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MY LIFE

A RECORD OF EVENTS AND OPINIONS

BY

ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE

AUTHOR OF

MAN'S PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE," "THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO," "DARWINISM,

"GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS," "NATURAL

SELECTION AND TROPICAL NATURE," ETC.

WITH FACSIMILE LETTERS, ILLUSTRATIONS
AND PORTRAITS

TWO VOLUME
Volume II

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LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, ld.
1905

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXV

PACK

My Friends and Acquaintances — Darwin i

CHAPTER XXVI

My Friends and Acquaintances — Spencer, Huxley, Mivart,

etc 23

CHAPTER XXVII

My Friends and Acquaintances — Sir James Brooke, Pro-
fessor Rolleston, Mr. Aug. Mongredien, Sir Richard
Owen, Dr. Richard Spruce 51

CHAPTER XXVIII

My Friends and Acquaintances — Dr. Purland, Mr. Samuel

Butler, Professor Haughton 75

CHAPTER XXIX
Sketch of my Life and Work, 1 871-1886 .... 90

CHAPTER XXX
An American Lecture Tour — Boston to Washington . 107

CHAPTER XXXI

Lecturing Tour in America — Washington to San

Francisco 136

CHAPTER XXXII
Lecturing Tour in America— California to Quebec . .171

vi CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXXIII

PAGE

Literary Work, etc., 1887-1905 200

CHAPTER XXXIV

Land Nationalization to Socialism, and the Friends

they brought me 235

CHAPTER XXXV

Mesmerism to Spiritualism— Correspondence with Scien-
tific and Literary Men 275

CHAPTER XXXVI

Two Biological Inquirers: an Episode in the History

of Spiritualism 300

CHAPTER XXXVII

Spiritualistic Experiences in England and America . 327

CHAPTER XXXVIII
The Anti-vaccination Crusade 351

CHAPTER XXXIX

A Chapter on Money Matters — Earnings and Losses —

Speculations and Law-suits 360

CHAPTER XL

My Character— New Ideas— Predictions fulfilled . . 382

ADDENDUM (CHAPTER XXXIIIa)
Excursions and Examinations 401

Index 419

ILLUSTRATIONS

■ Old Orchard," Broadstoxe .
(Built in 1902)

My First Letter from Dr. Purland

Envelope of Second Letter .

A Letter from Dr. Purland .

A Full Signature ....

Heading of Letter from Dr. Purland

An Illustrated Letter

My Last Letter from Dr. Purland

" The Dell," Grays, Essex .

Alfred R. Wallace. 1878 .

"Nutwood Cottage," Godalming

The Saracen's Tent, Luray Cavern

Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. Effects of a Tornado

On the Denver and Rio Grande Railway

"The Squatter," Garden of the Gods, Col

Gateway to Garden of the Gods : with Pike's

Peak

The Seal and Bear, Garden of the Gods
"Cathedral Spires," Garden of the Gods

Frontispiece

To face p. 76

77

» 77

78

79

p. 80

To face p. 81

103
137
150
176
179

180
180
180

viii ILLUSTRATIONS

Diagrams illustrating Experiments to show Con-
vexity of the Earth pp. 366-368

Llanrhaidwr Waterfall To face p. 403

NOTE.

The portraits of the Author illustrating this work show him at the
following ages : —

Age 25. Before going to the Amazon.

„ 30. Before the Malayan Journey.

„ 46. At Publication of " Malay Archipelago."

„ 55. At Publication of "Tropical Nature."

„ 80. Frontispiece.

The Frontispiece to u Darwinism " {age 66) completes the Series.

I

MY LIFE

A RECORD OF EVENTS AND OPINIONS
CHAPTER XXV

MY FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES— DARWIN

SOON after I returned home, in the summer of 1862, Mr.
Darwin invited me to come to Down for a night, where I
had the great pleasure of seeing him in his quiet home, and
in the midst of his family. A year or two later I spent a
week-end with him in company with Bates, Jenner Weir,
and a few other naturalists ; but my most frequent inter-
views with him were when he spent a few weeks with his
brother, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, in Queen Anne Street, which
he usually did every year when he was well enough, in order
to see his friends and collect information for his various
works. On these occasions I usually lunched with him and
his brother, and sometimes one other visitor, and had a little
talk on some of the matters specially interesting him. He
also sometimes called on me in St. Mark's Crescent for a
quiet talk or to see some of my collections.

My first letter from him dealing with scientific matters
was in August, 1862, and our correspondence was very ex-
tensive during the period occupied in writing or correcting
his earlier books on evolution, down to the publication of
"The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals,"
in 1872, and afterwards, at longer intervals, to within less
than a year of his death. A considerable selection of our

VOL. II. 1 B

2 MY LIFE [Chap.

correspondence has been published in the " Life and Letters "
(1887), and especially in "More Letters" (1903); while
several of the more interesting of these were contained in the
one-volume life, entitled " Charles Darwin," which appeared in
1892. As many of my readers, however, may not have these
works to refer to, I will here give a few of his letters to
myself which have not yet been published, together with
some of my own, and also occasional extracts from some of
Darwin's that have already appeared, in order to make clear
the nature of our discussions, and also, perhaps, to throw a
little light upon our respective characters.

In a letter entirely without date, but which was evidently
written in 1863, he gives me some information for which I
had asked about reviews of the " Origin of Species."

"Down, Bromley, Kent (1863).

"My dear Mr. Wallace,

" I write one line to thank you for your note, and
to say that the B. of Oxford wrote the Quarterly R. (paid
£60), aided by Owen. In the Edinburgh, Owen no doubt
praised himself. Mr. Maw's review in Zoologist is one of the
best, and staggered me in parts, for I did not see the sophistry
of (those) parts. I could lend you any which you might wish
to see, but you would soon be tired. Hopkins in Fraser and
Pictet are two of the best.

" I am glad you like the little orchid book ; but it has not
been worth the ten months it has cost me : it was a hobby-
horse, and so beguiled me.

" How puzzled you must be to know what to begin at !
You will do grand work, I do not doubt. My health is, and
always will be, very poor: I am that miserable animal, a
regular valetudinarian.

" Yours very sincerely,

" C. Darwin."

In March, 1864, he wrote me from Malvern Wells that he
had been very ill at home, having fits of vomiting every day
for two months, and been able to do nothing. These attacks

xxv] DARWIN 3

were brought on by the least mental excitement, which often
rendered it impossible for him to see his friends, and which
appear to have lasted at intervals throughout his life. This
must always be remembered when we consider the enormous
amount of work he was able to do ; but, fortunately, the quiet
interest of carrying out observations or experiments lasting
for months, and often for years, seem to have been beneficial.
On the other hand, writing his books and correcting the
MSS. and the proofs in the very careful manner he always
practised were most wearying and distasteful to him.

On February 23, 1867, he wrote to me asking if I could
solve a difficulty for him. He says : ■ On Monday evening I
called on Bates, and put a difficulty before him which he could
not answer, and, as on some former similar occasion, his first
suggestion was, ' You had better ask Wallace.' My difficulty
is, Why are caterpillars sometimes so beautifully and artistic-
ally coloured ? Seeing that many are coloured to escape
dangers, I can hardly attribute their bright colour in other
cases to mere physical conditions. Bates says the most
gaudy caterpillar he ever saw in Amazonia was conspicuous
at the distance of yards, from its black and red colours,
whilst feeding on large, green leaves. If any one objected to
male butterflies having been made beautiful by sexual
selection, and asked why they should not have been made
beautiful as well as their caterpillars, what would you answer ?
I could not answer, but should maintain my ground. Will
you think over this, and some time, either by letter or when
we meet, tell me what you think ? "

On reading this letter, I almost at once saw what seemed
to be a very easy and probable explanation of the facts. I
had then just been preparing for publication (in the West-
minster Review) my rather elaborate paper on " Mimicry and
Protective Colouring," and the numerous cases in which
specially showy and slow-flying butterflies were known to
have a'peculiar odour and taste which protected them from
the attacks of insect-eating birds and other animals, led me at
once to suppose that the gaudily-coloured caterpillars must

4 MY LIFE [Chap.

have a similar protection. I had just ascertained from Mr.
Jenner Weir that one of our common white moths (Spilosoma
menthrastri) would not be eaten by most of the small birds
in his aviary, nor by young turkeys. Now, as a white moth
is as conspicuous in the dusk as a coloured caterpillar in the
daylight, this case seemed to me so much on a par with the
other that I felt almost sure my explanation would turn out
correct. I at once wrote to Mr. Darwin to this effect, and
his reply, dated February 26, is as follows : —

"My Dear Wallace,

" Bates was quite right ; you are the man to apply
to in a difficulty. I never heard anything more ingenious
than your suggestion, and I hope you may be able to prove
it true. That is a splendid fact about the white moths ; it
warms one's very blood to see a theory thus almost proved to
be true."

The following week I brought the subject to the notice of
the Fellows of the Entomological Society at their evening
meeting (March 4), requesting that any of them who had
the opportunity would make observations or experiments
during the summer in accordance with Mr. Darwin's sug-
gestion. I also wrote a letter to The Field newspaper,
which, as it explains my hypothesis in simple language, I here
give entire : —

"Caterpillars and Birds.
" Sir,

"May I be permitted to ask the co-operation of
your readers in making some observations during the coming
spring and summer which are of great interest to Mr. Darwin
and myself ? I will first state what observations are wanted,
and then explain briefly why they are wanted. A number
of our smaller birds devour quantities of caterpillars, but there
is reason to suspect that they do not eat all alike. Now we
want direct evidence as to which species they eat and which

xxv] DARWIN 5

they reject. This may be obtained in two ways. Those who
keep insectivorous birds, such as thrushes, robins, or any of
the warblers (or any other that will eat caterpillars), may
offer them all the kinds they can obtain, and carefully note
(i) which they eat, (2) which they refuse to touch, and (3)
which they seize but reject. If the name of the caterpillar
cannot be ascertained, a short description of its more pro-
minent characters will do very well, such as whether it is
hairy or smooth, and what are its chief colours, especially
distinguishing such as are green or brown from such as are of
bright and conspicuous colours, as yellow, red, or black. The
food plant of the caterpillar should also be stated when known.
Those who do not keep birds, but have a garden much fre-
quented by birds, may put all the caterpillars they can find
in a soup plate or other vessel, which must be placed in a
larger vessel of water, so that the creatures cannot escape,
and then after a few hours note which have been taken and
which left. If the vessel could be placed where it might be
watched from a window, so that the kind of birds which took
them could also be noted, the experiment would be still more
complete. A third set of observations might be made on
young fowls, turkeys, guinea-fowls, pheasants, etc., in exactly
the same manner.

" Now the purport of these observations is to ascertain the
law which had determined the coloration of caterpillars.
The analogy of many other insects leads us to believe that
all those which are green or brown, or of such speckled or
mottled tints as to resemble closely the leaf or bark of the
plant on which they feed, or the substance on which they
usually repose, are thus to some degree protected from the
attacks of birds and other enemies. We should expect,
therefore, that all which are thus protected would be greedily
eaten by birds whenever they can find them. But there are
other caterpillars which seem coloured on purpose to be con-
spicuous, and it is very important to know whether they have
another kind of protection, altogether independent of disguise,
such as a disagreeable odour and taste. If they are thus pro-
tected, so that the majority of birds will never eat them, we

6 MY LIFE [Chap.

can understand that to get the full benefit of this protection
they should be easily recognized, should have some outward
character by which birds would soon learn to know them and
thus let them alone ; because if birds could not tell the eat-
able from the uneatable till they had seized and tasted them,
the protection would be of no avail, a growing caterpillar
being so delicate that a wound is certain death. If, therefore,
the eatable caterpillars derive a partial protection from their
obscure and imitative colouring, then we can understand that
it would be an advantage to the uneatable kinds to be
well distinguished from them by bright and conspicuous
colours.

" I may add that this question has an important bearing
on the whole theory of the origin of the colours of animals,
and especially of insects. I hope many of your readers may
be thereby induced to make such observations as I have
indicated, and if they will kindly send me their notes at the
end of the summer, or earlier, I will undertake to compare
and tabulate the whole, and to make known the results,
whether they confirm or refute the theory here indicated.

" Alfred R. Wallace.

"9, St. Mark's Crescent, Regent's Park, N.W.,
" March, 1867."

This letter brought me only one reply, from a gentleman
in Cumberland, who informed me that the common "goose-
berry " caterpillar, which is the lava of the magpie moth
{Abraxas grossulariata), is refused by young pheasants, par-
tridges, and wild ducks, as well as sparrows and finches, and
that all birds to whom he offered it rejected it with evident
dread and abhorrence. But in 1869 two entomologists, Mr.
Jenner Weir and Mr. A. G. Butler, gave an account of their
two seasons' experiments and observations with several of
our most gaily-coloured caterpillars, and with a considerable
variety of birds, and also with lizards, frogs, and spiders, con-
firming my explanation in a most remarkable manner. An
account of these experiments is given in the second and all
later editions of my book on " Natural Selection ; " but it

xxv] DARWIN 7

is more fully treated in my " Darwinism," chap, ix, under
the heading " Warning Colours among Insects," and it has thus
led to the establishment of a general principle which is very
widely applicable, and serves to explain a not inconsiderable
proportion of the colours and markings in the animal world.
It is, of course, only a wider application of the same funda-
mental fact by which Bates had already explained the purpose
of " mimicry " among insects, and it is a matter of surprise to
me that neither Bates himself nor Darwin had seen the prob-
ability of the occurrence of inedibility in the larvae as well as
in the perfect insects.

In the year 1870 Mr. A. W. Bennett read a paper before
Section D. of the British Association at Liverpool, entitled
"The Theory of Natural Selection from a Mathematical
Point of View," and this paper was printed in full in Nature
of November 10, 1870. To this I replied on November 17,
and my reply so pleased Mr. Darwin that he at once wrote to
me as follows : —

" Down, November 22.

" My dear Wallace,

" I must ease myself by writing a few words to say
how much I and all in this house admire your article in
Nature. You are certainly an unparalleled master in lucidly
stating a case and in arguing. Nothing ever was better
done than your argument about the term Origin of Species,
and about much being gained if we know nothing about
precise cause of each variation."

At the end of the letter he says something about the
progress of his great work, " The Descent of Man."

"I have finished 1st vol. and am half-way through proofs
of 2nd vol. of my confounded book, which half kills me by
fatigue, and which I fear will quite kill me in your good
estimation.

" If you have leisure, I should much like a little news of
you and your doings and your family,

" Ever yours very sincerely,

" Ch. Darwin."

8 MY LIFE [Chap.

The above remark, "kill me in your good estimation,"
refers to his views on the mental and moral nature of man
being very different from mine, this being the first important
question as to which our views had diverged. But I never
had the slightest feeling of the kind he supposed, looking
upon the difference as one which did not at all affect our
general agreement, and also as being one on which no one
could dogmatize, there being much to be said on both sides.
The last paragraph shows the extreme interest he took in the
personal affairs of all his friends.

As my article of which he thought so highly is buried in an
early volume of Nature, I will here reproduce the rather long
paragraph which so specially interested him. It is as follows : —
" The first objection brought forward (and which had been
already advanced by the Duke of Argyll) is, that the very
title of Mr. Darwin's celebrated work is a misnomer, and that
the real ' origin of species ' is that spontaneous tendency to
variation which has not yet been accounted for. Mr. Bennett
further remarks that, throughout my volume of 'Essays,' I
appear to be unconscious that the theory I advocate does
not go to the root of the matter. It is true that I am 'un-
conscious' of anything of the kind, for I maintain, and am
prepared to prove, that the theory, if true, does go to the very
root of the question of the ' origin of species.' The objection,
which from its being so often made, and now again brought
forward, is evidently thought to be an important one, is
founded on a misapprehension of the right meaning of
words. It ignores the fact that the word ' species ' denotes
something more than 'variety ' or ' individual.' A species
is an organic form (or group) which, for periods of great
and indefinite length, as compared with the duration of
human life, fluctuates only within narrow limits. But the
'spontaneous tendency to variation' is altogether antagonistic
to such comparative stability, and would, if unchecked, en-
tirely destroy all 'species.' Abolish, if possible, selection
and survival of the fittest, so that every spontaneous variation
should survive in equal proportion with all others, and the
result must inevitably be an endless variety of Unstable forms

xxv] DARWIN 9

no one of which would answer to what we mean by the word
'species.' No other cause but selection has yet been dis-
covered capable of perpetuating and giving stability to some
forms, and causing the disappearance of others, and therefore
Mr. Darwin's book, if there is any truth in it at all, has a
logical claim to its title. It shows how 'species,' or stable
forms, are produced out of unstable spontaneous variations,
which is certainly to trace their ' origin.' The distinction of
' species ' and ' individual ' is equally important. A horse, or
a number of horses, as such, do not constitute a ' species.' It
is the comparative permanence of the form as distinguished
from the ass, quagga, zebra, tapir, camel, etc., that makes
them one. Were there a mass of intermediate forms con-
necting all these animals by fine gradations, and hardly a
dozen individuals alike — as would probably be the case had
selection not acted — there might be a few horses, but there
would be no such thing as a species of horse. That could only
be produced by some power capable of eliminating interme-
diate forms as they arose, and preserving all of the true horse
type ; and such a power was first shown to exist by Mr.
Darwin. The origin of varieties and individuals is one thing,
the origin of species another."

It is a remarkable thing that this very simple preliminary
misunderstanding of the very meaning of the term " species "
continued to appear year after year in most of the criticisms
of the theory of natural selection. It was put forward both
by mere literary critics and also by naturalists, and was in
many cases adduced as a discovery which completely over-
threw the whole of Darwin's work. So frequent was it that
twenty years later, when writing my " Darwinism," I found it
necessary to devote the first chapter to a thorough explana-
tion of this point, under the heading, "What are ' Species,' and
what is meant by their ' Origin ' ? " and I think I may feel
confident that to those who have read that work this particular
purely imaginary difficulty will no longer exist.

Soon after the " Descent of Man " appeared, I wrote to
Darwin, giving my impressions of the first volume, to which
he replied (January 30, 1871). This letter is given in the

10 MY LIFE [Chap.

"Life and Letters" (iii. p. 134), but I will quote two short
passages expressing his kind feelings towards myself. He
begins, " Your note has given me very great pleasure, chiefly
because I was so anxious not to treat you with the least dis-
respect, and it is so difficult to speak fairly when differing
from any one. If I had offended you, it would have grieved
me more than you will readily believe." And the conclusion
is, " Forgive me for scribbling at such length. You have put
me quite in good spirits ; I did so dread having been unin-
tentionally unfair towards your views. I hope earnestly the
second volume will escape as well. I care now very little
what others say. As for our not agreeing, really, in such
complex subjects, it is almost impossible for two men who
arrive independently at their conclusions to agree fully ; it
would be unnatural for them to do so."

I reviewed " The Descent," in The Academy, early in
March, and Darwin wrote to me on the 16th, expressing his
gratification at its whole tone and matter, and then, referring
to the differences between us, making what was then a good
point against me — that my objections to sexual selection
having produced certain results in man, had not much force
if, as he believed, I admitted that the plumes of the birds of
paradise had been thus gained. At that time, though I had
begun to doubt, I had not definitely rejected the whole of
that part of "sexual selection" depending on female pre-
ference for certain colours and ornaments.

