DARWIN'S CO-WORKER.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1906, 14 November 1913, Page 10

DARWIN'S CO-WORKER.

THE LATE BR, ALFRED RUSSELL WALLACE

The late Dr. Alfred' Russell Wallace, whoso death was recorded yesterday, was-, a strenuous strenuous mini iu all things, He was born at Usk, in. tUtoimouttehire, on January 8, ISSI* . At .tbo ago of 25 ji.o went oe-' an expedition, to' {-ho Amazon with the lata H. W. Bates, Wallacei} "Travels en the Amazon, and Rio Negro" was published' in. IsSsL Through tho' loss, b.y fire, of the...ship in which ho' voyaged hamo from South. Aiftcrica, all his collections were lost excepting thoso - which ho had ffispstchedl ueiorehtmd.. During the period 1854-Gi, he visited Su-.. inatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, the Malac-? eas, Timor, Koiv Guinea,''and', the,, ivri.ii: and Kp Islands.. Ri9 deeply inlerorti.iiij narrative, "The Malay'Aixla'pefago,'' a> , peated in JSffil, Some-of. the most fa\\i\ , able groups of his vast iii.se.ot callectieiisV Bubseajiontly passed inM the. Hope Gol-f lection bf ,'the yiijversily of Q.sftMxl mid' the British'..MAisoifm. . fc : 'discovered'■ that the Malay' Archipelago was. divided' into a western' group pf islands which in their zoological. aijiti.itiGS- are Oriental,..' and an. eastern which are. Australian. Tljo Orieptai Borhco.-nndi/Bali are. ,rej.. ! > spectively' :nud EoirirVi. i bpk by a narrow beit ef'sea known as'"Wailnco'S Liiie," o.n'' flio opposite sides' of which (he Jhd'.igei'!*)!.is mammalia are as widely divergent as in .any "twH .parts ■of the world. Wallace beqa:ipo. ean> ■ ; vißcbd of the truth of" evolution, and originated the theory of natural Select tion daring these, travels. In February, 1855, while staying: at Sarawak, iu Sorneo., ho w'lioto an essay the Law which has I'egtflated. the Introduction of New Speeie*" ■ Ho stated the law 1 , as follows:—Every;species has come into! existence coincident both in thnenndi. 'space frith. ;»" pwveiistmg closely allicil. species. He justly claimed _ that 'such a law connected aud explained a vast numl.H!? of ihdepfindciit facts. It Was a cautious statement of n Wief in evo* latioii, aaid, for three years from the time he wrote the essay ■the question of libw pliunges of species could have been, brought about was rarely cut of his ■mind. At Ternate, in tho Moluccas, in. February, 1858, he read, with deep in- j ■tcrest, MalshUs's "Essay on Population,"' and., to use his own. words, "there suddenly flashed upon, nle the idea of the survival of the fittest/' lit aa article which lie addressed to the late Charles Darwin ho outlined Ms theory*, Writing io Sir Charles Lyell. on the subject, Parwin noyCr saw a More striking. . coincidenee'. 'If Wallace had ray •ma:ini> i script sketch written in 1.512 lie covtld' not j have mode a better short abstract, 3Eveni his terms now stand as heads of lay 1 ehaptops." Tho es«ay was read, together with a precis of Darwlji's own views, as a jdih-t-piTJer at tjie Liaheaiv Society op July h TBSB, The titlo of Wallace's section was, "On- tile Tendency! of Varieties ia Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type." In 1881 bo published "Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection."' Pmbably, next to the "Origin, of Species ■' ho mgib work has done so .much to promo'to dear ttndeistaudilig rf natuval sc-, . kctioii and confidence in its truth. Onoi t>,[ the articles thefeitt treats on "Mimicry in Animals," another on ""Instinct," qint. a third oil "Birds' Nests." In this work, and in mirny of '" s subseq-ucat publications, Wallace differed ftanl Darwin on certain poiuts. He contended that '"man lias iiof,. like tho other anrmnb, been produced by Hie upuded operation of natural selection, but that other 'farces have also been in opcfe.tion. • Subsequently, h» expressed his dissatife.. faction with the liypotlieas of -sexual se'cctioa" bv which Dai-win sought to explain tha conspicuous characters which are displayed during tU cou.r.lshi.p of aliinial* His opinion on tho -jratiitS of (Uver"euco from Darwhi will be found in "Darwinism," published jn ISS9. AVal-, bite frpeiy accepted the general results; of Wrissinftnn's teaehiijg with respeet W the possibility of the h'eredilary ton*. mteioii of acifaired characters. Iu 18'8 i lie .pi'iblished a nioiUHiiental vvork, "The ' Cfesgraphical Distribution of Amtnals. j • His" ''Tropical SSatufc and Otlior. Essays < 'appeared, in I'B7l ftlid 'Island -Lifib" liu 1 ; 8S0,' In "Miracles niid Modern■. Spirit" : ualisiii," puhti'Slied in ISSI, who had leng before given up all. belief in revealed rclifiiop, explained the rwsons which indacwl him to accept doctrines which are sha.vcd by So sma« .a proportion of scientific mcii, A yca.T' later, Ms ar.guni.onts in favotit of |talo , ownership of land'—a principle whteli ta| ■origiriated long before the appearance of ileiiry George's worlc-'wcro cmboitart m? a volume fintitted "■faii.i! Nahwuilisa-' ttatt." In ISSS., Wallace ./<«* "Forty-five Years et ;Ke»p.tni.tloa SU Msticsi" in whidi he maintained that vaccination fe useless and SubsCfiuePtly ■tlie..decensed wrote ilic following works:-"The tnrv Its aad w "' w linnm "Stitdiesr So e»til)P . ami Renal nm s ' *ow oditiow, wo*.; "My M? rtnfltt In tffiG be hjarned the eldest Kter f «i* M""***. Mr. William! ate Sir Alfred P«Wl1 Watlnjc recoived !,» I?oViJ 71"» da.l in WS n«d the first DnWin* Mft¥l of the Koyal in tgilO A pen*Tfli>. wa's aWSTiieil linn l>y t-te'late Mr, flisd'stoue..in i.SSI. He reeeivevi tho desVee of LI.,D, frc-n t3«s -of :D>tWin> im. atol.tlint; of D,CL-.' from Oxford in '1-889,