Most valuable to me also are your numerous references to Darwin's letters, so that the article serves as a [pg 091] compendious index to the five volumes, as regards this subject.
Especially admirable is the way in which you have always kept Darwin before us as the centre of the whole discussion, while at the same time fairly stating the sometimes adverse views of those who differ from him on certain points....—Yours very truly,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
SIR W.T. THISELTON-DYER TO A.R. WALLACE
The Ferns, Witcombe, Gloucester. June 25, 1909.
Dear Dr. Wallace,—It is difficult for me to tell you how gratified I am by your extraordinarily kind letter.... The truth is that success was easy. It has been my immense good fortune to know most of those who played in the drama. The story simply wanted a straightforward amanuensis to tell itself. But it is a real pleasure to me to know that I have met with some measure of success.
There are many essays in the book that you will not like any more than I do. The secret of this lies in the fact, which you pointed out in your memorable speech at the Linnean Celebration, that no one but a naturalist can really understand Darwin.
I did not go to Cambridge—I had my hands full here. I was not sorry for the excuse. There seemed to me a note of insincerity about the whole business. I am short-tempered. I cannot stand being told that the origin of species has still to be discovered, and that specific differences have no "reality" (Bateson's Essay, p. 89). People are of course at liberty to hold such opinions, but decency might have presented another occasion for ventilating them.—Yours sincerely,
W.T. THISELTON-DYER.