On July 9, 1 87 1, he wrote me a long letter, chiefly about
Mr. Mivart's criticisms and accusations in his book on " The
Genesis of Species," and again in a severe article in the
Quarterly Review. These he proposed replying to in a new
edition of the " Origin," but the incident worried him a good
deal. In a postscript he says, " I quite agree with what you
say, that Mivart fully intends to be honourable, but he seems
to me to have the mind of a most able lawyer retained to
plead against us, and especially against me. God knows
whether my strength and spirit will last out to write a chapter
versus Mivart and others ; I do so hate controversy, and feel
I shall do it so badly."

xxvj DARWIN ii

Again, on July 12, he writes: "I feel very doubtful how
far I shall succeed in answering Mivart. It is so difficult to
answer objections to doubtful points and make the discussion
readable. The worst of it is, that I cannot possibly hnnt
through all my references for isolated points — it would take
me three weeks of intolerably hard work. I wish I had your
power of arguing clearly. At present I feel sick of everything,
and if I could occupy my time and forget my daily discomforts,
or rather miseries, I would never publish another word. But
I shall cheer up, I dare say, soon, having only just got over
a bad attack. Farewell. God knows why I bother you about
myself.

■ I can say nothing more about missing links than I
have said. I should rely much on pre-Silurian times ; but
then comes Sir W. Thompson like an odious spectre.
Farewell."

I give these extracts because they serve to explain why
Darwin did not publish the systematic series of volumes
dealing with the whole of the subjects treated in the
" Origin." With his almost constant and most depressing
ill-health, the real wonder is that he did so much. We can,
therefore, fully understand why, when he had published the
" Descent of Man," in 1871, and the second editions of that
work and of the ■ Animals and Plants," in 1875, with the inter-
vening " Expression of Emotions," in 1872, he should devote
himself almost entirely to the long series of observations and
experiments upon living plants, which constituted his relaxa-
tion and delight, and resulted in that series of volumes which
are of the greatest value and interest to all students of the
marvels and mysteries of vegetable life. And when, in 1881,
he published his last volume upon "Worms," giving the
result of observations and experiments carried on for forty-
four years, he enjoyed the great satisfaction of its being a
wonderful success, while it was received by the reviewers
with unanimous praise and applause.

During this latter period of his life I had but little corre-
spondence with him, as I had no knowledge whatever of the
subjects he was then working on. But he still continued to

12 MY LIFE LChap.

write to me occasionally, either referring kindly to my own
work or sending me facts or suggestions which he thought
would be of interest to me. I will here give only some
extracts from a few of the latest of the letters I received
from him.

On November 3, 1880, he wrote me the following very
kind letter upon my " Island Life," on which I had asked for
his criticism : —

" I have now read your book, and it has interested me
deeply. It is quite excellent, and seems to me the best book
which you have ever published ; but this may be merely
because I have read it last. As I went on I made a few
notes, chiefly where I differed slightly from you ; but God
knows whether they are worth your reading. You will be
disappointed with many of them ; but it will show that I
had the will, though I did not know the way to do what
you wanted.

" I have said nothing on the infinitely many passages
and views, which I admired and which were new to me.
My notes are badly expressed, but I thought that you would
excuse my taking any pains with my style. I wish my
confounded handwriting was better. I had a note the other
day from Hooker, and I can see that he is much pleased
with the dedication."

With this came seven foolscap pages of notes, many
giving facts from his extensive reading which I had not
seen. There were also a good many doubts and suggestions
on the very difficult questions in the discussion of the causes
of the glacial epochs. Chapter xxiii., discussing the Arctic
element in south temperate floras, was the part he most
objected to, saying, " This is rather too speculative for my old
noddle. I must think that you overrate the importance of
new surfaces on mountains and dispersal from mountain to
mountain. I still believe in Alpine plants having lived on
the lowlands and in the southern tropical regions having
been cooled during glacial periods, and thus only can I
understand character of floras on the isolated African
mountains. It appears to me that you are not justified

xxvj DARWIN 13

in arguing from dispersal to oceanic islands to mountains.
Not only in latter cases currents of sea are absent, but what
is there to make birds fly direct from one Alpine summit to
another ? There is left only storms of wind, and if it is
probable or possible that seeds may thus be carried for great
distances, I do not believe that there is at present any
evidence of their being thus carried more than a few
miles."

This is the most connected piece of criticism in the notes,
and I therefore give it verbatim. My general reply is printed
in " More Letters," vol. iii. p. 22. Of course I carefully con-
sidered all Darwin's suggestions and facts in later editions
of my book, and made use of several of them. The last,
as above quoted, I shall refer to again when considering the
few important matters as to which I arrived at different
conclusions from Darwin. But I will first give another
letter, two months later, in which he recurs to the same
subject.

"Down, January 2, 1881.

"My dear Wallace,

" The case which you give is a very striking one,
and I had overlooked it in Nature ; x but I remain as great a
heretic as ever. Any supposition seems to me more probable
than that the seeds of plants should have been blown from
the mountains of Abyssinia, or other central mountains of
Africa, to the mountains of Madagascar. It seems to me
almost infinitely more probable that Madagascar extended
far to the south during the glacial period, and that the
S. hemisphere was, according to Croll, then more temperate ;
and that the whole of Africa was then peopled with some
temperate forms, which crossed chiefly by agency of birds
and sea-currents, and some few by the wind, from the shores
of Africa to Madagascar subsequently ascending to the
mountains.

"How lamentable it is that two men should take such

1 Nature, December 9, 1S80. The substance of this article by Mr. Baker, of
,Kew, is given in " More Letters," vol. iii. p. 25, in a footnote.

14 MY LIFE [Chap.

widely different views, with the same facts before them ;
but this seems to be almost regularly our case, and much do
I regret it. I am fairly well, but always feel half dead with
fatigue. I heard but an indifferent account of your health
some time ago, but trust that you are now somewhat
stronger.

" Believe me, my dear Wallace,

" Yours very sincerely,

"Ch. Darwin."

It is really quite pathetic how much he felt difference of
opinion from his friends. I, of course, should have liked to
have been able to convert him to my views, but I did not
feel it so much as he seemed to do. In letters to Sir Joseph
Hooker (in February and August, 1881) he again states his
view as against mine very strongly (" More Letters," iii.
pp. 25 and 27) ; and this, so far as I know, is the last reference
he made to the subject. The last letter I received from him
was entirely on literary and political subjects, and, as usual,
very kind and friendly. As it makes no reference to our
controversies, and touches on questions never introduced before
in our correspondence, I think it will be interesting to give it
entire.

"Down, July 12, 1881.

"My dear Wallace,

" I have been heartily glad to get your note and
hear some news of you. I will certainly order ' Progress and
Poverty,' for the subject is a most interesting one. But I
read many years ago some books on political economy, and
they produced a disastrous effect on my mind, viz., utterly
to distrust my own judgment on the subject, and to doubt
much every one else's judgment ! So I feel pretty sure that
Mr. George's book will only make my mind worse confounded
than it is at present. I also have just finished a book which
has interested me greatly, but whether it would interest any
one else I know not. It is the ' Creed of Science,' by W.
Graham, A.M. Who or what he is I know not, but he

xxv] DARWIN 15

discusses many great subjects, such as the existence of God,
immortality, the moral sense, the progress of society, etc.
I think some of his propositions rest on very uncertain
foundations, and I could get no clear idea of his notions
about God. Notwithstanding this and other blemishes, the
book has interested me extremely. Perhaps I have been to
some extent deluded, as he manifestly ranks too high what I
have done.

■ I am delighted to hear that you spend so much time
out-of-doors and in your garden. From Newman's old book
(I forget title) about the country near Godalming, it must be
charming.

" We have just returned home after spending five weeks
on Ullswater. The scenery is quite charming, but I cannot
walk, and everything tries me, even seeing scenery, talking
with any one, or reading much. What I shall do with my
few remaining years of life I can hardly tell. I have every-
thing to make me happy and contented, but life has become
very wearysome to me. I heard lately from Miss Buckley
in relation to Lyell's Life, and she mentioned that you were
thinking of Switzerland, which I should think and hope that
you would enjoy much.

" I see that you are going to write on the most difficult
political question, the land. Something ought to be done,
but what is the rub. I hope that you will (not) turn renegade
to natural history ; but I suppose that politics are very
tempting.

" With all good wishes for yourself and family,
■ Believe me, my dear Wallace,
"Yours very sincerely,

" Charles Darwin."

This letter is, to me, perhaps the most interesting I ever
received from Darwin, since it shows that it was only the
engrossing interests of his scientific and literary work, per-
formed under the drawback of almost constant ill-health,
that prevented him from taking a more active part in the
discussion of those social and political questions that so

16 MY LIFE [Chap.

deeply affect the lives and happiness of the great bulk of the
people. It is a great satisfaction that his last letter to me,
written within nine months of his death, and terminating a
correspondence which had extended over a quarter of a
century, should be so cordial, so sympathetic, and broad-
minded.

In 1870 he had written to me, "I hope it is a satisfaction
to you to reflect — and very few things in my life have been
more satisfactory to me — that we have never felt any jealousy
towards each other, though in some sense rivals. I believe
I can say this of myself with truth, and I am absolutely sure
that it is true of you." The above long letter will show that
this friendly feeling was retained by him to the last, and to
have thus inspired and retained it, notwithstanding our many
differences of opinion, I feel to be one of the greatest honours
of my life. I have myself given an estimate of Darwin's work
in my " Debt of Science to Darwin," published in my " Natural
Selection and Tropical Nature," in 1891. But I cannot here
refrain from quoting a passage from Huxley's striking
obituary notice in Nature, summing up his work in a single
short paragraph : " None have fought better, and none
have been more fortunate than Charles Darwin. He found
a great truth, trodden underfoot, reviled by bigots, and
ridiculed by all the world ; he lived long enough to see it,
chiefly by his own efforts, irrefragably established in science,
inseparably incorporated with the common thoughts of men,
and only hated and feared by those who would revile but
dare not. What shall a man desire more than this ? "

The Chief Differences of Opinion between Darwin and
myself. — As this subject is often referred to by objectors to
the theory of natural selection, and it is sometimes stated
that I have myself given up the most essential parts of that
theory, I think it will be advisable to give a short statement
of what those differences really are, and how they affect the
theory in question. Our only important differences were on
four subjects, which may be considered separately.

1. The Origin of Man as an Intellectual and Moral

xxv] DARWIN 17

Being. — On this great problem the belief and teaching of
Darwin was, that man's whole nature — physical, mental,
intellectual, and moral — was developed from the lower animals
by means of the same laws of variation and survival ; and, as
a consequence of this belief, that there was no difference in
kind between man's nature and animal nature, but only one
of degree. My view, on the other hand, was, and is, that
there is a difference in kind, intellectually and morally,
between man and other animals ; and that while his body
was undoubtedly developed by the continuous modification
of some ancestral animal form, some different agency,
analogous to that which first produced organic life, and then
originated consciousness t came into play in order to develop
the higher intellectual and spiritual nature of man. This
view was first intimated in the last sentence of my paper
on the " Development of Human Races under Natural Selec-
tion," in 1864, and more fully treated in the last chapter of
my m Essays," in 1 870.

These views caused much distress of mind to Darwin,
but, as I have shown, they do not in the least affect the
general doctrine of natural selection. It might be as well
urged that because man has produced the pouter-pigeon,
the bull-dog, and the dray-horse, none of which could have
been produced by natural selection alone, therefore the
agency of natural selection is weakened or disproved.
Neither, I urge, is it weakened or disproved if my theory
of the origin of man is the true one.

2. Sexual Selection through Female Choice. — Darwin's
theory of sexual selection consists of two quite distinct
parts — the combats of males so common among polygamous
mammals and birds, and the choice of more musical or
more ornamental male birds by the females. The first is
an observed fact, and the development of weapons such as
horns, canine teeth, spurs, etc., is a result of natural selection
acting through such combats. The second is an inference
from the observed facts of the display of the male plumage
or ornaments ; but the statement that ornaments have been
developed by the female's choice of the most beautiful male

VOL. II. C

1 8 MY LIFE [Chap

because he is the most beautiful, is an inference supported by
singularly little evidence. The first kind of sexual selection
I hold as strongly and as thoroughly as Darwin himself; the
latter I at first accepted, following Darwin's conclusions
from what appeared to be strong evidence explicable
in no other way ; but I soon came to doubt the possibility
of such an explanation, at first from considering the fact that
in butterflies sexual differences are as strongly marked as in
birds, and it was to me impossible to accept female choice in
their case, while, as the whole question of colour came to be
better understood, I saw equally valid reasons for its total
rejection even in birds and mammalia.

But here my view really extends the influence of natural
selection, because I show in how many unsuspected ways
colour and marking is of use to its possessor. I first stated
my objections to " female choice " in my review of the
" Descent of Man " (1871), and more fully developed it in my
"Tropical Nature" (1878), while in my " Darwinism " (1889),
I again discussed the whole subject, giving the results of more
mature consideration. I had, however, already discussed the
matter at some length with Darwin, and in a letter 0/
September 18, 1869, I gave him my general argument as.
follows : — «

" I have a general and a special argument to submit.

" 1. Female birds and insects are usually exposed to more
danger than the male, and in the case of insects their exist-
ence is necessary for a longer period. They therefore require,
in some way or other, an increased amount of protection.

"2. If the male and female were distinct species, with.
different habits and organizations, you would, I think, admit,
that a difference of colour, serving to make that one less
conspicuous which evidently required more protection than
the other, had been acquired by natural selection.

" 3. But you admit that variations appearing in one sex.
are (sometimes) transmitted to that sex only. There is
therefore, nothing to prevent natural selection acting on the '
two sexes as if they were two species.

"4. Your objection that the same protection would, to -

xxv] DARWIN 19

certain extent, be useful to the male seems to me quite un-
sound, and directly opposed to your own doctrine so con-
vincingly urged in the ' Origin/ that natural selection never
improves an animal beyond its ?ieeds. Admitting, therefore,
abundant variation of colour in both sexes, it is impossible
that the male can be brought by natural selection to
resemble the female (unless such variations are always
transmitted), because the difference in their colours is for
the purpose of making up for their different organization
and habits, and natural selection cannot give to the male
more protection than he requires, which is less than in the
female.

" 5. The striking fact that in 2W protected groups the females
usually resemble the males (or are equally brightly coloured)
shows that the usual tendency is to transmit colour to both
sexes when it is not injurious to either.

" Now for the special argument.

"6. In the very weak-flying Leptalis both sexes mimic
Heliconidae. But in the much stronger-flying Papilio, Pieris,
and Diadema, it is the female only that mimics the protected
group, and in these cases the females often acquire brighter
and more conspicuous colours than the male.

" 7. No case is known of a male Papilio, Pieris, or Diademaf
alone, mimicking a protected species ; yet colour is more
frequent in males, and variations are always ready for the
purpose of sexual or other forms of selection.

" 8. The fair inference seems to be that each species, and
also each sex, can only be modified by selection just as far
as is absolutely necessary — not a step further. A male,
being by structure and habits less exposed to danger, and
therefore requiring less protection than the female, cannot
have an equal amount of protection given to it by natural
selection ; but the female must have some extra protection to
balance her greater exposure to danger, and she rapidly
acquires it in one way or another.

" 9. The objection as to male fish, which seem to require
protection, yet have sometimes bright colours, seems to me
of no more weight than is the existence of some unprotected

20 MY LIFE [Chap.

species of white Leptalis as a disproof of Bates' theory of
mimicry, — or that only a few species of butterfly resemble
leaves, — or that the habits and instincts that protect one
animal are absent in allied species. These are all illustra-
tions of the many and varied ways in which nature works to
give the exact amount of protection it needs to each species."

3. Arctic Plants in the Southern Hemisphere, and on
Isolated Mountain-tops within the Tropics. — Having paid great
attention to the whole question of the distribution of organ-
isms, I was obliged to reject Mr. Darwin's explanation of the
above phenomena by a cooling of the tropical lowlands of the
whole earth during the glacial period to such an extent as to
allow large numbers of north-temperate and Arctic plants to
spread across the continents to the southern hemisphere, and,
as the cold passed away, to ascend to the summits of isolated
tropical mountains. The study of the floras of oceanic
islands having led me to the conclusion that the greater part
of their flora was derived by aerial transmission of seeds,
either by birds or by gales and storms, I extended this view
to the transmission along mountain ranges, and from
mountain-top to mountain-top, as being most accordant with
the facts at our disposal. I explained my views at some
length in " Island Life," and later, with additional facts, ir
" Darwinism."

The difficulties in the way of Darwin's view are twofold
First, that a lowering of temperature of inter-tropical low-
lands to the required extent would inevitably have destroyed
much of the overwhelming luxuriances and variety of plant,
insect, and bird life that characterize those regions. This"
has so impressed myself, Bates, and others familiar with the
tropics as to render the idea wholly inconceivable ; and the1
only reason why Darwin did not feel this appears to be thai
he really knew nothing personally of the tropics beyond a
few days at Bahia and Rio, and could have had no conception
of its wonderfully rich and highly specialized fauna and flora.
In the second place, even if a sufficient lowering of tempera-
ture had occurred during the ice-age, it would not account foi

xxv] DARWIN 21

the facts, which involve, as Sir Joseph Hooker remarks, " a
continuous current of vegetation from north to south," going
much further back than the glacial period, because it has led
to the transmission not of existing species only, but of distinct
representative species, and even distinct genera, showing that
the process must have been going on long before the cold
period. The reason why Darwin was unaffected by these
various difficulties may perhaps be found in the circumstance
that he had held his views for so many years almost un
challenged. In a letter to Sir Charles Lyell, in 1866, he
says, "I feel a strong conviction that soon every one will
believe that the whole world was cooler during the glacial
period. Remember Hooker's wonderful case recently dis-
covered of the identity of so many temperate plants on the
summit of Fernando Po, and on the mountains of Abyssinia.
I look at it as certain that these plants crossed the whole of
Africa, from east to west, during the^same period. I wish I
had published a long chapter, written in full, and almost ready
for the press, on this subject which I wrote ten years ago.
It was impossible in the ' Origin ' to give a fair abstract "
(" More Letters," vol. i. p. 476). Having thus held his views
for twenty-five years, they had become so firmly impressed
upon his mind that he was unable at once to give them up,
however strong might be the arguments against them. This
particular difference, however, is not one which in any way
affects the theory of natural selection.

4. Pangenesis, and tJie Hei-edity of Acquired Cfiaracters.
— Darwin always believed in the inheritance of acquired
characters, such as the effects of use and disuse of organs and
of climate, food, etc., on the individual, as did almost every
naturalist, and his theory of pangenesis was invented to
•explain this among other affects of heredity. I therefore
accepted pangenesis at first, because I have always felt it
- a relief (as did Darwin) to have some hypothesis, however
provisional and improbable, that would serve to explain the
facts ; and I told him that " I shall never be able to give it
up till a better one supplies its place." I never imagined

22 MY LIFE [Chap. XXV]

that it could be directly disproved, but Mr. F. Galton's
experiments of transfusing a large quantity of the blood of
rabbits into other individuals of quite different breeds, and
afterwards finding that the progeny was not in the slightest
degree altered, did seem to me to be very nearly a disproof,
although Darwin did not accept it as such. But when, at
a much later period, Dr. Weismann showed that there is
actually no valid evidence for the transmission of such
characters, and when he further set forth a mass of evidence
in support of his theory of the continuity of the germ-plasm,
the " better theory " was found, and I finally gave up pan-
genesis as untenable. But this new theory really simplifies
and strengthens the fundamental doctrine of natural selection.
It will thus appear that none of my differences of opinion
from Darwin imply any real divergence as to the over-
whelming importance of the great principle of natural
selection, while in several directions I believe that I have
extended and strengthened it. The principle of "utility,"
which is one of its chief foundation-stones, I have always
advocated unreservedly ; while in extending this principle
to almost every kind and degree of coloration, and in
maintaining the power of natural selection to increase the
infertility of hybrid unions, I have considerably extended
its range. Hence it is that some of my critics declare that
I am more Darwinian than Darwin himself, and in this, 7
admit, they are not far wrong.

CHAPTER XXVI

MY FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES — SPENCER, HUXLEY,
MIVART, ETC.

