,' the first edition of which was published in 1855, the evolutionary principle was dominant. By 1858—the year of the announcement of Natural Selection by Darwin and Wallace—he had conceived the great general scheme and had sketched out the first draft of the prospectus of the Synthetic Philosophy, the final and amended syllabus [being] issued in 1860. The work of Darwin and Spencer from that period, although moving along independent lines, was directed towards the same end, notwithstanding the diversity of materials which they made use of and the differences in their methods of attack; that end was [pg 124]the establishment of Evolution as a great natural principle or law."[26]

In this connection it is especially interesting to note how near Spencer had come to the conception of Natural Selection without grasping its full significance. In an article on a "Theory of Population" (published in the Westminster Review for April, 1852) he wrote: "And here, indeed, without further illustration, it will be seen that premature death, under all its forms and from all its causes, cannot fail to work in the same direction. For as those prematurely carried off must, in the average of cases, be those in whom the power of self-preservation is the least, it unavoidably follows that those left behind to continue the race must be those in whom the power of self-preservation is the greatest—must be the select of their generation. So that whether the dangers of existence be of the kind produced by excess of fertility, or of any other kind, it is clear that by the ceaseless exercise of the faculties needed to contend with them, and by the death of all men who fail to contend with them successfully, there is ensured a constant progress towards a higher degree of skill, intelligence, self-regulation—a better co-ordinance of actions—a more complete life."

Up to the period of the publication of the "Origin of Species" and the first conception of the scheme of the Synthetic Philosophy there had been no communication between Darwin and Spencer beyond the presentation by Spencer of a copy of his Essays to Darwin in 1858, which was duly acknowledged. But by the time the "Origin of Species" had been before the public for eight years, the Darwinian principle of selection had become an integral part of the Spencerian mechanism of organic evolution. [pg 125]Indeed the term "survival of the fittest," approved by both Darwin and Wallace as an alternative for "natural selection," was, as is well known, introduced by Spencer.

Wallace's relations with Spencer, though somewhat controversial at times, were nevertheless cordial and sympathetic. In "My Life" he tells of his first visit, and the impression left upon his mind by their conversation. It occurred somewhere about 1862-3, shortly after he and Bates had read, and been greatly impressed by, Spencer's "First Principles." "Our thoughts," he says, "were full of the great unsolved problem of the origin of life—a problem which Darwin's 'Origin of Species' left in as much obscurity as ever—and we looked to Spencer as the one man living who could give us some clue to it. His wonderful exposition of the fundamental laws and conditions, actions and interactions of the material universe seemed to penetrate so deeply into that 'nature of things' after which the early philosophers searched in vain ... that we hoped he would throw some light on that great problem of problems.... He was very pleasant, spoke appreciatively of what we had both done for the practical exposition of evolution, and hoped we would continue to work at the subject. But when we touched upon the great problem, and whether he had arrived at even one of the first steps towards its solution, our hopes were dashed at once. That, he said, was too fundamental a problem to even think of solving at present. We did not yet know enough of matter in its essential constitution nor of the various forces of nature; and all he could say was that everything pointed to its having been a development out of matter—a phase of that continuous process of evolution by which the whole universe had been brought to its present condition. And so we had to wait and work contentedly at minor problems. And now, after forty years, though [pg 126]Spencer and Darwin and Weismann have thrown floods of light on the phenomena of life, its essential nature and its origin remain as great a mystery as ever. Whatever light we do possess is from a source which Spencer and Darwin neglected or ignored."[27]

In his presidential address to the Entomological Society in 1872 Wallace made some special allusion to Spencer's theory of the origin of instincts, and on receiving a copy of the address Spencer wrote: "It is gratifying to me to find that your extended knowledge does not lead you to scepticism respecting the speculation of mine which you quote, but rather enables you to cite further facts in justification of it. Possibly your exposition will lead some of those, in whose lines of investigation the question lies, to give deliberate attention to it." A further proof of his confidence was shown by asking Wallace (in 1874) to look over the proofs of the first six chapters of his "Principles of Sociology" in order that he might have the benefit of his criticisms alike as naturalist, anthropologist, and traveller.