(408/3. In March 1869 Darwin wrote to Mr. Wallace: "I shall be intensely
curious to read the "Quarterly." I hope you have not murdered too
completely your own and my child." The reference is to Mr. Wallace's
review, in the April number of the "Quarterly," of Lyell's "Principles
of Geology" (tenth edition), and of the sixth edition of the "Elements
of Geology." Mr. Wallace points out that here for the first time Sir C.
Lyell gave up his opposition to evolution; and this leads Mr. Wallace to
give a short account of the views set forth in the "Origin of Species."
In this article Mr. Wallace makes a definite statement as to his views
on the evolution of man, which were opposed to those of Mr. Darwin. He
upholds the view that the brain of man, as well as the organs of speech,
the hand and the external form, could not have been evolved by Natural
Selection (the child he is supposed to murder). At page 391 he writes:
"In the brain of the lowest savages, and, as far as we know, of the
prehistoric races, we have an organ...little inferior in size and
complexity to that of the highest types...But the mental requirements
of the lowest savages, such as the Australians or the Andaman Islanders,
are very little above those of many animals...How, then, was an organ
developed so far beyond the needs of its possessor? Natural Selection
could only have endowed the savage with a brain a little superior
to that of an ape, whereas he actually possesses one but very little
inferior to that of the average members of our learned societies." This
passage is marked in Mr. Darwin's copy with a triply underlined "No,"
and with a shower of notes of exclamation. It was probably the first
occasion on which he realised the extent of this great and striking
divergence in opinion between himself and his colleague.
He had, however, some indication of it in Wallace's paper on Man,
"Anthropological Review," 1864. (See Letter 406). He wrote to Lyell,
May 4th, 1869, "I was dreadfully disappointed about Man; it seems to me
incredibly strange." And to Mr. Wallace, April 14th, 1869, "If you had
not told me, I should have thought that [your remarks on Man] had been
added by some one else. As you expected, I differ grievously from you,
and I am very sorry for it."
LETTER 409. TO T.H. HUXLEY. Down, Thursday, February 21st [1868-70?].
I received the Jermyn Street programme, but have hardly yet considered
it, for I was all day on the sofa on Tuesday and Wednesday. Bad though
I was, I thought with constant pleasure of your very great kindness in
offering to read the proofs of my essay on man. I do not know whether
I said anything which might have appeared like a hint, but I assure you
that such a thought had never even momentarily passed through my mind.
Your offer has just made all the difference, that I can now write,
whether or no my essay is ever printed, with a feeling of satisfaction
instead of vague dread.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account