Soon after my return home, in 1862 or 1863, Bates and
I, having both read " First Principles " and been immensely
impressed by it, went together to call on Herbert Spencer,
I think by appointment. Our thoughts 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 inter-
actions of the material universe seemed to penetrate so
deeply into that " nature of things " after which the early
philosophers searched in vain and whose blind gropings are
so finely expressed in the grand poem of Lucretius, that we
both hoped he could throw some light on that great problem
of problems. I forget the details of the interview, but I
think Bates was chief spokesman, and expressed our immense
admiration of his work, and that as young students of nature
. we wished to have the honour of his acquaintance. 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
ventured to touch 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 funda-
mental 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

23

24 MY LIFE [Chap.

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. So we had to wait and work contentedly at
minor problems. And now, after forty years, though
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.

In 1865, when Spencer was, I believe, one of the editors
of The Reader ■, he asked me to write an article on the treat-
ment of savage races, with special reference to some cases of
the barbarity of settlers in Australia that had recently been
published. This I did, and the article appeared in the issue
of June 17. Ten years later, on November 13, 1875, he wrote
to ask me where and when this article had appeared, addingv
" I ask the question because I contemplate giving Dr.
Bridges a castigation for the unwarranted sneer at the close
of his article in the Fortnightly? I may add that I have
reprinted my article (with some additions referring to recent
facts) in my "Studies Scientific and Social," vol. ii. p. 107.

The first letter I received from Spencer was when I sent
him my paper on " The Origin of Human Races under the
Law of Natural Selection." He said that he had read it
with great interest, and added, " Its leading idea is, I think,
undoubtedly true," concluding with a hope that I would
pursue the inquiry.

Soon afterwards he invited me to dine with him in Bays-
water, where he lived for many years in a boarding-house with «
rather a commonplace set of people — retired Indian officers
and others ; and I afterwards visited him there several times.
I was amused when some popular error was solemnly put
forth at dinner as the explanation of some phenomenon ;
Spencer would coolly tell them that it was quite incorrect,
and then proceed to explain why it was so, and on principles
of evolution could not be otherwise. In the evening, after we %

xxvi] HERBERT SPENCER 25

had had a little private conversation, we would go into the
drawing-room where there was music, and Spencer would
sometimes play on his flute. On remarking to him one day
that I wondered he could live among such unintellectual
people, he said that he had purposely chosen such a home in
order to avoid the mental excitement of too much interesting
conversation ; that he suffered greatly from insomnia, and
that he found that when his evenings were spent in common-
place conversation, hearing the news of the day or taking
part in a little music, he had a better chance of sleeping.

In the autumn of 1867 I read the Duke of Argyll's

"Reign of Law," and though I found much that was

erroneous and weak in argument, I thought his discussion

of the mode of flight in birds, founded largely on personal

observation, was very good ; in fact, the best I had seen.

Spencer had also read this, and differed from me, thinking

that important parts of the duke's theory of flight was not

true, because they would not apply equally to bats ; and we

had quite a discussion on the subject. The next day, after

thinking the matter over, I wrote him a long letter of eight

pages, trying to show that the general principles of flight

in birds, bats, and insects were the same ; but that in birds

there were additional special adaptations that render their

flight more perfect, and their power of motion through the

air, under adverse conditions, more varied and more complete.

The duke, dealing with birds only, had dwelt most on these

ipecial adaptations (chiefly, if I remember, the beautiful

)verlapping and movements of the separate feathers increas-

ng resistance during the downward, and decreasing it during

:he upward stroke) which did not exist in bats or in insects.

,' also showed that although this adaptation was absent in

he wings of insects, the general form and movements of the

zings were similar and produced similar, but not identical

esults. In his reply he admitted the accuracy of my

1 description of the flight of insects, but made the following

I emark in furtherance of his former objection as regards the

f duke's account of the flight of birds : " If you will move

\n outstretched wing backwards and forwards with equal

26 MY LIFE [Chap.

velocity, I think you will find that the difference of re-
sistance is nothing like commensurate with the difference
of size between the muscles that raise the wings and the
muscles that depress them." The reason of this great
difference could not be accurately explained at that time,
but a few years later, Marey, by his ingenious experiments
and photographs, showed that while the whole upward
motion of the wing is very gradual, the downward stroke,
though equally gradual at the beginning and the end, is two
or three times as rapid in the middle, thus giving the great
upward and onward impulse, necessitating the extremely
large muscles noted by Spencer. An excellent short account
of the whole mechanism of the flight of birds, with many of
Marey's diagrams and illustrations, is given in Professor
A. Newton's " Dictionary of Birds," in the article " Flight,"
and is the clearest exposition of the subject I have yet seen.

In 1872, in my presidential address to the Entomological
Society, I endeavoured to expound Herbert Spencer's theory
of the origin of insects, on the view that they are funda-
mentally compound animals, each segment representing one
of the original independent organisms. This theory is ex-
pounded at some length in the second volume of his
" Principles of Biology " (chapter iv., " The Morphological
Composition of Animals "), but had apparently been almost
unnoticed by English entomologists. On sending him a
copy of the address, he wrote to me as follows : " 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."

This communication gave me much pleasure, because the
subject was one quite out of my own domain, and though I
had taken a good deal of trouble to understand his views and
to represent them accurately, and had also adduced a few
additional facts in support of it, yet the subject was so novel
and so complex that I was rather afraid I might have made

xxvi] HERBERT SPENCER 27

some blunders in my abstract of it. I was much relieved,
therefore, to find that my account of his views was satisfactory
to him.

In 1874, when writing "The Principles of Sociology,"
Herbert Spencer asked me to look over the proofs of the
first six chapters, and give him the benefit of my criticisms,
" alike as naturalist, anthropologist, and [traveller." I found
very little indeed requiring emendation, but I sent him a
couple of pages of notes with suggestions on points of detail,
which, I believe, were of some use to him.

During the year 1881 I had several letters from him,
dealing with subjects of general interest In consequence
of an article I wrote on " How to Nationalize the Land,"
especially showing how to avoid the supposed insuperable
objection of State management, a " Land Nationalization
Society " was formed, of which I was chosen president As
I had been induced to study the question by Herbert
Spencer's early volume on "Social Statics," I sent him a
copy of our programme and asked if he would join us. His
reply is very instructive, as showing how nearly he agreed
with us at that time, and also how slight were the difficulties
he suggested as the most important

The letter is as follows : —

■ 38, Queen's Gardens, Bayswater, W.,
"April 25, 1881.

"Dear Mr. Wallace,

■ As you may suppose, I fully sympathize in the
general aims of your proposed Land Nationalization Society ;
but for sundry reasons I hesitate to commit myself, at the
present stage of the question, to a programme so definite as
that which you send me. It seems to me that before formu-
lating"4the idea in a specific shape, it is needful to generate
a body of public opinion on the general issue, and that it
must be some time before there can be produced such
recognition of the general principle involved as is needful
before definite plans can be set forth to any purpose.

28 MY LIFE [Chap.

" It seems to me that the thing to be done at present is
to arouse public attention to (i) the abstract inequity of the
present condition of things ; (2) to show that even now there
is in our law a tacit denial of absolute private ownership,
since the State reserves the power of resuming possession of
land on making compensation ; (3) that this tacitly admitted
ownership ought to be overtly asserted ; (4) and that having
been overtly asserted, the landowner should be distinctly
placed in the position of a tenant of the State on something
like the terms proposed in your scheme : namely, that while
the land itself should be regarded as public property, such
value as has been given to it should vest in the existing
so-called owner.

" The question is surrounded with such difficulties that I
fear anything like a specific scheme for resumption by the
State will tend, by the objections made, to prevent recogni-
tion of a general truth which might otherwise be admitted.
For example, in definitely making the proposed distinction
between ' inherent value as dependent on natural conditions,
etc.,' and the ' increased value given by the owner,' there is
raised the questions — How are the two to be distinguished ?
How far back are we to go in taking account of the labour
and money expended in giving fertility ? In respect of newly
enclosed tracts, some estimation may be made ; but in respect
of the greater part, long reduced to cultivation, I do not see
how the valuations, differing in all cases, are to be made.

" I name this as one point ; and there are many others in
respect of which I do not see my way. It appears to me
that at present we are far off from the time at which action
may advantageously be taken.

" Truly yours,

"Herbert Spencer."

On this I may remark that, during the twenty-five years
that has elapsed, the Land Nationalization Society has been
continuously at work, doing the very things that our critic
seemed to think ought to be done before we formed the
society. We have now " generated a body of public opinion "

xxvi] HERBERT SPENCER 29

in our favour, which could hardly have been effected without
the work of a society, and we have long since satisfied most
thinking men that the special difficulty as to the valuation
of the owners' improvements is a purely imaginary one, since
it is continually done. But the remarkable thing is, that only
ten years later, in his volume on " Justice," the writer of this
letter should have so far changed his opinions as to arrive
ultimately at the conclusion thus stated : " A fuller considera-
tion of the matter has led me to the conclusion that individual
ownership, subject to State suzerainty, should be maintained."
Those who care to understand what were the supposed facts
leading to this most impotent conclusion, will find them
stated and exposed in vol. ii., chap, xviii. of my " Studies." l
They were first given in an address to the Land Nationaliza-
tion Society in 1892.

A few months later he wrote me again on the land
question, in reply to my recommendation of Henry George's
book " Progress and Poverty," and this letter, as exhibiting
his ideas on human progress generally, and also his somewhat
hasty judgments on particular writers, seems well worthy of
preservation, and I therefore give it verbatim.

"38, Queen's Gardens, Bayswater, July 6, 1881.

■ Dear Mr. Wallace,

■ I have already seen the work you name — ' Pro-
gress and Poverty ; ' having had a copy, or rather two copies,
sent me. I gathered, from what little I glanced at, that I
should fundamentally disagree with the writer, and have not
read more.

" I demur entirely to the supposition, which is implied in
the book, that, by any possible social arrangements whatever,
the distress which humanity has had to suffer in the course of
civilization could have been prevented. The whole process,

1 H. Spencer's treatment of the land question in this work is criticized
and controverted in great detail by Henry George in " A Perplexed Philosopher,"
published in 1893. Neither H. Spencer nor any of his disciples have refuted
these destructive criticisms.

30 MY LIFE Chap.

with all its horrors and tyrannies, and slaveries and abomi-
nations of all kinds, has been an inevitable one accompanying
the survival and spread of the strongest, and the consolidation
of small tribes into large societies ; and among other things,
the lapse of land into private ownership has been, like the
lapse of individuals into slavery, at one period of the process
altogether indispensable. I do not in the least believe that
from the primitive system of communistic ownership to a high
and finished system of State ownership, such as we may
look for in the future, there could be any transition without
passing through such stages as we have seen, and which
exist now.

"Argument aside, however, I should be disinclined to
commit myself to any scheme of immediate action, which, as
I have indicated to you, I believe, at present, premature.
For myself, I feel that I have to consider not only what I
may do on special questions, but also how the action I take
on special questions may affect my general influence ; and
I am disinclined to give more handles against me than are
needful. Already, as you will see by the enclosed circular, I
am doing in the way of positive action more than may be
altogether prudent.

" Sincerely yours,

"Herbert Spencer."

I do not remember, and I do not think that Henry George
either stated or implied that the course of civilization " might
have been different" from what it has been. His whole work
was devoted to showing the injustice and the evils of private
property in land, just as Herbert Spencer himself had done
in " Social Statics ; " and both works are alike beneficial, inas-
much as they demonstrate these facts and serve as incentives
and guides for our future attempts to remedy them. If Mr.
Spencer had not hastily laid aside the book, owing to this
prepossession against it, even he might have been benefited
by the thorough examination of the whole subject which
Mr. George gave, while he could hardly have failed to
admire its admirable and forcible exposition of the problem

xxvi] HERBERT SPENCER 31

and his often eloquent delineations of its results. I remember
that some years earlier, when I asked Herbert Spencer what
he thought of Buckle's " History of Civilization," which I took
for granted that he had read, his reply was somewhat similar
to that here given in the case of Henry George — that on
looking into the book he saw that its fundamental assumption
was erroneous, and therefore he did not care to read it. I
believe he referred to Buckle's view of the immense influence
of the aspects of nature in influencing human character, which,
even if much exaggerated, cannot be said to be wholly untrue,
and certainly does not destroy the value of a work of such
research, eloquence, and illumination as the " History of
Civilization."

The next letter of much interest I have from Herbert
Spencer is, when acknowledging receipt of a copy of my little
book, entitled "Bad Times," on November 21, 1885. In it
he says, " Much of what I read I quite agreed with, especially
the chapters on ' Foreign Loans' and ' War Expenditure.' . . .
There is one factor which seems to me not an improbable
one, which neither you nor any others have taken account of.
During the past generation, one of the causes of the great
exaltation of prosperity has been the development of the
railway system, which while it had the effect of opening up
sources of supply and means of distribution, had also the
effect during a long period of greatly exalting certain in-
dustries concerned in construction. There was consequently
a somewhat abnormal degree of prosperity, which lasted long
enough to furnish a standard of good times, and to be mis-
taken for the normal condition. Now that this unusual and
temporary cause of prosperity has in considerable measure
diminished, we are feeling the effect."

This was no doubt true, and in the case of America I
had adduced the railway mania in the United States, from
1869 to 1873, and our own over-production of shipping
while we were supplying the whole world with rails and
engines, as causes of the subsequent depression in both
countries.

32 MY LIFE [Chap.

The last three letters I received from Herbert Spencer
were in 1894 and 1895, a^ on tne subject of what he termed
"the absurdity of Lord Salisbury's representation of the
process of natural selection " in his British Association
address at Oxford, wishing me to write to the Times, point-
ing out his errors, which were influencing many persons and
writers in the press, and suggesting certain points I should
especially deal with. He concluded, " It behoves you of all
men to take up the gauntlet he has thus thrown down." I
replied, declining the task, on the ground that I did not think
Lord Salisbury's influence in a matter of science of much
importance, and that I thought my time better employed
in writing such articles on social and political, as well as
general scientific questions which then interested me. To
this he replied that he did not at all agree with me, and that
" articles in the papers show that Lord Salisbury's argument
is received with triumph, and unless it is disposed of, it will
lead to a public reaction against the doctrine of evolution at
large."

As I still declined to go into this controversy, having
dealt with the whole matter in my "Darwinism," and still
being sceptical as to any great effects being produced by the
address in question, he wrote me a month later as follows :
"As I cannot get you to deal with Lord Salisbury, I have
decided to do it myself, having been finally exasperated into
doing it by this honour paid to his address in France — the
presentation of a translation to the French Academy. The
impression produced upon some millions of people in England
cannot be allowed to be thus further confirmed without pro-
test." He then asked me for some references, which I sent
him, and his criticism of Lord Salisbury duly appeared, and
was thoroughly well done, so that I had no reason to regret
not having undertaken it myself. This was the latest letter I
received from him ; but during his last illness my wife, being
in Brighton, called to make inquiries after his health, and left
our cards, and I received a kindly expressed card in reply,
written by his amanuensis, but signed with his own initials.
It is dated November 28, 1903, ten days before his death.

xxvi] HERBERT SPENCER 33

Among his intimate friends, Herbert Spencer was always
interesting from the often unexpected way in which he would
apply the principles of evolution to the commonest topics of
conversation, and he was always ready to take part in any
social amusement. He once or twice honoured me by coming
to informal meetings of friends at my little house in St Mark's
Crescent, and I also met him at Sir John Lubbock's very
pleasant week-end visits, and also at Huxley's, in St. John's
Wood. Once I remember dining informally with Huxley,
the only other guests being Tyndall and Herbert Spencer.
The latter appeared in a dress-coat, whereupon Huxley and
Tyndall chaffed him, as setting a bad example, and of being
untrue to his principles, quoting his Essay on "Manners and
Fashion," but all with the most good-humoured banter.
Spencer took it in good part, and defended himself well,
declaring that the coat was a relic of his early unregenerate
days, and where could he wear it out if not at the houses of
his best friends ? " Besides," he concluded, " you will please
to observe that I am true to principle in that I do not wear a
white tie ! "

Those who are acquainted only with the volumes of
Herbert Spencer's " Synthetic Philosophy " can have no idea
of the lightness, the energy, and the bright satire of some
of his more popular writings. Such are many of his earlier
Essays, and in his volume on " The Study of Sociology " we
find abundant examples of these qualities. In conclusion,
I may remark that, although I differ greatly from him on
certain important matters, both of natural and social science,
and have never hesitated to state my reasons for those
differences with whatever force of fact and argument I could
bring to bear upon them, I yet look upon these as but spots
on the sun of his great intellectual powers, and feel it to be
an honour to have been his contemporary, and, to a limited
extent, his friend and coadjutor.

With the remainder of my scientific friends I had, for the
most part, only social intercourse, with no correspondence of
general interest. Those I saw most of during my residence

VOL. 11. D

34 MY LIFE [Chap.

in London, and with whom I became most intimate, were
Huxley, Tyndall, Sir John Lubbock, Dr. W. B. Carpenter,
Sir William Crookes, Sir Joseph Hooker, Mr. Francis Galton,
Professor Alfred Newton, Dr. P. L. Slater, Mr. St George
Mivart, Sir William Flower, Sir Norman Lockyer, Professor
R. Meldola, and many others whose names are only known
to specialists. All these I met very frequently at scientific
meetings, or at some of their houses at which I was occasion-
ally a guest. To all of them I have been more or less
indebted for valuable information or useful suggestions in the
course of my work, and to these I must also add Professor
E. B. Poulton, of Oxford ; F. W. H. Myers, Professors W. F.
Barrett and Percival Wright, of Dublin, with Professors
Patrick Geddes, of Edinburgh, and J. A. Thomson, of Aber-
deen. For the last quarter of a century I have lived so
completely in the country that I have ceased to have personal
intercourse with most of them ; and of those still among us,
I can only say here that I hope and believe they all continue
to be my very good friends. In future chapters I may have
to refer to some of them again, in connection with special
conditions of my life. Here I will only give a few indications
as to my personal relations with a few of them.

Of all those I have mentioned I became, I think, most
intimate with Huxley. At an early date after my return
home he asked me to his house in Marlborough Place, where
I soon became very friendly with his children, then all quite
young, all very animated, and not at all shy. Mrs. Huxley
was also exceedingly kind and pleasant, and the whole
domestic tone of the house was such as to make me quite
at my ease, which is what happens to me with only a few
persons. I used often to go there on Sunday afternoons, or
to spend the evening, while I was several times asked to dine
to meet persons of similar pursuits to my own. One of those
occasions that I particularly remember was to meet Dr.
Miklucho Maklay, a Russian anthropologist, who was going
to New Guinea, and as I was the only Englishman who had
lived some months alone in that country, Huxley thought
we should be interested with each other.

xxvij HUXLEY 35

Maklay was a small, wiry man, somewhat younger than
myself; he spoke English well, and told us all about what
he was going to do. His idea was that you could really
learn nothing about natives unless you lived with them and
became almost one of themselves ; above all, you must win
their confidence, and must therefore begin by trusting them
absolutely. He proposed to go in a Russian warship, and
be left for a year at some part of the north coast where
Europeans were wholly unknown, with one servant, but with-
out visible arms. This was, I think, in the winter of 1870-71.
Both Huxley and myself thought this plan exceedingly risky,
but he determined to try it ; and he succeeded, but through
the exercise of an amount of coolness and courage which very
few men indeed possess. He returned to Russia to complete
his preparations, and in September, 187 1, was landed in
Astrolabe Bay with two servants, one a Swede and the other
a Polynesian. The ship's carpenter built him a small hut,
fourteen feet by seven feet, and then the ship sailed away
and left him totally unprotected. As soon as it was seen
that the ship was completely out of sight, large numbers of
natives, armed with knives, bows, and spears, gathered round
his hut and soon began to make warlike demonstrations,
which went on more or less for some days. They would
shoot arrows close to his head or body, or draw their bow
to the full with the arrow directed to his chest, and then
loose the string with a twang, while holding back the arrow ;
but he sat still and smiled, knowing, I suppose, that if they
really meant to kill him that was hardly the way they would
do it, and that in any case he could not possibly escape
them. At other times they would run at him with their
spears, or press the spear-point against his teeth till he was
forced to open his mouth. But finding that he was brave,
that he did not try to escape them, and also finding that he
was a " medicine " man, could heal their wounds and cure
the sick, they gradually came to consider him as a friend
and even as a supernatural being. Soon one servant died,
and the other was almost constantly ill, so that the doctor
had plenty to do ; but he lived with these people for fifteen

36 MY LIFE [Chap.

months, learnt their language, studied them minutely, and
explored much of the surrounding country. I know of no
more daring feat by any traveller. A short account of this
exploration is given in Nature, vol. ix. p. 328.

