Contributions to the theory of natural selection : a series of essays.

  • Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1823-1913.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Contributions to the theory of natural selection : a series of essays. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    by me before I had the least notion of the scope and nature of Mr. Darwin's labours. They were published in a way not likely to attract the attention of any but working naturalists, and I feel sure that many who have heard of them, have never had the opportunity of ascertaining how much or how little they really con- tain. It therefore happens, that, while some writers give me more credit than I deserve, others may very naturally class me wath Dr. Wells and Mr. Patrick Matthew, who, as Mr. Darwin has shown in the his- torical sketch given in the 4th and 5th Editions of the '' Origin of Species, certainly propounded the fundamental principle of natural selection before himself, but who made no further use of that principle, and failed to see its wide and immensely important applications. The present work will, I venture to think, prove, that I both saw at the time the value and scope ot the law which I had discovered, and have since been able to apply it to some purpose in a few original lines of investigation. But here my claims cease. I have felt all my life, and I still feel, the most sincere satisfaction that Mr. Darwin had been at work long before me, and that it was not left for me to attempt to write The Origin of Species. I have long since measured my own strength, and know well that it would be quite unequal to that task. Far abler men than myself may confess, that they have not that untiring patience in accumulating, and that wonderful skill in using, large masses of facts of the