I used often to call in at Jermyn Street if I had any
question to ask Huxley, and he was always ready to give
me all the information in his power ; while I am pretty sure
I owe partly, if not largely, to his influence the grant of the
royal medal of the Royal Society, and perhaps also of the
Darwin medal. Once only there was a partial disturbance
of our friendly relations, of the exact cause of which I have
no record or recollection. I had published some paper in
which, I believe, I had stated some view which he had
originated without mentioning his name, and in such a way
as to leave the impression that I put it forth as original.
This I had no notion of doing ; but I think it was an idea
which had become quite familiar to me, and that I had quite
forgotten who originated it. I fancy some one must have
called Huxley's attention to it, and when I next met him, I
think just as he was leaving Jermyn Street to go home, he
was much put out, and said something intimating that after
what I had said in this paper, he wondered at my speaking
to him again. I forget what more was said, but on going
home I looked at the article, and found that I had used
some expression that might be interpreted as a slight to
him. I immediately wrote a letter of explanation and
regret, and I here give his reply, which greatly relieved
me, and our relations at once resumed their usual friendly
character.

"My dear Wallace,

" Very many thanks for your kind letter.

" I am exceedingly callous to the proceedings of my
enemies, but (I suppose by way of compensation) I am very
sensitive to those cf valued friends, and I certainly felt rather
sore when I read your paper. But I dare say I should have
1 consumed my own smoke ' in that matter as I do in most,
if 1 had not been very tired, very hungry, very cold, and

xxvi] HUXLEY 37

consequently very irritable, when I met you yesterday. Pray
forgive me if I was too plain spoken,

" And believe me, as always,

■ Yours very faithfully,

"T. H. Huxley.

"Jermyn Street, February 14, 1870."

In a letter he wrote me, in 1881, on another matter he
refers to my former intimacy with his children. " Your little
friends are grown to be big friends. Two are married, and
one has made me a grandfather. Leonard, my eldest boy,
is six feet high, and at Balliol ; even the smallest of the
mites you knew is taller than her mother. All within reach
unite with me in kindest regards and remembrances."

In 1 89 1 I had read two books by Mr. Arthur J. Bell, a
Devonshire gentleman who had devoted himself to the study
of the modern physical sciences in their relation to the
deepest problems of our nature and destiny. The first was
entitled, " Whence comes Man, from ' Nature ' or from ■ God ' ? "
The second, published two years after the first, as a sequel
to it, was called, " Why does Man Exist ? " I was greatly
struck with the power of reasoning, the clearness of style,
and the broad grasp of the whole subject displayed by the
author, and having written to him to say how much I had
enjoyed his books, he called upon me at Parkstone, and in
the course of conversation he expressed a great desire that
Huxley should be induced to read them — at all events the
second, which, though a sequel to the first, is quite independent
of it.1 I therefore wrote to Huxley, telling him the author

1 As I. am sure that there are many persons who have never heard of these
books who would greatly enjoy them, I will here quote the subject-matter of the
second as stated in the last page of the first work, as follows : —

" Before replying to the question with which we started— the question,
' Whence comes Man,/rom " Nature " or from "God " ? ' — we must, I think, state
what man is.

M As it seems to me, man is the highest development of the ' Power ' called
1 Life ' — a Power added, at a comparatively late period of geological time, to
Powers already existing.

M To the question, then, 'Whence comes man ; does he come from Nature or
from God ? ' we must, I think, reply that not only man, but Nature also, owe

38 MY LIFE [Chap.

would be pleased to send him the books if he would like to
have them, and in that case would be glad if he would give
his opinion of the work. His reply, dated November 23,
1 891, is a characteristic example of his style, and as it is
also the last letter of his I possess, I here reproduce it.

" Hodeshea, Eastbourne.

"My dear Wallace,

" The instinct of self-preservation leads me, as a
rule, to decline to read and still more to give an opinion
about books that are sent to me. But, then, they do not
usually come with such a recommendation as yours, and if
your friend Mr. Bell is kind enough to send me a copy of
his book, I will not only read it, but pay him the highest
compliment in my power, by doing my best to pick holes in
it ! I ' can't say no fairer.'

their existence to the Infinite Eternal Being — God, who 'created' all things."
Then follows the striking passage which he reprints as the " Argument " of the
second work, " Why does Man Exist ? "

"Argument.

" Supposing these answers to be accepted, other questions suggest themselves.
We want to know why man exists. We want to know why God 'created ' him.
Did God desire that man should be good ? Is there any reason why he should
be good ? If there be, then why does evil exist ? And there arises also the
further question, that, supposing there be a good reason why man should he good,
is goodness possible to him? If his character be ma.de/or him, not by him, how
can he be good if his character, which he did not make himself, be not good ?
Does his existence terminate at death ? Does he come into the world only for
the sake of what he therein does — suffers— enjoys ? or is his existence continued
after death ? Is that existence, if it be continued after death, to be desired or to
be dreaded ? Is the having been born a misfortune or a blessing ? What is the
character of God? Is He a Being to be feared — to be hated — or to be loved?
What are man's relations to his fellow-man ? What are man's relations to God —
that awful Being whose power over us seems to be absolute ? And that last, most
terrible of questions, Is man's existence owing to God's malevolence — to His
indifference— or to His love ? "

Here are surely subjects enough for a volume of 420 pages, and Mr. Bell
discusses them all thoroughly and honestly, with wonderful knowledge and
sagacity, with sound logic, and in clear, forcible, and often brilliant language.
And he arrives at a grand — a magnificent conclusion — a conclusion that comes as

near to a satisfactory solution of these seemingly insoluble problems as with our

limited faculties we can attain to.

xxvi] HUXLEY 39

" I get along very well under condition of keeping quiet
here, and I am happy to say that my wife, who joins with
me in kind remembrances, has greatly improved in health
since we settled here.

" Ever yours very faithfully,

"T. H. Huxley."

Although Huxley was as kind and genial a friend and
companion as Darwin himself, and that I was quite at ease
with him in his family circle, or in after-dinner talk with a
few of his intimates (and although he was two years younger
than myself), yet I never got over a feeling of awe and
inferiority when discussing any problem in evolution or allied
subjects — an inferiority which I did not feel either with
Darwin or Sir Charles Lyell. This was due, I think, to the
fact that the enormous amount of Huxley's knowledge was
of a kind of which I possessed only an irreducible minimum,
and of which I often felt the want. In the general anatomy
and physiology of the whole animal kingdom, living and
extinct, Huxley was a master, the equal — perhaps the
superior — of the greatest authorities on these subjects in
the scientific world ; whereas I had never had an hour's
instruction in either of them, had never seen a dissection of
any kind, and never had any inclination to practise the art
myself. Whenever I had to touch upon these subjects, or
to use them to enforce my arguments, I had to get both
my facts and my arguments at second hand, and appeal to
authority both for facts and conclusions from them. And
because I was thus ignorant, and because I had a positive
distaste for all forms of anatomical and physiological experi-
ment, I perhaps over-estimated this branch of knowledge
and looked up to those who possessed it in a pre-eminent
degree as altogether above myself.

With Darwin and Lyell, on the other hand, although both
possessed stores of knowledge far beyond my own, yet I did
possess some knowledge of the same kind, and felt myself in
a position to make use of their facts and those of all other
students in the same fields of research quite as well as the

40 MY LIFE [Chap.

majority of those who had observed and recorded them. I
had, however, very early in life noticed, that men with im-
mense knowledge did not always know how to draw just
conclusions from that knowledge, and that I myself was
quite able to detect their errors of reasoning. I also found
that when, in my early solitary studies in physics or
mechanics, I came upon some conclusion which seemed to
me, for want of clear statement in the books at my command,
contrary to what it ought to be, yet when, later, the matter
was clearly explained, I at once saw where my error lay and
had no further difficulty. I will here mention one of these
smaller stumbling-blocks, which I know are to this day quite
impassable by large numbers of persons who are interested
in physical science. It is the fact that degrees of latitude
increase in length from the equator to the pole, the only
explanation usually given being that this is due to the com-
pression at the poles, or, in other words, of the polar
diameter being less than the equatorial. Now nine persons
out of ten (probably more) who know what a " degree " is,
and have an elementary knowledge of geometry, and perhaps
a much more than elementary knowledge of several other
sciences, could not explain offhand why this is so ; while
many of them, meeting with the statement for the first time
and trying to understand it, would come to the conclusion
that it was a mistake — perhaps a printer's error, and that
degrees really decrease towards the pole. For they know that
a circle is divided into 360 parts, each being a degree, and
if you draw a circle round the earth, passing through the two
poles with a radius of half the equatorial diameter, and
divide it into 360 equal parts, each of those parts will be
a degree. But the earth's radius at the poles will be about
132 miles less than at the equator ; therefore the degrees will
be proportionately less, not more as stated. I possess a pam-
phlet addressed to the President of the Royal Astronomical
Society by a Mr. Gumpel, pointing this out, and asking them
to correct so important an error. But I presume he was
only laughed at, as what Professor de Morgan called a
" paradoxer," and the Americans a " crank," and I dare say

xxvi] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 41

the poor man lived and died in the conviction that astro-
nomers were ashamed to confess their error. Now the
essential point, rarely explained in popular books, is, that if
the earth were of exactly the same shape it is now, but did
not turn on its axis, then degrees of latitude at and near the
pole would really be shorter than those at and near the
equator ; but the bulging out at the equator is caused by
the rotation, owing to centrifugal force diminishing the force
of gravity there, and causing the true sphere, which gravity
would produce in a non-rotating fluid or flexible mass, to be
changed into a spheroid of greater diameter at the equator,
where the rotating motion is swifter, and therefore the
centrifugal force greater. The surface will therefore become
a surface of equilibrium, due to the two forces everywhere
acting upon it, and the direction of a plumb-line will be also
determined by the same two forces, and will necessarily be
at right angles to that surface. It follows that as the curva-
ture along a meridian is more rapid near the equator than
that of a sphere of the mean diameter of the earth, and less
rapid or flatter near the poles, therefore two or more plumb-
lines near the equator will meet at a point nearer than the
geometrical centre of the earth, while those near the poles
will meet at a point beyond the geometrical centre, and there-
fore the degrees near the latter, being measured on a circle
of longer radius, will be longer than those near the equator.
It appears, then, that the problem is not a geometrical one,
as the mere statement of the fact seems to make it, but one
of mechanics and the laws of motion, and what we really
measure is the amount of curvature on different parts of the
earth's surface, not an equal angle measured from its centre,
which is what the term " degree " usually and properly
means. From this point of view the astronomers are all
wrong, since they use the term "degree" of latitude in a
technical sense, which is not its geometrical meaning, and
they very rarely explain this to their readers. Degrees of
latitude are dynamical, not geometrical quantities.

This rather long digression may be considered to be out
of place, but it is given in order to illustrate the steps by

42 MY LIFE [Chap.

which I gradually acquired confidence in my own judgment,
so that in dealing with any body of facts bearing upon a
question in dispute, if I clearly understood the nature of the
facts and gave the necessary attention to them, I would
always draw my own inferences from them, even though I
had men of far greater and more varied knowledge against
me. Thus I have never hesitated to differ from Lyell,
Darwin, and even Spencer, and, so far as I can judge, in all
the cases in which I have so differed, the weight of scientific
opinion is gradually turning in my direction. In reasoning
power upon the general phenomena of nature or of society,
I feel able to hold my own with them ; my inferiority consists
in my limited knowledge, and perhaps also in my smaller
power of concentration for long periods of time.

With Huxley also I felt quite on an equality when deal-
ing with problems arising out of facts equally well known to
both of us ; but wherever the structure or functions of animals
were concerned, he had the command of a body of facts so
extensive and so complex that no one who had not devoted
years to their practical study could safely attempt to make
use of them. I therefore never ventured to infringe in any
way on his special departments of study, though I occa-
sionally made use of some of the results which he so lucidly
explained.

One of my near neighbours while I lived in London was
Dr. W. B. Carpenter, the well-known physiologist and micro-
scopist, and a voluminous writer on various branches of natural
science. I often called on him in the evening, when I usually
found him at work with his microscope, and he always took
pleasure in showing me some special structure or some
obscure organism, and explaining the nature of what I saw.
The great controversy was then at its height as to the alleged
animal nature of a substance found in the Laurentian forma-
tion of Canada, supposed to be the oldest of all the stratified
rocks. Dr. Carpenter maintained that it was a low form of
Foraminifera, a group of which he had made a special study.
This supposed organism had been named by Sir William

xxvi] DR. \V. B. CARPENTER 43

Dawson, the geologist, Eozoon Canadense, and he was sup-
ported in his view by Dr. Carpenter, to whom he sent the
finest procurable specimens. By making sections in various
directions, and by the knowledge he possessed of the minute
structure of living and fossil Foraminifers, he arrived at his
conclusions ; while other observers declared that this sup-
posed primitive organism was entirely of mineral origin,
and that all the apparent details of organic structure were
deceptive. Dr. Carpenter showed me these specimens, and
pointed out the details of structure on which he relied, but
having no knowledge of the actual structures with which
he compared them, I could myself see nothing sufficiently
definite to settle such an important question. The discussion
went on very fiercely for years, but the general opinion now
is that all the appearances are due to forms of crystallization
in these very ancient metamorphic rocks. Dr. Carpenter
was also at work on the anatomy and physiology of the
Crinoidea or sea-lilies, on which he published some important
papers, and these, too, he would dilate upon and explain,
though not much to my enlightenment.

We often walked across the Regent's Park into town
together, and we were very friendly, though never really
intimate ; and a few years later we entered on a rather acute
controversy upon mesmerism and clairvoyance, to which I
shall refer later on.

Among the more prominent naturalists, one of my chief
friends, and the one whose society I most enjoyed, was
Professor St. George Mivart, who for some years lived not
far from us in London. He was a rather singular compound
mentally, inasmuch as he was a sincere but thoroughly liberal
Catholic, and an anti-Darwinian evolutionist. But his
friendly geniality, his refined manners, his interesting conver-
sation and fund of anecdote of the most varied kind, rendered
him a charming companion. His most intimate friends seemed
to be priests, one or two of whom were almost always among
the guests, and often the only ones, when I dined with him.
And they, too, were excellent company, full of humour and

44 MY LIFE [Chap.

anecdote of the most varied kind, though also ready for
serious talk or discussion ; but in either case, with none of
the reserve or somewhat rigid decorum of the majority of our
clergy. Mivart visited a good deal in the country houses of
the aristocracy and country gentlemen, and he used often to
tell me things that happened in some of them, or that were
spoken of as common knowledge, which I could not have
believed on less direct authority, and which went to prove
that some of the worst features of society morals, such as are
occasionally revealed in the divorce courts, are by no means
uncommon.

Mivart thoroughly enjoyed a good dinner (as did I myself)
and was rather fond of illustrative stories on gastronomic
subjects. One that has remained in my memory for its
almost pathetic humour was of two friends recalling old times
together. "Do you remember," said one, "that splendid
dinner we had at Grantham, and how we did enjoy it ? " "I
do indeed," said his friend, "and it has been a constant
regret to me ever since that I did not have a second helping
of that magnificent haunch of mutton ! "

He would also sometimes tell of the incredible doings of
some of the fashionable roues among the wealthy, and if I
doubted the possibility of such things being true, would
appeal to the priests, who would assure me that such things,
and worse, did really occur.

Mivart was a very severe and often an unfair critic of
Darwin, and I never concealed my opinion that he was not
justified in going so far as he did. I also criticized some of
his own writings, but he took it all very good-naturedly, and
we always remained excellent friends. Besides natural history
we had other tastes in common. He enjoyed country life,
and for some time had a small country house in the wilds of
Sussex, about midway between Forest Row and Hayward's
Heath, where we sometimes spent a few days ; and some
years later he built a house on the Duke of Norfolk's estate
near Albury, where he had to make a new garden and began
to take an interest in horticulture. He was also greatly
interested in psychical research and spiritualistic phenomena ;

xxvi] ST. GEORGE MIVART 45

but this I shall refer to again when I come to my own
experiences and inquiries on this intensely interesting subject.

Even more completely than Darwin, Mivart was almost a
self-taught biologist He was educated and trained for the
bar, but never practised, his father being a wealthy man.
When about five and twenty he began to take an interest
in anatomy, and determined to study it systematically ;
and he one day told me that when he announced his
intention, his father remarked, " Well, you never have earned
a penny yet, and I suppose you never will." This rather
put him on his mettle, and shortly afterwards he wrote
an article for some periodical, and on receiving a liberal
honorarium he produced the cheque, jokingly telling his
father that he had earned it to prove that his prediction was
a wrong one. This is a curious parallel to Darwin's state-
ment that when he left school he was considered by his
masters and by his father as "a very ordinary boy, rather
below the common standard in intellect"

Considering the period of life at which Mivart first turned
his attention either to science or literature, the amount of
knowledge of comparative anatomy he acquired, largely from
dissections and study carried on at home, was very great, and
placed him in the first rank among the many great anatomists
of his time. This is the opinion of the very competent writer
of his obituary notice in Nature (vol. lxi. p. 569). His
writings on biological subjects were almost as extensive as
those of Darwin himself, and his total literary work, largely
metaphysical and generally of high merit, was very much
larger. In the excellent obituary notice already referred to
full justice is done both to the wide knowledge, the intel-
lectual ability, and the charming personality of one whose
friendship I continue to look back upon with pleasure and
satisfaction.

I will conclude this chapter with a few words about the
meetings of the British Association at which I was present.
In 1862 I was invited by my kind friend, Professor Alfred
Newton, to be his guest at Magdalen College during the

46 MY LIFE [Chap.

meeting, in company with a party of scientific friends, chiefly
ornithologists. This was both my first visit to Cambridge
and to the Association, and under such pleasant conditions I
thoroughly enjoyed both. Besides the number of eminent
men of science I had the opportunity of hearing or seeing,
I had the pleasure of spending an evening with Charles
Kingsley in his own house, and enjoying his stimulating
conversation. There was also a slight recrudescence of the
evolution controversy in the rather painful dispute between
Professor Richard Owen and Huxley, supported by Flower,
on certain alleged differences between the brains of man and
apes.

I so much enjoyed the meeting, both in its scientific and
social aspects, that I attended the next eleven meetings, and
generally took part in some of the discussions, besides occa-
sionally reading short papers. One of the most enjoyable
meetings socially was that at Exeter, where I and a large
party of scientific men were hospitably entertained at a
country mansion eight or ten miles from the city, into which
we were driven and brought back every day. Among the
guests there was Professor Rankin, who entertained us by
singing some of his own descriptive or witty compositions,
especially the " Song of the Engine Driver," and that inimi-
table Irish descriptive song on " The City of Mullingar." On
this occasion there appeared one of the most humorous
parodies of the work of the association that has ever been
written, called * Exeter Change for the British Lions." It
was in the form of a small magazine, giving reports of the
meetings, with absurd papers, witty verses, and clever
parodies of the leading members, all worthy of Hood himself
in his most humorous vein. One of the best of the parodies
is the following, as all will admit who are familiar with the
style of the supposed author.

xxvi] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 47

ON THE ALCOHOLIC COMPOUND TERMED PUNCH.

By John T — nd— ll, ll.d., f.r.s.

Chastened and invigorated by the discipline of physical research, the
philosopher fearlessly climbs the never-trodden peaks of pure thought,
whence he surveys without dizziness the shadowy domain which lies
beyond the horizon of ordinary observation. The empirical art of punch-
brewing is co-extensive with civilization. But the molecular commotion
which agitates the palate of the punch-drinker and awakes in his brain
an indescribable feeling of satisfaction could only be apprehended by
one whose mind had been previously exercised on the parallel bars of
accoustics and optics.

Taste is due to vibratory motion. A peppermint lozenge, for example,
dissolving in the mouth, may be likened to a vast collection of minute
tuning-forks vibrating synchronously. Pulses are imparted to the nervous
filaments of the tongue and palate, and are translated by the internal
sense into peppermint. What was molecular agitation is now taste.

With punch properly compounded, we obtain saporous vibrations of
various degrees of rapidity, but so related that their simultaneous action
on the organ of taste produces an agreeable harmony. The saccharine,
acid, and ethylic trills are rhythmical, and a glass of punch is truly the
analogue of the sonnet. The instinct of man has detected many such
harmonies which have yet to be investigated. For example : what
palate is insensible to the harmonious effect of roast hare and currant-
jelly? But where is the philosopher who can lay his hand upon his
heart and say he has determined the relation of the saporous vibrations
of the jelly to those of the hare ? My own researches on this point have
deepened my natural humility, and I now eat my currant-jelly with the
simple faith of a little child.

Experiment has proved that the juice of three or four lemons, and
three-quarters of a pound of loaf-sugar dissolved in about three pints of
boiling water, give saporous waves which strike the palate at such
intervals that the thrilling acidity of the lemon-juice and the cloying
sweetness of the sugar are no longer distinguishable. We have, in fact,
a harmony of saporific notes. The pitch, however, is too low, and to
heighten it, we infuse in the boiling water the fragrant yellow rind of
one lemon. Here we might pause, if the soul of man craved no higher
result than lemonade. But to attain the culminating saporosity of punch,
we must dash into the bowl, at least, a pint of rum and nearly the same
volume of brandy. The molecules of alcohol, sugar, and citric acid
collide, and an entirely new series of vibrations are produced — tremors to
which the dullest palate is attuned.

In punch, then, we have rhythm within rhythm, and all that philo-
sophy can do is to take kindly to its subtle harmonies. It will depend

48 MY LIFE [Chap,

in some measure upon previous habits, whether the punch, when mixed,
will be taken in excess or in moderation. It may become a dangerous
ally of gravity and bring a sentient being to the gutter. But, on the
other hand, it may become the potent inner stimulus of a noble outward
life.

I was also honoured by being admitted to the fraternity
of the " Red Lions," who fed together during each meeting
of the association and expressed applause by gentle roars
and wagging of (coat) tails. On these occasions all kinds of
jokes were permissible, and speeches were made and songs
sung by the scientific humourists assembled. At Edinburgh
in 1871, Lord Neaves, a well-known wit and song-writer, was
a guest, and gave us some of his own compositions, especially
that on " The Origin of Species a la Darwin " — which he
recited standing up and with very fine humour. The follow-
ing verses are samples : —

" A very tall Pig with a very long nose
Sends forth a proboscis right down to his toes,
And then by the name of an Elephant goes,

Which Nobody can Deny !

" An Ape with a pliable thumb and big brain,
When the gift of the gab he had managed to gain,
As Lord of Creation established his reign,

Which Nobody can Deny ! "

And so on for twelve verses, and encouraging roars and great
final tail-wagging.

The most deplorable event in my experience of the
association was the choice of the late Duke of Buccleuch
as President for 1867, at Dundee; proposed, as I understood,
by Sir Roderick Murchison and weakly agreed to by his
colleagues. The President's Address has, in every other case,
been considered a very serious affair, requiring the labour of
some months to compose, in order to render it worthy of an
audience consisting practically of the best scientific intellect
of our country. But the president on this occasion evidently
considered it a condescension on his part to be there at all.
He began by telling us that he had never written a speech
in his life, and never intended to ; that he knew very little

xxvi] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 49

about science, though no doubt it was very useful in its way.
Of course it helped us to find coal, " and that kind of thing,"
to support our manufactures ; chemistry, too, very useful,
dyeing, manure, and many other things — and thus he went
on, with a lot of commonplaces hardly up to the level of
an audience of tenant-farmers, for, I suppose, nearly an hour ;
and then there were complimentary speeches ! The address
— or rather an address — was, of course, printed, but I never
read it, as I felt sure it would be so altered and almost
wholly remodelled that it would not at all resemble the
poor stuff we had been compelled to hear.

At Glasgow, in 1876, I was President of the Biological
Section, and our meeting was rendered rather lively by the
announcement of a paper by Professor W. F. Barrett on
experiments in thought-reading. The reading of this was
opposed by Dr. W. B. Carpenter and others, but as it had
been accepted by the section, it was read. Then followed a
rather heated discussion ; but there were several supporters
of the paper, among whom was Lord Rayleigh, and the
public evidently took the greatest interest in the subject,
the hall being crowded. After having studied the matter
some years longer, Professor Barrett, with the assistance of
the late Frederick Myers, Professor Sidgwick, Edmund
Gurney, and a few other friends, founded the Society for
Psychical Research, which has collected a very large amount
of evidence and is still actively at work.

I and my wife were entertained at Glasgow by Mr. and
Mrs. Mirlees, and at one of their dinner-parties we enjoyed
the company of William Pengelly, of Torquay, the well-
known explorer of Kent's Cavern, whose acquaintance I had
made some years before while spending a few days at
Torquay with my friend and publisher, Mr. A. Macmillan.
He sat on one side of our hostess, and I and my wife on the
other, and during the whole dinner he kept up such a flow of
amusing and witty conversation that the entire party (a
large one) looked at us with envy. He was certainly among
the most genial and witty men I have ever met, and could
make even dry scientific subjects attractive by his humorous

VOL II. E

50 MY LIFE [Chap. XXVI]

way of narrating them. It was a rather curious coincidence
that on this occasion, when " psychical research " had first
been introduced to the British Association, I learnt from Mr.
Pengelly that he had himself had one of the most amazing
psychical experiences on record, which I may perhaps find
an opportunity of narrating when I give an account of my
own investigation of these subjects.

After this year I felt that I had pretty well exhausted
the interests of the association meetings, and preferred to
take my autumn holiday, with my wife and two children,
either by the sea or among the mountains, where we could
quietly enjoy the beauties of nature in aspects somewhat
new to us ; the only exception I afterwards made being the
jubilee meeting at York, and even here the chief attractions
were the beautiful Alpine gardens of Mr. Backhouse, the
excursion to Rievaulx Abbey, and a visit afterwards to my
friend Dr. Spruce in his retirement at Welburn, near Castle
Howard.

CHAPTER XXVII

MY FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES ! SIR JAMES BROOKE,
PROFESSOR ROLLESTON, MR. AUG. MONGREDIEN, SIR
RICHARD OWEN, DR. RICHARD SPRUCE

About a year or two after I had returned home, Sir James
Brooke had also returned to England, and had retired to
a small estate at the foot of Dartmoor, where he lived in
a comfortable cottage-farmhouse amid the wild scenery in
which he delighted. I had met him once or twice in London,
and, I think in the summer of 1863 or 1864, he invited me
to spend a week with him in Devonshire, to meet his former
private secretary and my old friend in Sarawak, Mr. (now Sir
Spencer) St. John. We had a very pleasant time, strolling
about the district or taking rides over Dartmoor ; while at
meals we had old-time events to talk over, with discussions
of all kinds of political and social problems in the evening.
At the same time Lady Burdett-Coutts, with her friend Mrs.
Brown, were staying near, and often drove over and took us
all for some more distant excursions.

This meeting and my friendship with Sir James Brooke
led to my receiving several invitations to dine in Stratton
Street, where my friend George Silk was also a frequent
guest ; but my unfortunate habit of speaking my thoughts too
plainly broke off the acquaintance. The rajah's nephew,
Captain Brooke, who had been formerly designated as Sir
James's successor under the Malay title of Tuan Muda (young
lord), had done or written something (I forget what) to which
Sir James objected, and a disagreement ensued, which re-
sulted in the captain being deposed from the heirship, and

5*

52 MY LIFE [Chap.

his younger brother Charles, the present rajah, being nomi-
nated instead. As I was equally friendly and intimate with
both parties and heard both sides, I thought the captain had
been rather hardly treated, and one day, when the subject was
mentioned at Stratton Street, I ventured to say so. This
evidently displeased Lady Burdett-Coutts, and I was never
invited again — a matter which did not at all disturb me, as the
people I met there were not very interesting to me. When
Sir James Brooke heard of my indiscretion, he wrote to me
very kindly, saying that he knew that I was the captain's
friend and had a perfect right to take his part, and that my
doing so did not in the least offend him and would make
no difference in our relations, and I continued to receive
friendly letters from him till he went to Borneo for the last
time, in 1866. Soon after his return he died at his Devon-
shire home, in June, 1868. I have given my estimate of his
character and of his beneficent work at Sarawak in my "Malay
Archipelago."

One of my early friends, though I did not see a great deal
of him, was Professor George Rolleston, whose death in the
prime of life (in 1885) was a great loss to the biological
sciences. I possess, however, only one letter from him,
accompanying some remarks by a friend of his, Dr. Kay,
principal of a theological college in Calcutta, on my article
in The Reader on " How to Civilize Savages," in which I had
criticized missionary work, and, by implication, popular ideas
of the value of Christianity. The MSS. sent has been lost,
but I happen to have a rough copy of my reply, and as it
argues the missionary question more fully than was thought
necessary in the article (included with additions in my
" Studies "), I think it may be well to print it here.

" 9, St. Mark's Crescent, Regent's Park,
"September 23, 1865.

"Dear Rolleston,

" Your friend has very fairly stated my argument,
yet does not seem to me to touch the point of it in his

xxviij FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 53

answer. For instance, he says, ' the principal doctrines of
Christianity were held at the beginning as now.' True, but
what was that beginning ? and ivhere did the doctrines and
dogmas of Christianity spring up ? It was in the very focus
of all the highest and most ancient civilizations of the world
— the Jewish, the Egyptian, the Assyrian, the Greek, and the
Roman. These peoples had already gone through the long
process of mental development which the savage has not even
begun. The doctrines (of Christianity) grew among them,
as they do not grow among savages, because they were adapted
to the mental state in the one case, but are not in the other.

" What savage nations have (as he asserts) been raised out
of their degradation by Christianity ? The Abyssinians are
a good case to show that Christianity alone does nothing.
The circumstances have not been favourable to the growth of
civilization in Abyssinia, and therefore, though they have had
Christianity as long as we have (or longer), they are scarcely
equal morally to many pagan and certainly inferior to some
Mohammedan nations. This is a crucial instance.

" He says the Britons did not arrive at any ' great moral
elevation ' under the Romans. But will he point out any
savages who have arrived at a ' great moral elevation ' in the
same time under Christianity ? I know of none. No doubt
there has been often a superficial improvement, as in some
of the South Sea islands ; but it is an open question how
much of that is due to the purely moral influence of a higher
and more civilized race.

■ Of course, if you claim all virtue as Christian virtue, and
impute all want of goodness to want of true Christianity, you
may prove the value of any religion. The Mohammedan
argues exactly the same (see Lady Duff Gordon's ' Letters
from Egypt')- Your friend would no doubt impute whatever
scraps of goodness there may exist in myself to the Christianity
in which I was educated ; but I know and feel (though it
would no doubt shock him to hear) that I acted from lower
motives than I do now, and that I was really inferior
morally as a Christian than I am now as, what he would
call, an infidel.

54 MY LIFE [Chap.

"I look upon the doctrine of future rewards and punish-
ments as a motive to action to be radically bad, and as bad
for savages as for civilized men. I look upon it, above all, as
a bad preparation for a future state. I believe that the only
ivay to teach and to civilize, whether children or savages, is
through the influence of love and sympathy ; and the great
thing to teach them is to have the most absolute respect for
the rights of others, and to accustom them to receive pleasure
from the happiness of others. After this education of habit,
they should be taught the great laws of the universe and of
the human mind, and the precepts of morality must be placed
on their only sure foundation — the conviction that they
alone can guide mankind to the truest and most widespread
happiness.

" I cannot see that the teaching of all this can be furthered
by the dogmas of any religion, and I do not believe that
those dogmas really have any effect in advancing morality in
one case out of a thousand.

" My article, by-the-bye, was considerably pruned, and I,
of course, think spoilt by the editor.

"Yours very sincerely,

"Alfred R. Wallace."

In the year 1869 it was proposed to establish a scientific
weekly paper to serve as a record of progress for workers, to
furnish reviews of scientific books by specialists dealing with
them on their merits alone, to give reports of the meetings
of societies, and popular yet accurate accounts of all re-
markable new facts or theories of general interest. I took
part in the meetings at which the subject was discussed,
and undertook to contribute occasionally to its pages, and
for the next quarter of a century almost every volume of
Nature, as the new periodical was called, contains either
reviews, letters, or articles from my pen. In the fifth issue
(December 2, 1869) there was an article on science reform,
giving an account of the report of a committee of the British
Association on a question suggested by a paper read by
Lieut.-Colonel Strange, entitled, « On the Necessity for State

xxvii] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 55

Intervention to secure the Progress of Physical Science."
The committee, almost all professors or officially employed
men of science, reported that State aid was required, and the
article in Nature supported the view. Believing that this
was not only injudicious, but wrong, I thought it advisable to
state my reasons for opposing it, and sent a rather long letter
to the editor. It was published on January 13, 1870, but in
order to counteract its supposed dangerous tendency a
leading article accompanied it, headed, " Government Aid
to Science," strongly controverting my views, somewhat mis-
representing them, and omitting to deal with the main ethical
question which I raised. As my letter is buried in the first
volume of a periodical which few of my readers will possess,
and as I hold the same views still, and consider their advocacy
to be now more important than ever, I here reproduce my
letter.

"Government Aid to Science.

" The public mind seems now to be going wild on the
subject of education ; the Government is obliged to give way
to the clamour, and men of science seem inclined to seize the
opportunity to get, if possible, some share of the public
money. Art education is already to a considerable extent
supplied by the State, technical education (which I presume
means education in ' the arts ') is vigorously pressed upon the
Government, and science also is now urging her claims to a
modicum of State patronage and support.

" Now, I protest most earnestly against the application of
public money to any of the above-specified purposes, as being
radically vicious in principle, and as being, in the present state
of society, a positive wrong. In order to clear the ground, let
me state that, for the purpose of the present argument, I
admit the right and duty of the State to educate its citizens.
I uphold national, but I object absolutely to all sectional or
class education ; and all the above-named schemes are simply
forms of class education. The broad principle I go upon is
this — that the State has no moral right to apply funds raised
by the taxation of all its members to any purpose which is

$6 MY LIFE [Chap.

not directly available for the benefit of all. As it has no
right to give class preferences in legislation, so it has no right
to give class preferences in the expenditure of public money.
If we follow this principle, national education is not forbidden,
whether given in schools supported by the State, or in
museums, or galleries, or gardens fairly distributed over the
whole kingdom, and so regulated as to be equally available
for the instruction or amusement of all classes of the com-
munity. But here a line must be drawn. The schools, the
museums, the galleries, the gardens must all alike be popular
— that is, adapted for and capable of being fully used and
enjoyed by the people at large — and must be developed by
means of public money to such an extent only as is needful
for the highest attainable popular instruction and benefit.
All beyond this should be left to private munificence, to
societies, or to the classes benefited, to supply.

" In art, all that is needed only for the special instruction of
artists or for the delight of amateurs, should be provided by
artists or amateurs. To expend public money on third-rate
prints or pictures, or on an intrinsically worthless book, both
of immense money value on account of their rarity, and as
such of great interest to a small class of literary and art
amateurs, and to them only, I conceive to be absolutely
wrong. So, in science, to provide museums such as will at
once elevate, instruct, and entertain all who visit them may
be a worthy and just expenditure of public money ; but to
spend many times as much as is necessary for this purpose in
forming enormous collections of all the rarities that can be
obtained, however obscure and generally uninteresting they
may be, and however limited the class who can value or
appreciate them, is, as plainly, an unjust expenditure. It
will perhaps surprise some of your readers to find a naturalist
advocating such doctrines as these ; but though I love nature
much, I love justice more, and would not wish that any man
should be compelled to contribute towards the support of an
institution of no interest to the great mass of my countrymen,
however interesting to myself.

" For the same reason, T maintain that all schools of art or

xxvii] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 57

of science, or for technical education, should be supported by
the parties who are directly interested in them or benefited
by them. If designs are not forthcoming for the English
manufacturer, and he is thus unable to compete with
foreigners, who should provide schools of design but the
manufacturers and the pupils who are the parties directly
interested ? It seems to me as entirely beyond the proper
sphere of the State to interfere in this matter, as it would be
to teach English bootmakers or English cooks at the public
expense in order that they may be able to compete with
French artistes in these departments. In both cases such
interference amounts to protection and class legislation, and
I have yet to learn that these can be justified by the urgent
necessity of our producing shawls and calicoes, or hardware
and crockery, as elegantly designed as those of our neigh-
bours. And if our men of science want more complete
laboratories, or finer telescopes, or more costly apparatus of
any kind, who but our scientific associations and the large
and wealthy class now interested in science should supply
the want ? They have hitherto done so nobly, and I should
myself feel that it was better that the march of scientific
discovery should be a little less rapid (and of late years the
pace has not been bad) than that science should descend
one step from her lofty independence and sue in forma
pauperis to the already overburthened taxpayer. In like
manner, if our mechanics are not so well able as they
might be to improve the various arts they are engaged in,
surely the parties who ought to provide the special education
required are the great employers of labour, who by their
assistance are daily building up colossal fortunes ; and also
that great and wealthy class which is, professionally or
otherwise, interested in the constructive or decorative arts.

" I maintain further, not only that money spent by
Government for the purposes here indicated is wrongly spent,
but also that it is, in a great measure, money wasted. The
best collectors (whether in art or science) are usually private
amateurs ; the best workers are usually home-workers or the
employes of scientific associations, not of Governments. Could

58 MY LIFE [Chap.

any Government institution have produced results so much
superior to those of our Royal Institution, with its Davy,
Faraday, and Tyndall, as to justify the infringement of a
great principle ? Would the grand series of scientific and
mechanical inventions of this century have been more
thoroughly or more fruitfully worked out if Government had
taken science and invention under its special patronage in
the year 1800, and had subjected them to a process of forcing
(in a kind of Laputa College) from that day to this ? No
one can really believe we should have got on any better
under such a regime, while it is certain that much power
would have been wasted in the attempt to develop inventions
and discoveries before the age was ripe for them, and which
would therefore have inevitably languished and been laid
aside without producing any great results. Experience shows
that free competition ensures a greater supply of the materials
and a greater demand for the products of science and art,
and is thus a greater stimulus to true and healthy progress
than any Government patronage. Let it but become an
established rule that all institutions solely for the advance-
ment of science and art must be supported by private
munificence, and we may be sure that such institutions would
be quite as well kept up as they are now, and I believe much
better. If they were not, it would only prove more clearly
how unjust it is to take money from the public purse to pay
for that which science and art lovers would very much like
to have, but are not willing themselves to pay for.

"The very common line of argument, which attempts to
prove the widespread uses and high educating influence of
art and of science, is entirely beside the question. Every
product of the human intellect is more or less valuable ; but
it does not therefore follow that it is just to provide any
special product for those who want it at the expense of those
who either do not want or are not in a condition to make
use of it. Good architecture, for instance, is a very good
thing, and one we are much in want of ; but it will hardly
be maintained that architects should be taught their profes-
sion at the public expense. The history of old china, of old

xxvii] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 59

clothes, or of postage-stamps are each of great interest to
more or less extensive sections of the community, and much
may be said in each case to prove the value of the study ;
but surely no honest representative of the nation would vote,
say, the moderate sum of a million sterling for three museums
to exhibit these objects, with a full staff of beadles, curators,
and professors at an equally moderate expenditure of £10,000
annually, with perhaps a like sum for the purchase of
specimens. But if we once admit the right of the Govern-
ment to support institutions for the benefit of any class of
students and amateurs, however large and respectable, we
adopt a principle which will lead us to offer but a weak
resistance to the claims of less and less extensive interests
whenever they happen to become the fashion.

"If it be asked (as it will be) what we are to do with
existing institutions supported by Government, I am prepared
to answer. Taking the typical examples of the National
Gallery and the British Museum, I would propose that these
institutions should be reorganized, so as to make them in the
highest degree instructive and entertaining to the mass of
the people ; that no public money should be spent on the
purchase of specimens, but what they already contain should
be so thoroughly cared for and utilized as to render these
establishments the safest, the best, and the most worthy
receptacles for the treasures accumulated by wealthy amateurs
and students, who would then be ready to bestow them on
the nation to a greater extent than they do at present. From
the duplicates which would thus accumulate in these institu-
tions the other great centres of population in the kingdom
should be proportionately supplied, and from the Metropolitan
centres trained officers should be sent to organize and super-
intend local institutions, such a proportion of their salaries
being paid by Government as fairly to equalize the expendi-
ture of public money over the whole kingdom, and thus not
infringe that great principle of equality and justice which, I
maintain, should be our guide in all such cases.

"Alfred R. Wallace."

6o MY LIFE [Chap.

I received one solitary letter from a scientific man sup-
porting my views — Mr. G. R. Crotch, of the University
Library, Cambridge, a very good naturalist and reasoner.
But the process of forcing on expenditure for scientific pur-
poses has gone on increasing : the Challenger expedition, with
its enormously costly publication of results in thirty-seven
large quarto volumes, of not the least interest to any but
specialists in biology and physics ; the new buildings at South
Kensington for the Science and Art Department ; the enor-
mous and unending increase of new buildings for the housing
of all the output of the modern book trade, and of the
hundreds and thousands of daily and weekly newspapers, and
the monthly magazines and endless trade and art and specialist
periodicals — huge mountains of rubbish that each succeeding
year will render more utterly impossible of examination by
any human being who may live in the next century. In
connection with South Kensington, the suggestion has been
put forward that a million of money is required to properly
house the various scientific departments there ; while, most
recent of all, there has been an influential request for an
anthropometrical survey and sickness registration of the whole
population, at a cost comparable with that of the geological
survey ! the grounds being that it is the only way to ascertain
if there is any physical deterioration of the people, and thus
enable the Government to stave off any fundamental remedial
measures by the excuse of want of further information !

Among the many pleasant episodes of my life was my
connection with Mr. Augustus Mongredien, a member of the
Corn Exchange, a writer on free trade, and author of a book
published by Murray in 1870 — " Trees and Shrubs for English
Gardens." When I got my chalk-pit at Grays in 1871, built
a house there, and began to take a great interest in gardening,
I bought this book, and in consequence wrote to the author.
Soon afterwards he invited me to visit him at Heatherside,
on the Bagshot sands, where he had formed a nursery of
several hundred acres, planted with a great variety of trees
and shrubs then just coming to maturity. He then formed

xxvii] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 61

it into a joint-stock company, and persuaded me, along with
Mr. Fortune, the well-known traveller and plant-collector in
China and Japan, and several other persons connected with
horticulture, to become directors. After two or three years
(there being a mortgage on the property) the company had
to be dissolved, and Mr. Mongredien lost all he had invested
in it. During the time it lasted, however, I and my wife
often spent from Saturday to Monday at Heatherside with
Mr. Mongredien, his wife, and two daughters ; and among
the friends we occasionally met there was Professor (after-
wards Sir Richard) Owen, the great anatomist, and one of
the most charming of companions. Mr. Mongredien himself
was a highly educated and most energetic man, and a great
converser. He knew most European languages well, including
modern Greek, and was a good classical scholar. He was
also well read in general literature, devotedly fond of plants
and of nature generally, and somewhat of a bon vivant ; and
when I add that his wife was agreeable, and his daughters
intellectual, it will be seen that we had all the elements to
make our visits delightful I had had some correspondence
with Professor Owen many years before about the specimens
of orang-utang I sent home from Borneo, and I had occasion-
ally met him at scientific societies or at the British Museum ;
but here I saw him in his social aspect, telling us curious
little anecdotes about animals, or quoting the older poets for
the gratification of the young ladies. He was also very fond
of gardening, and we spent much of our time in long walks
about the grounds, where there were quantities of the finest
species of conifers from about ten to thirty feet high and
in perfect health, and showing all the exquisite beauties of
their special type of vegetation in form, foliage, and colour
more completely than when at a greater age. These visits
gave me a knowledge and love of trees and shrubs, which
has been a constant pleasure to me in the three gardens I
have since had to make, from the very beginning.

Among the dearest of my friends, the one towards whom
I felt more like a brother than to any other person, was Dr.

62 MY LIFE [Chap.

Richard Spruce, one of the most cultivated and most charm-
ing of men, as well as one of the most enthusiastic and
observing of botanists. As he lived in Yorkshire after 1867,
I only saw him at rather long intervals, but I generally took
the opportunity of lecture engagements in the north to pay
him a few days' visit. Our correspondence also was scanty,
as he was a great invalid and could not write much, and I
only preserved such letters as touched upon subjects con-
nected with my own work. I will, however, give a few
extracts from these, both to illustrate the character of a little-
known man of science, and also because some of the matters
touched on are of general scientific interest.

I sent Spruce a copy of my little volume of Essays on
"Natural Selection," in 1870, and after reading it he sent it
on to his friend, W. Wilson, of Warrington, a British botanist,
and, like my friend, an enthusiast in mosses. His reply
Spruce sent to me, and it is rather amusing, as showing the
feelings of the older school of naturalists towards the new
heresy of Darwinism.

"My dear Friend,

" You will think me a wayward chiel when you hear
my confession that to-day, feeling very squeamish mentally,
I happened to bethink myself of Wallace's book, and ven-
tured to open it with great misgivings about my coming into
rapport with one whom you introduced to me as the champion
of Darwinian philosophy. With fear and trembling I paused
on the threshold of the book, just to see what I should have
to grapple with. The ' Contents,' therefore, engaged such
attention as I could command, and after examining, or rather
glancing, at the contents of the first seven chapters without
much emotion of either attractive or repulsive character,
skipped over to chapter x., the last of the series, not greatly
excited at either pole of the intellect, until I came to ' Matter
is Force ; all Force is probably Will-force.' ' Oho ! ' said I,
1 now we come to something of interest and connected with
my friend Rev. T. P. Kirkman's rather unskilfully written
pamphlet on this very subject — we shall have everything in

xxvii] DR. RICHARD SPRUCE 63

shape and properly argued by the clear- minded Wallace, no
doubt.'

"My inquisitiveness, however, did not prevent my begin-
ning at the beginning of the chapter, and I now write
before I have come to the question of force and matter.
I am delighted and most agreeably surprised to discover
that Wallace, whom I least expected to agree with me,
confirms what I said to you in a previous letter about
Darwin's theory being one truth in conjunction with another
(and perhaps higher) truth ; not the only truth in reference
to created entities.

" Well, if Wallace has nothing more contrarient than the
contents of this chapter are likely to present to me, I shall
not fear to read the rest of the book despondent of coming
into complete harmony with him, neither need you fear that
I shall remain sceptical on those points where already I am
willing to receive them in hypothesis for all really useful or
practical purposes in reference to classification. I have as
yet to assure myself that chapter x. is not a delusive phan-
tasmal addition written or dreamed by myself, and which I
shall soon find, on waking, to be unreal and imaginary.

"As it is, all my apprehensions of a soporific, such as I
found Darwin's book to be, are dispelled. The book is a
very readable one, at any rate, and no one need go to sleep
over it ... (a long passage here on origin of sense of justice).

" Many, many thanks for the loan of this book. Even
the little I have read would demand a most grateful return,
and I would not have missed it for a good deal. I now
anticipate an intellectual feast over the whole of the book, and
shall carry it with me joyfully and hopefully to Southport.

" I am glad to learn that Terrington Carr is not entirely
obsolete and abolished. I do hope to see it again with my
own eyes, and to gather the sphagnum.

"Ever affectionately and truly yours,

"W. Wilson."

It is curious that this chapter x., which was so grievous
a falling-off to Darwin that he scored it with "No! No!"

64 MY LIFE [Cha*.

and could hardly believe I wrote it, should have been the
means of attracting one good botanist to read it with atten-
tion, and thus probably to make a convert.

A letter from Spruce, dated Welburn, Yorkshire, Decem-
ber 28, 1873, gives some interesting matter on a botanical
subject on which I had consulted him.

" My article on the modifications in plant-structure pro-
duced by the agency of ants was never printed. After I
had been told that the MSS. was in the printer's hands, it
was returned to me with the request that I would strike out
of it two or three short passages, amounting altogether to
hardly a page of the Linncean Journal. I declined to do
this, for the obnoxious passages summarized my views on
the permanent effects produced on certain species of plants
by the unceasing operations of ants, extending doubtless
through thousands of ages ; and these views were founded on
observations continued during eight consecutive years. The
bare reading of the paper, at the Linnaean, seems to have left
a very erroneous impression on some of the auditors. Some-
body— I believe it was at a meeting of your own Entomo-
logical Society — has credited me with the theory that plants
take to climbing to get out of the way of the ants ! As I
read this absurd statement I thought that none of the plants
I had commented on had a climbing habit ; but on looking
over the list of two or three hundred species, I find there is
a single one that climbs.

" When you go to the British Museum or to the Kew
Herbarium, ask to look at the genus Tococa or Myrmidone, in
Melastomaceae, and you will see examples of the curious sacs
on the leaves which are inhabited by ants. Similar sacs are
found on the leaves also of certain Chrysobalaneae, Rubiaceae,
etc., and analogous ones on the branches of cordias and
other plants. I believe that in many cases these sacs have
become inherited structures — as much as the spurs of orchids
and columbines, and thousands of other asymetrical struc-
tures, all of which I suppose to have originated in some long
continued external agency.

" I know that I ought to have gone carefully over all my

xxvii] DR. SPRUCE 65

specimens again, and to have had drawings prepared to
illustrate my memoir. It is the inability to do this which
has kept me from writing on many subjects which engaged
my attention during the course of my travels. . . .

■ The ants cannot be said to be useful to the plants, any
more than fleas and lice are to animals. They make their
habitation in the melastomas, etc., and suck the juice of the
sweet berries ; and the plants have to accommodate to their
parasites as they best may. But even an excrescence may be
turned into a 'thing of beauty,' as witness the galls of the
wild rose.

"That diseased structures may become inherited — even
in the human subject — there is plenty of evidence to prove.
Some curious instances are given in Dr. Elam's ' Physician's
Problems.' "

At this period Dr. Spruce was, of course, not aware of
the very strong evidence against the inheritance of acquired
characters of any kind, nor had he the advantage of Kerner's
wonderful series of observations on the nature of protective
plant-structures against enemies of various kinds — " unbidden
guests." Nor was he aware of Belt's remarkable explanation
of the use to the plant of one of the most remarkable of these
ant-structures — the bull's-horn thorns of a species of acacia.
He shows that the ants encouraged by these structures to
inhabit the plants are stinging species, are very pugnacious,
and thus protect the foliage both from browsing mammals,
from other insects, and even from the large leaf-cutting ants.1
In a later letter, however, Dr. Spruce adopts utility to the
plant as a general principle.

In a letter, dated Coneysthorpe, Malton, Yorkshire, July
28, 1876, he writes as follows : —

"I can hardly say that I have ever speculated on the
purport of the odours of leaves, but I have (at your in-
stance) rummaged in my notes and my memory, for such
evidence as I possess on that head, and will lay it before
you.

" Every structure, every secretion, of a plant is (before all)

1 " The Naturalist in Nicaragua," pp. 218, 223.
VOL. II. F

66 MY LIFE [Chap.

beneficial to the plant itself. That is, I suppose, an incontro-
vertible axiom. Odoriferous glands, especially if imbedded
in the leaf, act as a protection against leaf-cutting ants, and
(to some extent) also against catterpillars. I can remember
no instance of seeing insects attracted to a plant, to aid in its
fertilization, or for any other purpose, by their presence. The
glands on which some insects feed are (so far as I know)
always exposed, either in the shape of cups on the petioles,
involucres &c, or of hairs with dilated and hollow bases,
and of sessile or stalked cysts, on the leaves, petioles,
pedicels &c. ; and the secretion is either tasteless or slightly
sweet, but inodorous — to our senses at least.

"Trees with aromatic leaves abound in the plains of
equatorial America. Those which have the aromatic (and
often resinous) secretion imbedded in distinct cysts include
all Myrtacea, Myrsineae, Sanydese, and many Euphorbiaceae,
Compositae etc. The leaves of very few of these are, when
growing, ever touched by leaf-cutting ants. In the few cases,
however, where the secretion is slightly but pleasantly bitter,
and wholesome, as in the Orange, the leaves are quite to their
taste. At a farm house on the Trombetas 1 I was shown
orange-trees which had been entirely denuded in a single
night by Sauba ants. Various expedients are resorted to by
the inhabitants of Sauba-infested lands to protect their fruit-
trees, such as a small moat, kept constantly filled with water,
around each tree ; or wrapping the base of the trunk with
cotton kept soaked with andiroba oil, etc.

[Note. — Leaf-cutters in the vicinity of man work chiefly
by night, taught doubtless by painful experience of his vicious
propensity to interfere with their operations. But in the
depths of the forest I have often caught them at work, some
up a tree cutting off leaves and even slender young branches,
others on the ground sawing them up and carrying them off.
When at San Carlos,2 I one day went into the forest to
gather a Securidaca (woody Polygaleous twiner) I had seen
coming into flower a few weeks before. I found it in full

1 A northern tributary of the Amazon above Santarem.

2 The first village in Venezuela on the Upper Rio Negro.— A. R. W.

xxvii] DR. SPRUCE 67

flower, but the little tree on which it grew — a Phyllanthus,
with slightly milky and quite innocuous juice, had been taken
possession of by a horde of ants, and I had to wait until they
had stripped it of every leaf before I could pull down my
Securidaca, which they had left quite untouched. It was
probably preserved by its drastic properties from sharing the
fate of the Phyllanthus.]

"Many odoriferous leaves seem destitute of special oil-
glands, and their essential oil probably exists in nearly
every cell, along with the chlorophyll as I have found it in
several aromatic Hepatics. Many Laurineae and Burseraceae
(Amyrideae of Lindley) are in this case. The latter are
eminently resiniferous, and yield the best native pitch (the
brea brancci) of the Amazon valley. I have never seen their
leaves mutilated by ants, and I think never by catterpillars.
Oil-glands indeed exist in many plants where they are either
so deeply imbedded or so minute as only to be detected by
close scrutiny. Their presence was denied in the Nutmegs
(see Lindley, etc.) 1 until I found them in the American
species, and one species has them so conspicuous that I have
called it Myristica punctata.

" In nearly all these plants, however, when the essential
oil has been wholly or in part dissipated by drying, the
leaf-cutters find the leaves apt material for their purpose —
whatever that may be.2 They once fell on some of my dried
specimens, and first cut up a Croton — a genus I had never
seen them touch in the living state. It reminded me of our
cows in England, which cautiously avoid the fresh foliage of
Buttercups, but eat it readily when made into hay. The
acrid principle in these and many other plants, odorous and
inodorous, is known to be highly volatile.

" Where aromatic plants most abound is in the dry — often
nearly treeless — mountainous parts of southern Europe and
Western Asia, especially in the sierras of Spain. When I

1 In Lindley's " Vegetable Kingdom " (3rd ed.) he gives among the characters
of the Order Myristicaceae, M Leaves not dotted." — A. R. W.

2 The ants store these leaves in extensive underground cavities, where fungi
grow on them on which the ants feed (see Bates and Belt). — A. R. W.

68 MY LIFE [Chap.

was with Dufour at St. Sever, in April, 1846, he received
a large parcel of plants recently gathered in the Sierra
Guadarama by Prof. Graells, of Madrid. A very large pro-
portion were aromatic, and many of them Labiates.

" I cannot make out that plants with scented leaves
abound more in the tropics than in mid-Europe : nor does
there seem to be a larger proportion of them in any zone of
the equatorial Andes than in the Amazonian plain ; although,
as hill-plants are often gregarious, and those of hot plains
very rarely so, odoriferous plants may seem more prevalent
in the high Andes than on the Amazon.

" Plants growing nearest eternal snow in the Andes are,
however (so far as I have observed them), all scentless ; but
some acquire an aroma in drying, as, for example the thick
roots of the Valerians that abound there.

"Aromatic plants grow in the Andes up to, perhaps,
13,000 feet, and consist chiefly of Composites, Myrtles,
Labiates and Verbenas. I know a hill-side at about 9000
feet, which at this time of year is one mass of odori-
ferous foliage and flowers, chiefly of a Labiate undershrub
(Gardoquia fasciculata, Bth.). Another slope of far wider
extent is much gayer with varied colour mainly of the blue
flowers of Dalea Mutisii H. B. K. — a papilionaceous shrub
allied to the Indigos — and of the red-purple foxglove-like
flowers of Lamourouxia virgata H. B. K. (which is parasitic
on the roots of the Dalea) mingled with the yellow flowers of
the Quitenian broom {Genista Quitensis, L.), and of many
other herbs and shrubs with flowers of various shades of
colour ; but aromatic plants are almost unrepresented
except by scattered bushes of a Salvia and a Eupatorium.
Analogous contrasts are common enough in our own country.

"In those parts of the Peruvian and Quitenian Andes
I have explored, I have not found odoriferous plants more
abundant than in some parts of England and the Pyrenees ;
yet they are quite as much so as in the Amazonian plain,
and often belong to the same Natural Orders. Now leaf-
cutting ants are unknown in the Andes ; whence I infer that,
although the presence of a pungent smell and taste may be

xxvii] DR. SPRUCE 69

protective to leaves in hot forests where such ants do exist,
it has not been acquired originally to provide the requisite
protection.

" I much doubt the correctness of Mr. Belt's theory that
the ants which inhabit leaf-sacs protect the leaves from
leaf-cutting ants ; for the leaves of such plants are almost
invariably thin and dry ; whereas the Sauba always selects
leaves that are more or less coriaceous, and if it really
wanted the sacciferous leaves I fancy it would make short
work of their frail inhabitants. Besides, there are numbers
of Melastomes, allied to Tococa and Myrmidone, which the
Sauba never touches, although they have no protective (?)
sacs ; but it cuts up readily the coriaceous leaves of other
Melastomes, such as various Bellucias, Henrietteas, &c.

"Richard Spruce."

This letter was written in pencil lying on a couch, to which
he was confined the greater part of the day during the latter
years of his life, and I have much pleasure in printing it here,
because it serves to show my friend's acuteness of observation,
and the great interest he took, not only in the structure, but
in the whole life and nature of the plants he loved so well,
and in their relations to the animal world. I have no doubt
but that his objections to Belt's theory that the small stinging
ants protected the leaves of the trees or shrubs they inhabited
from the very powerful and destructive Sauba ants, are quite
sound, and that his many years' observations in the Amazonian
forests are to be trusted on this point ; yet I believe that
Belt was right in their being protective, and there are many
devourers of leaves that are as destructive as the leaf-cutting
ants. Shrubs which always had colonies of stinging ants
would probably be avoided by the tapir and by deer, while
they would almost certainly check the ravages of caterpillars,
locusts, and the large leaf- and stick-insects.

There is another point that this letter illustrates : the
wonderful complexity and adaptability of organization of
all living things leading to that infinite variety of form and
structure, of colour and motion, which constitute the greatest

70 MY LIFE [Chap.

charm of the study of nature. People continually ask, " If
scented leaves are such a protection, why do not all plants
have them ? If so many can do without them they cannot
be of any use." And the same objection is made to all the
other wonderful modes of protection by concealing colours or
patterns, by resembling uneatable or dangerous species, by the
production of spines or various kinds of armour. " Why are
not all protected ? " they say. " You admit that the majority
are without these kinds of protection, yet they all continue
to exist. The whole idea is therefore a delusion." And they
think they have thus destroyed a large part of Darwin's theory.
But all this shows that they are either ignorant of, or forget,
the main facts on which that theory is founded — the enormous
rate of possible increase of all organisms, the intensity there-
fore of the struggle to exist, since only the few best adapted
of these enormous numbers can survive to produce offspring ;
and also the undoubted fact that species vary enormously in
population, some being common over large areas, some com-
paratively scarce, others confined to very limited areas, others
again only existing in such small numbers and in such
restricted areas that they are very rarely found. Now, if
some great change of climate comes on slowly, such a mixed
population of species will be affected in different ways and
will require different modifications to become adapted to it.
Some will become extinct, some will be adapted in one way,
some in quite a different way, depending partly on the kind
and amounts of variation that occurs in each species. Some
will therefore become more numerous in individuals, others
less ; and when the complete change of climate has been
effected, we should find a new set of species, some differing
very little, others very greatly from the former inhabitants
of the district, but all fairly well adapted to live under the
new conditions. Taking the one case of the protected leaves,
it would be only those which were in some danger of exter-
mination by insect and other enemies that would develop
the various forms of protection by oil-glands, or hairs, or
spines, or by attracting stinging ants ; while many which
existed in great numbers and over wide areas, and which

xxvii] DR. SPRUCE 71

produced abundance of seed annually ready to fill up all
vacancies caused by death, could (metaphorically) laugh at
all such enemies, and let them devour as they pleased. Such
a plant is our own oak tree, which, though infested by galls
of many kinds and devoured by numerous caterpillars, is
yet not in the least danger of extinction by them, and there-
fore has developed no special protection against them.

Again, when in any one year much injury is done by
caterpillars, that affords such an increase of food to young
birds that the insects are almost all destroyed, and in the
following year there are comparatively few, giving the trees
time to recuperate and attain to their former vigour ; while
in the following year the birds have less food and are thus
diminished in numbers. This wonderful action and reaction
of all living things on each other is beautifully described
by Mr. Hudson in the chapter of his " Naturalist in La Plata,"
entitled "A Wave of Life."

Early in 1879 I read Grant Allen's book on the " Colour
Sense " (for the purpose of a review in Nature), and wrote
to Spruce asking for some information as to the colours of
edible fruits in the South American forests. His reply was,
as usual, full of interesting and suggestive facts, and I here
give it.

■ To reply fully to the queries in your last letter would
require me to wade through several volumes of my MSS.,
but I have put together a few excerpta which may serve your
present purpose, if they only reach you in time.

" I fear I cannot adduce much evidence as to the fruits
most sought after by birds and monkeys. I have seen birds
feed on various fruits, but on scarcely any that were not food
for man — or at least for Indian man — although a few of
them might be too austere, or too acid, for my taste. If,
as Sterne says, ' dogs syllogize with their noses,' so do birds
with their beaks, monkeys and Indians with their teeth :
insomuch as relates to the choice of food. In my long
voyage on the Cassiquiare, Alto Orinoco, and some of their
tributary streams, my Indians met with many fruits new to

72 MY LIFE [Chap.

them, all of which that looked at all promising, they tried
their teeth on ; and, if the taste suited they ate on without
dread of consequences. Drupaceous fruits especially were
found almost uniformly wholesome, although the juice of
the bark &c. might be acrid or poisonous. It is curious
that in the Apocynea — an order notable for its abundant
milky, and usually poisonous juice — the fruits are rarely, or
very slightly, milky, and the succulent fruits (which are
found in about half the species) are almost invariably whole-
some. You know the Thevetias, whose large bony triangular
endocarps, strung together, form the rattles which the Uanpe
Indians tie round their ankles in their dances. The milk of
the bark is a deadly poison — Humboldt says a scratch from
a thumb-nail anointed with it is almost certain death. At
Marabitanas a well-grown tree of T. neriifolia grew near the
Commandante's house. It bore flowers and ripe fruits — drupes,
with a thin yellowish cuticle, and about as much flesh on
them as on an average plum ; and I noticed that the Com-
mandante's fowls greedily ate up the fleshy part of any fruit
that might chance to fall. Seeing this, I thought I might
safely eat of them ; so I gathered and ate four. What little
taste they had was rather pleasant, and no ill effects followed.
I had not then seen (as I saw a few years afterwards) what
a quantity of black pepper and tobacco a fowl can swallow
with impunity, or I might have thought the experiment rather
hazardous.

"Many fruits and seeds are sought by animals of all
kinds for the sake of their farinaceous or oleaginous pro-
perties. The envelope of these, in any part of the world,
is not often gaily coloured, although some pods of Amazonian
Leguminosae are deep red, and the contained seeds are very
often painted or mottled. I suppose however it is about
the succulent, sweet or acid fruits — the drupes and berries —
you chiefly enquire. The great mass of these are certainly
as vividly coloured as any fruits of temperate climes — more
so indeed, in many cases, than the flowers that precede them.
Call to mind the bright reds and yellows of the Peach-palm,
the Mango, the enlarged fleshy pear-like petiole of the

xxvii] DR. SPRUCE 73

Cashew, &c. &c. Purple or almost black fruits, often with a
bloom on them, are found in many genera of Palms ; in the
delicious little sloe-like fruits called Umiri (species of Humi-
rium) ; in the Cociiras — exquisite grape-like fruits hanging in
dense bunches from little trees of the order Artocarpeae
(Pournma cecropia 'folia, P. retusa, P. apiculata &c). Among
the smaller Palms (Bactris and Geonoma) some have bright
red, others black fruits. Papaws have the fruit yellow in the
species of the plain ; in the mountain species greenish, although
some of the smaller ones have scarlet fruit. Myrtles (the
berried species, all of which have innocuous, although not
many sapid fruits) have in the great majority of Amazon
, species, black-purple fruits ; in some they are red and often
intensely acid ; in others yellow, &c.

"Succulent fruits with a russet or grey coat are not
numerous on the Amazon. There, as elsewhere, they owe
that peculiarity to the cuticle minutely breaking up and
withering, yet still more or less firmly persisting. Of this
class are the very fine and large fruits called Cuma in the
Tupi language, yielded by two Apocyneous trees of the Rio
Negro {Coiima triphylla and C. dulcis) and one of the Orinoko
{C. oblongce). The thickish russet rind contains seeds nestling
in copious pulp, which eats rather like the fruit of the Medlar
or Service, although far sweeter, whence the Portuguese
colonists called the tree Sorveira. The bark abounds in
thick, sweet and wholesome ! milk, which is excellent glue.

" As the Greengage (whose coat is sometimes partly russet-
grey) is the finest among European plums, so is the homely-
coloured Cuma among all the fruits of the Rio Negro.

" I think I could count on my fingers (if I exclude the
melon-tribe) all the edible green drupes and berries of the
Rio Negro. The chief of them are the Alligator-pear and
some Custard-apples, although some of the latter have a
yellow, some a white, and some a red-purple rind."

Then among other home and private matters comes the
remark equally appropriate now, " What an awful state the
country is getting into ! ' War and wasteful expenditure '
seems to be the key-note of our Government."

74 MY LIFE [Chap. XXVII]

The special points of interest in the above letter are its
complete confirmation of the views derived from European
plants, as to use of the colours of fruits in indicating those
which are edible for birds or arboreal mammals, while the
few exceptions as regards colour are of those large and very
sweet fruits whose attractions are sufficient without the signal
of bright colour. Again, the very frequent occurrence of
acrid or poisonous juice or milk in the bark and leaves,
protecting the young shoots and trees from herbivorous
animals, combined with perfectly innocuous and often agree-
able fleshy or juicy fruits in order to assist in their dispersal,
so clearly implies a selective agency in two opposite directions
in the same species, as almost to amount to the required
demonstration of the existence of natural selection.

I cannot forbear calling attention to the extremely careful
wording and punctuation of these letters, written from a sick
couch, and of which I have not altered a word or a comma.
The clearness and accuracy with which the information is
conveyed fittingly corresponds with the writer's careful obser-
vation of every aspect and detail of plant life. Had his health
permitted more continuous work for a few years longer, he
would probably have given us a volume upon all the chief
aspects and relations of the vegetation of the forests and
mountains of equatorial America, which would have been of
the greatest scientific and popular interest.

CHAPTER XXVIII

MY FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES — DR. PURLAND,
MR. SAMUEL BUTLER, PROFESSOR HAUGHTON

One of the most interesting, amusing, and eccentric men I
became acquainted with during my residence in London, and
with whom I soon became quite intimate, was Dr. T. Purland,
a dentist, living in Mortimer Street, Cavendish Square. He
was a stout, dark, middle-aged man, with somewhat Jewish
features, and of immense energy and vitality — one of those
men whose words pour out in a torrent, and who have always
something wise or witty to say. He had been a great coin-
collector, and had many anecdotes to tell of rarities hit upon
accidentally. He had an unbounded admiration for Greek
coins as works of art, and would dilate upon their beauties as
compared with the poor and inartistic works of our day.
He was something of an Egyptologist, and had many odds
and ends of antiquities, including teeth from mummies and
dentists' instruments found in the old tombs and sarcophagi.
He was a widower with three growing-up children, and had
been obliged to part with all the more valuable parts of his
collection to educate them.

He was a very powerful mesmerist, and helped, with Dr.
Elliotson and others, in establishing the mesmeric hospital
then in existence, and could succeed in sending patients into
the mesmeric trance when other operators failed. He was one
of the few men at that time who had been up in a balloon
(with Green, the celebrated aeronaut, I think), and one evening
at our house in St. Mark's Crescent, when Huxley and Tyndall
were present, he made some remarks which interested
Tyndall, who thereupon asked him many questions as to
his sensations, the general appearance of the earth, clouds, etc.,

75

76 MY LIFE [Chap.

to all of which Dr. Purland replied with such promptitude
and intelligence that all our friends were soon gathered
round to hear the discussion, which went on a long time.

Dr. Purland also possessed a most interesting series of
scrap-books, in which he had collected an immense number
of engravings and woodcuts from old magazines, papers, and
books, which, during his life in London, he had picked up at
bookstalls or among his friends. These were beautifully
arranged in a series of uniform quarto volumes, in some of
which he had illustrated his own second marriage by means
of a series of appropriate caricatures, showing the courtship,
the proposal, the ceremony, the wedding breakfast, the
departure, the wedding journey, with numerous incidents to
the return home ; and occasionally among friends he would
go through all these, describing the various incidents in a
most humorous manner, so as to keep us all highly amused.
When he came to any of our evening receptions, he usually
appeared with one of these books under his arm, and it was
always a source of much interest to our guests. Besides
these books, he had a great collection of odd duplicate scraps,
some of which he used to gum on to the envelopes of letters
in place of a seal, or inside to illustrate some matter referred
to in the letter.

I possess about a dozen of his letters — replies to invita-
tions, remarks on reading my early books, or other matters
— all so amusing and so well illustrating the character and
individuality of the man that I will now print some of them,
and give a few in facsimile to show his style of caricature
illustration.

The letter opposite was, I think, the first I had from him,
and I only give it to illustrate two of his peculiarites — his
gastronomical taste indicated by " Beer Month " for October,
and the " piece of plate " represented by half a beautiful little
print in blue of an old willow-pattern plate pasted in opposite
the signature.

The next letter is in answer to an invitation to tea. He
had been reading my " Malay Archipelago," and the reference

fjb /„l &- J tf** JUJtr

y?

/Pff.

^^/j^yk

[To face p. 76, VOL. II.

jS clT+u J«mS~\ /

7w„u r

[To face p. 77, VOL. II.

xxvui] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 77

on the envelope (here reproduced) is to the description of
the king bird of paradise, and shows how he was able to
introduce appropriate cuts from his large stock. The letter
itself is in hieroglyphic form, intimating that he had other
engagements, indicating himself by his large nose and
scrap-book under his arm.

The next I shall give is an account of the sad results
of reading one of my books aloud. The heading is a
pseudonym for his operating room.

"Fang Castle, June, 1870,

" Therm. 77J-

"Thanks worthy Signor for the entertainment afforded
by your Boke on Natural Selection. But good as c Natural
Selection ' is, or maybe : I like Mutual Selection much better ;
and to my thinking it is of much more importance : ex. gr.
mutual selection is this — A Lady asks me to become her
husband — I ax her to become my wife — that's Mutual Selec-
tion— aint it ' Natural ' ? The question of the ' fittest ' is a
subsequent affair : as is the Creation by birth, etc , etc.

" But the pleasure was sadly and suddenly interrupted : I
was reading aloud, and got on pretty well through p. 90-91.
At 92 Jaws ached terribly ! but at p. 94 and 5, even vulcanite
could not stand it ; and to my horror my upper set of teeth
gave way with a crash ! divided between the right lateral and
the canine. I was helpless ; and but for an old piece in
reserve, my enjoyment of a succulent Roast Pig would have
been entirely destroyed : it cost me dear — quite the value of a
collection : I must give up reading scientific (?) names aloud.

" I picked up a good specimen of Lignum ambulans for
a shilling a week ago : and it now forms a prominent feature
in our surgery. We are promised a Phyllium in a few days :
and a Kallima paralekta. The Rosa Canina is a puzzle at
present : I never saw a Red Canine tooth ! Speaking of
teeth — Huxley in his Physiology says Bicuspids never have
more than two fangs — He knows nothing about it. I have
them with three — Molars with 4, 5, and 6 ! In my lecture
case, now before me, there are several : they are not as

78 MY LIFE [Chap,

common as dirt or earwigs in the country I but they often
turn up.

" I begin the second reading to-night — not aloud — oh no !
" With our best Salaam to the Lady, I remain
" Thine in amity,

" Theodosius Purland."

The next letter is so wholly and heartily gastronomic
that it appeals to me strongly, and reveals the jovial cha-
racter of the man so amusingly that it must not be omitted.

" Fang Castle, 7, Mortimer St., W.,
"Jan. 9, 1870-1.

" Now you're wuss and wuss !

" Tuesday is the ' University ' of the High-mighty and pious
College of Dentists of England, and everywhere else : the
1 Collection ' of Officers, and when I am to give an acct. of
all the four-penny pieces I have received during the year —
for, and on behalf of the Jaw-breakers in general, and the
Council in particular. We begin at 7 — close when we have
no more to say ; and adjourn to St. James's Hall feeding-Box,
for a trial of the Artificials !

" It was lucky I called there this morning. Our Sec. had
ordered a Cold Collation — Cold Veal, Ham and Fowls ! COLD
Devils ! You may as well eat a Hat-box or Fire-wood.

" I have ordered a Hot Supper — Ducks — Giblet Pies —
Plum-pudding, and such like Comforts — cold grub indeed, and
the Glass at 260. So you see, as I cannot well be in two
places at once, and where Duty call one must obey, we shall
not have the pleasure of Banquetting upon the ' Cold Greens!

" As to ' Alcohol ' — I do not think I shall venture out —
Aunt Loo is going to preside at a School treat in the shape of
T., Bunns, Plum cake and sundry indigestibles, one a Magic-
Lanthorn, which they are to devour. Tom and his Cousin
Constance go as well : So I shall be alone, as the Gals are at
Torquay — capital place for females as it is all Talkie !
Talkie ! — So, as I said before, I shall be alone — and I con-
template the utter destruction of a Kidney PUDDING ! Think
of that, Master Brook — a Kidney pudding ! and perhaps a bit
of steak or a Sausage or TWO, perhaps THREE : only two of us —
the pudding and / / no weggibles, to take up the room the

as . .^/

\Tofacep. 78, Vol. II.

fyoo4-fa<S*sK

[This drawing and inscription formed the heading of the third of Dr. Purlands
letters printed on the opposite page.]

xxvui] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 79

pudding ought to occupy ! Oh no ! And then the ale — think
of the ale — a fresh Cask — Nine Gallons, a shilling a Gallon !
goes down your throat like a wheel-barrow, washing out the
Corners preparatory to a fresh plate of pudding — the idea is
enchanting, and would, if set to Music, be overpowering !
Talk of quartettes and quintettes ; what are they to a Solo
upon a Kidney pudding? Answer me that! No, you can't ;
it is unanswerable ! So with our blessing upon thee and
thine, I remain ' pretty much as usual,'

" Yours,

"T. PURLAND."

I presume the " cold greens " refers to some delicacy (per-
haps lobster-salad) I had tempted him with, while " alcohol " in
the next line must imply an invitation to a " spiritual " seance
with some friends, which were very frequent about this period.
In like manner, he puts " university " for " anniversary," and
" collection " for " election " — all in the exuberance of his
spirits, which forbids his writing like other people. But the
frank, open, animal enjoyment of it all is equal to Falstaff or
Dumas's fat monk, Gorenflot, in ■ Chicot the Jester."

The next is all about family matters, but illustrated, and
in his best style.

" In obedience to thy orders we proceed to indicate the
positions of our satellites — 12 — exact time ; Thomas Theodo-
sius Constantine is at Bryckden — a place seven miles from
everywhere. T. T. C. will make his triumphal entry into the
Victoria Station at 4.20 p.m., followed by all the game he hath
shot with his cross-bow, which we hope will not be more than
the porters can conveniently carry.

" Mary Ellen, commonly called Nell, is at Gravesend,
whacking into and keeping in order some juvenile cousins —
the progeny of the Rev. Sleap, Bp. Designative of Alsatia,
but at present holding forth at the parish Church of Ware.

" Louisa Harriett, commonly called Loo, is with her Aunt
Loo, at Gosport, superintending the getting up of the festi-
vities necessary on the Marriage of their Cousin the Daughter
of Col. Wright (who has been where you tried to get and
didn't as mentioned in your Boke), and who has a great
desire to hold speech thereon.

8o

MY LIFE

[Chap.

" For ourselves we are supposed to be in charge of the
house, and Thomas Thedosius Constantine will perhaps be
at the Dovers, so that the probability is we shall be as thus —

" Thus much for this week ; next week all the Chicks will
be beneath our wing, and probably able and willing to de-
molish, or assist in demolishing, any larder however large.

" Secular.
" We cancel that part relating to Loo and Aunt Loo — there
is a screw loose. Nell was to have been one of Six ! Brides-
maids ; but our hilarity on hearing of the absurdity hath given
offence. Nell therefore retires, and we are under a Kibosh !

" As soon as we are able to breathe, we will communicate.

" Thine,

" Dentatus."

y?-e-*<. s gvvJZwEL

tf yj KS tJ y/ ** *

j? J^ mm "//^ **+~*~*L~)Aa~\ a. J Joy

yS/^-^Z—

3

MY LAST LETTER FROM DR. PURLAND.

[To fact p. 8i, Vol. II.

xxviii] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES Si

The next letter refers chiefly to an eccentric friend of his,
Mr. Morgan Kavanagh, author of a work on " The Origin of
Language and of Myths," and always referred to by Purland
as " The Great O," on account of his fundamental idea that
(O) was the sign of the sun, the only permanently circular
object in nature, and that the word " O " was the original
name of the sun (from making the figure with the lips), and
was thus the origin of all language. The book, however, is
full of the most ingenious and suggestive derivations from
Sanscrit and the Eastern languages.

"Sept. 24, 1872.

"No! can't be a bigger man than you — 19 stone. Will
warm the only bed we have — as spare ! But the nights are
fine, and a walk home after the Jaw won't hurt you.

■ You can grub if you like on what we have. As to the
great O, he was here on Saturday — Och Murther — as usual,
full of his diskivery — but it is all bosh.

" The true thing is this. Originally, man spoke by signs,
and no wonder — Adam and Eve spoke by signs only, until
one day Adam refused to go round the corner for some hard-
bake, which put Eve into a passion, and in her rage she broke
Adam's head with the bedpost, which made him cry ' O ! ' and
Eve, alarmed at opening his head and mouth at one blow,
cried ' O ' too. That's the origin of Language !

" Some think Adam said • O Crikey,' but as he was
Crackey at the time it is uncertain.

"Thine,

" Naso."

The last I have was an anecdote of animal sagacity, a
subject then being discussed in the papers, and of which he
had given me some examples. I give a print of it, as it
is a good example of his caricature drawing and of one of
his fantastic signatures.

Our pleasant intimacy came to an end in a most absurd
manner. Dr. Purland was, as I have said, a powerful and
enthusiastic mesmerist, and had given his services for many
VOL. II. G

82 MY LIFE [Chap.

surgical operations. Just as the opposition of the chiefs of the
medical profession was dying away, and they were beginning
to acknowledge the great value of the mesmeric sleep in
alleviating pain and greatly facilitating serious operations, the
discovery of anaesthetics offered a rival, which, though much
more dangerous, was more certain and more easily applied in
emergencies, and this led to the discontinuance of the use of
mesmerism as a remedial agent. This naturally disgusted
Dr. Purland, who, with the whole energy of his character,
hated chloroform, ether, and nitrous-oxide gas, and would
have nothing to do with them in his profession. Besides, he
despised any one who could not bear [the pain of tooth-
drawing, and would turn away any patient who required the
gas to be administered. A year or two after the date of his
last letter my teeth were in a very bad state, and I had a
number of broken stumps which required to be extracted
preparatory to having a complete set of artificials. Entirely
forgetting his objections, which, in fact, I had hardly believed
to be real, after making an appointment I asked him to get
a doctor to administer nitrous-oxide, as I could not stand the
pain of three or four extractions of stumps of molars in
succession. This thoroughly enraged him. He wrote me a
most violent letter, saying he could not continue to be the
friend of a man who could ask him to do such a thing, and
gave me the name of an acquaintance of his who had no such
scruples and whose work was thoroughly good. And that
was the last communication I ever had from Dr. Purland.

The dentist to whom he recommended me was really a
good workman, and made me a set of teeth which I wore
almost constantly for thirty years, and which I have never
had equalled since. While going about lecturing, and
especially when going to America in 1886, I had new sets
made, and I think I have had altogether four complete sets
besides the first, but not one of them has been comfortable
or even wearable without great pain ; with none could I eat
satisfactorily or speak distinctly, and though I pointed out to
each new dentist how well these old ones fitted me, and how
comfortable they were, and begged each of them to make the

xxviii] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 83

new ones as nearly as possible the same shape, yet each one
made them differently, and some were so totally unlike that,
when placed side by side, no one would believe they could have
been made for the same mouth. My experience of modern
dentists is that they all want to improve upon nature, and care
nothing for the comfort of those who are to use the teeth.

I will occupy the remainder of this chapter with a few par-
ticulars of my relations with persons of some eminence, but
with whom: I had very few opportunities of personal intercourse.

I made the acquaintance of Mr. Samuel Butler, the author
of " Erewhon," through my friend Miss Buckley, at whose
father's house on Paddington Green I met him two or three
times. He was so good as to send me that wonderfully
clever and original book, and also his less known satirical
religious story, " The Fair Haven," which was reviewed with
approval by some of the Church newspapers as a genuine
piece of biography, which it purports to be. He also sent me
" Life and Habit," and " Evolution Old and New," both of
which I reviewed in Nature in the year 1879. The former
is a wonderfully ingenious, brilliant, and witty application of
the theory of Haeckel and others, that every animal cell, or
even every organic molecule, is an independent conscious
organism, with its likes and dislikes, its habits and instincts
like the higher animals. He explains instincts as inherited
memories, which, at the time he wrote, was a permissible
hypothesis, but is now almost universally rejected as implying
the inheritance of acquired characters, which all the available
evidence is opposed to. The book, however, is well worth
reading for its extreme ingenuity, logical arrangement, and
all-pervading wit and humour.

The other work is a very full and careful exposition of
the doctrines, as regards evolution, of Buffon, Lamarck,
Dr. Erasmus Darwin, Mr. Patrick Matthew, and some more
recent writers, with copious quotations from their works, and
an attempt to show not only that their views were of the same
general nature as those of Darwin, but were also of equal if
not greater importance. After reading the volume I wrote

84 MY LIFE [Chap.

the following letter to the author, which may be of interest to
those naturalists who either have not seen the work or who
have forgotten its essential features : —

" Waldron Edge, Duppas Hill, Croydon,
"May 9, 1879.

"My dear Sir,

" Please accept my thanks for the copy of ' Evolu-
tion Old and New,' and of ' Life and Habit,' which you were
so good as to send me.

" I have just finished reading the former with mixed feel-
ings of pleasure and regret. I am glad that a connected
account of the views of Buffon, Dr. Darwin, and Lamarck, and
especially of Mr. Patrick Matthew, should be given to the
world ; but I am sorry that you should have, as I think, so
completely failed in a just estimation of the value of their
work as compared with that of Mr. Charles Darwin, — because
it will necessarily prejudice naturalists against you, and will
cause ' Life and Habit ' to be neglected ; and this I should
greatly regret.

" To my mind, your quotations from Mr. Patrick Matthew
are the most remarkable things in your whole book, because
he appears to have completely anticipated the main ideas
both of the ' Origin of Species ' and of ' Life and Habit'

" I should have to write a long article to criticize your book
(which perhaps I may do). In your admiration of Lamarck
you do not seem to observe that his views are all pure con-
jecture, utterly unsupported by a single fact. Where has it
been proved that, in any one case, desires have caused varia-
tion ? It is pure theory, with no fact to support it. And even
if desires might, in a long course of generations, produce some
effect, it can be demonstrated that in the same time ' natural
selection ' or ' survival of the fittest ' would produce so much
greater an effect as to overpower the other unless the two
worked together.

"I am sorry to see also much that seems to me mere
verbal quibbles. For instance, at p. 388 (last par.) you turn

xxviii] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 85

'spontaneous variability' into 'unknown causes,' and then,
of course, make nonsense of Mr. Darwin's words. In this
way I will undertake to make nonsense of any argument.
' Spontaneous variability ' is a FACT, as explained, for
example, in my review of Mr. Murphy's book (along with
yours) in Nature. It is an absolutely universal fact in the
organic world (and for all I know in the inorganic too), and
is probably a fundamental fact, due to the impossibility of any
two organisms ever having been subjected to exactly identical
conditions, and the extreme complexity both of organisms
and their environment. This normal variability wants no
other explanation. Its absence is inconceivable, because it
would imply that diversity of conditions produced identity of
result. The wishes or actions of individuals may be one of
the causes of variability, but only one out of myriads. Now
to say that such an universal fact as this cannot be taken as
a basis of reasoning because the exact causes of it are
unknown in each ease, is utterly illogical. The causes of
gravitation, of electricity, of heat, of all the forces of nature
are unknown. Can we not, then, reason on them, and explain
other phenomena by them, without having the words 'un-
known causes ' substituted, and thus making nonsense ?

" I am no blind admirer of Mr. Darwin, as my works
show ; but I must say your criticism of him in your present
work completely fails to reach him.

" The mere fact that Lamarck's views, though well put
before the world for many years by Sir Charles Lyell (and
other writers) converted no one, while Darwin has converted
almost all the best naturalists in Europe, is a pretty good
proof that the one theory is more complete than the other.
" Yours very faithfully,

"Alfred R. Wallace."

In Nature (June 12) I reviewed this book more fully,
showing by numerous quotations how completely Mr.
Butler has failed to grasp the essential features of natural
selection, while a large portion of his criticism of Mr.
Darwin's work is purely verbal and altogether erroneous

86 MY LIFE [Chap.

and misleading. I received no reply either to my letter or to
the review.

When I was at Montreal in 1887, Mr. lies, the manager
of the Windsor Hotel in that city, called my attention to a
most humorous critical rhapsody which Mr. Butler had
written after his recent visit to Canada and sent to the
Spectator. As I do not think it has appeared elsewhere,
and is a good example of his fantastic genius, I here give
it from a copy furnished me by Mr. lies.

A Psalm of Montreal.

[The city of Montreal is one of the most rising and, in many respects, most
agreeable on the American continent, but its inhabitants are as yet too busy with
commerce to care greatly about the masterpieces of old Greek Art. A cast, how-
ever, of one of these masterpieces — the finest of the several statues of Discoboli,
or Quoit-throwers — was found by the present writer in the Montreal Museum of
Natural History ; it was, however, banished from public view, to a room where
were all manner of skins, plants, snakes, insects, etc., and in the middle of these,
an old man stuffing an owl. The dialogue — perhaps true, perhaps imaginary,
perhaps a little of one and a little of the other — between the writer and the old
man gave rise to the lines that follow.]

Stowed away in a Montreal lumber-room,
The Discobolus standeth, and turneth his face to the wall ;
Dusty, cobweb-covered, maimed and set at naught,
Beauty crieth in an attic, and no man regardeth.
Oh God! oh Montreal!

Beautiful by night and day, beautiful in summer and winter,
Whole or maimed, always and alike beautiful,
He preacheth gospel of grace to the skins of owls,
And to one who seasoneth the skins of Canadian owls.
Oh God ! oh Montreal !

When I saw him, I was wroth, and I said, "O Discobolus !
Beautiful Discobolus, a Prince both among gods and men,
What doest thou here, how earnest thou here, Discobolus,
Preaching gospel in vain to the skins of owls ? "

Oh God ! oh Montreal !

And I turned to the man of skins, and said unto him, " Oh 1 thou man of

skins,
Wherefore hast thou done this, to shame the beauty of the Discobolus ? "
But the Lord had hardened the heart of the man of skins,
And he answered, " My brother-in-law is haberdasher to Mr. Spurgeon."

Oh God ! oh Montreal !

xxviii] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 87

" The Discobolus is put here because he is vulgar, —
He hath neither vest nor pants with which to cover his limbs ;
I, sir, am a person of most respectable connections, —
My brother-in-law is haberdasher to Mr. Spurgeon."
Oh God ! oh Montreal !

Then I said, " O brother-in-law to Mr. Spurgeon's haberdasher !
Who seasonest also the skins of Canadian owls,
Thou callest ' trousers ' ' pants,' whereas I call them ' trousers,'
Therefore thou art in hell-fire, and may the Lord pity thee !
Oh God ! oh Montreal !

* Preferrest thou the gospel of Montreal to the gospel of Hellas,

The gospel of thy connection with Mr. Spurgeon's haberdasher to the

gospel of the Discobolus?"
Yet none the less blasphemed he beauty saying, " The Discobolus hath

no gospel, —
But my brother-in-law is haberdasher to Mr. Spurgeon."
Oh God ! oh Montreal !

In June, 1863, an article appeared in the Annals and
Magazine of Natural History by the Rev. S. Haughton,
entitled " On the Bee's Cell and the Origin of Species." At
that time I was eager to enter the lists with any one who
attacked natural selection or Darwin's exposition of it. This
article was full of the usual errors and misconceptions, some
of the most absurd nature, but all set forth as if with the
weight of authority in a scientific periodical. I accordingly
replied in the October number of the Annals, and criticized
the critic rather severely. Mr. Haughton had written : " The
true cause of the shape of the cell is the crowding together of
the bees at work, as was first shown by Buffon" — a view
which Darwin had disproved both by observation of many
distinct species of bees, and by careful experiment with the
honey-bee, as I explained in the article. He then argues that
" if economy of wax " was the essential cause of the bees
forming hexagon cells out of circular ones, by gnawing away
the solid angles, as Darwin observed them doing, we ought
to find a series of species, some making triangular, others
square cells, because these are the forms which geometrically
come next to the hexagon in economy of wax to a given area !
quite overlooking the fact that the primitive cells are proved

88 MY LIFE [Chap.

to be circular, and that circles in contact cannot be changed
by any gradual process of modification involving saving of
wax into triangles or squares.

He then charges Darwin with three unwarrantable as-
sumptions, which he declares he "brings to the ground like a
child's house of cards." These are (i) " The indefinite varia-
tion of species continuously in the one direction ; " (2) " That
the causes of variation, viz. natural advantage in the struggle
for existence (Darwin), are sufficient to account for the effects
asserted to be produced ; " and (3) " That succession implies
causation ; that the Palaeozoic Cephalopoda produced the
red-sandstone fishes ; that these in turn gave birth to the
Liassic reptiles, etc." I easily showed that all these alleged
"assumptions" of Darwin are absurd misrepresentations of
his real statements ; and I concluded by applying his own
words with regard to Darwinians as being really applicable to
himself : " No progress in natural science is possible so long
as men will take their rude guesses at truth for facts, and
substitute the fancies of their imagination for the sober rules
of reasoning."

This criticism gave great offence to Dr. John Edward
Gray, of the British Museum, who, when I next met him, told
me that I ought not to have written in such a tone of ridicule
of a man who was much older and more learned than
myself.

Mr. Haughton, however, seems to have taken it in good
part and to have forgotten it, for eighteen years later, when
he was F.R.S., Senior Lecturer of Trinity College, and
Professor of Geology in Dublin University, he sent me a
copy of his " Lectures on Physical Geography," inscribed
" With the best respects of the author."

A little later I received from him the following letter : —

"Trinity College, Dublin, April, 25, 1882.

" My dear Mr. Wallace,

" I have received your kind letter of 20th inst., for
which I feel much obliged. If the statements about gulf-
streams in my last paper support your own views rather

xxvui] FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES 89

than mine, no one will admit the result more readily than
myself.

" I fear that I shall not have the pleasure of seeing your
degree conferred on the 29th June, as I shall have to attend
the General Medical Council in London on the 27th June.

" I was asked by the Provost and Senior Fellows to
recommend two names for Honorary Degrees in Physical
and Natural Science, and I chose Dr. Siemens and yourself
as worthy representatives of the two ' poles of science.'
" I am, yours very truly,

"Saml. Haughton."

Dr. Haughton did, however, return before I left Dublin,
and I had the great pleasure one morning of breakfasting
with him and the other members of the managing committee
at the Zoological Gardens, and of enjoying his instructive and
witty conversation. The brilliant midsummer morning, the
cosy room looking over the beautiful gardens, and the highly
agreeable and friendly party assembled rendered this one of
the many pleasant recollections of my life.

CHAPTER XXIX

SKETCH OF MY LIFE AND WORK, 1871-1886

Having now lived in London eight years, and having finished,
as I then thought, my chief literary work — my " Malay Archi-
pelago " — I had a great longing for life in the country where
I could devote much of my time to gardening and rural
walks. My wife also was very fond of country life, so I
began to look about for a place in which to settle. At this
time it had been decided to build a museum in East London
to illustrate both art and nature, and having the strong
support and influence of Sir Charles Lyell, and through him
of Lord Ripon, I felt much too confident of obtaining the
directorship of it. I therefore determined to look out for a
suitable place in Essex, where I should have easy access to
the museum at Bethnal Green if I obtained the post, while,
at all events, land would be cheaper there than in the more
fashionable districts of the south and west.

As a kind of halfway house, I took an old cottage at
Barking — Holly Lodge — to which we moved in March, 1870,
and where I was still almost in London. Though Barking
was a miserable kind of village, surrounded by marshes and
ugly factories, there were yet some pleasant walks along the
Thames and among the meadows, while within a quarter of
a mile of us was a well-preserved tumulus close to an old
farmhouse. Here, too, we had some very pleasant neighbours.
Sir Antonis Brady at Stratford, whom I had often visited with
my friend Silk, and who had a fine collection of fossils from
the gravels of the district ; Mr. C. M. Ingleby, the Shake-
spearean commentator, who was interested in spiritualism ;

90

[Ch. xxix] MY FRIENDS AND WORK, 1871-1886 91

and more especially Colonel Hope, V.C., who was living
at Parsloes, an old manor house within an easy walk, and
with whose amiable and intellectual family we spent many
pleasant Sunday afternoons. Colonel Hope had here laid
out a large sewage farm, and had for years carried out ex-
periments demonstrating the fact that many agricultural
crops could be grown on absolutely sterilized sand by the
application of sewage in proper quantities. He had urged
that the whole of the London sewage, instead of being emptied
into the Thames near Barking, should be carried on to the
Maplin sands, where about ten thousand acres of land could
be reclaimed and fertilized so as to grow a large portion of
the vegetable food for London. This would have been the
cheaper method in the end, saving the pollution of the whole
tidal course of the Thames and the enormous annual cost of
dredging required to partially remedy that pollution. Instead
of this wasteful expenditure, the rental of the reclaimed land,
with the fertilizing sewage, might have been so large as to
fully repay the extra expenditure, and at the same time give
us an unpolluted stream in our capital city. But the plan was
too grand to be accepted, and we continue to pay the penalty.
In the following year I found near the village of Grays,
on the Thames, twenty miles from London, a picturesque old
chalk-pit which had been disused so long that a number of
large elms and a few other trees had grown up in its less
precipitous portions. The chalk here was capped by about
twenty feet of Thanet sand and pleistocene gravel, and from
the fields at the top there was a beautiful view over Erith
to the Kent hills and down a reach of the Thames to
Gravesend, forming a most attractive site for a house. After
some difficulty I obtained a lease for ninety-nine years of four
acres, comprising the pit itself, an acre of the field on the
plateau above, and about an equal amount of undulating
cultivable ground between the pit and the lane which gave
access to it. I had to pay seven pounds an acre rent, as the
owner could not sell it, and though I thought it very dear,
as so much of it was unproductive, the site was so picturesque,
and had such capabilities of improvement, that I thought it

92 MY LIFE [Chap.

would be a fair investment. The owner lived at Winchester,
and when I went down there to see him and arrange the
terms, I recall one little incident illustrating one of the great
social changes of the last thirty-five years. After our business
was settled and we had had some lunch, he offered to show me
the cathedral, and on our way there a gentleman passed us
on one of the early bicycles, which were then a comparative
novelty. As the cyclist passed, my companion remarked,
■ There goes a fool upon rollers " — expressing a very common
opinion among the older portion of the community.

As there was a deep bed of rough gravel on my ground
and there were large cement works at Grays, I thought
it would be economical to build of concrete, and I found
an architect of experience, Mr. Wonnacott, of Farnham, who
made the plans and specifications, while I myself saw that
the gravel was properly washed. In order to obtain water
in ample quantity for building and also for garden and other
purposes, I had a well sunk about a hundred feet into a
water-bearing stratum of the chalk, and purchased a small iron
windmill with a two-inch force pump to obtain the water. I
made two small concrete ponds in the garden — one close to
the windmill — and had a large tank at the top of a low tower
to supply house water. My friend Geach, the mining engineer
whom I had met in Timor and Singapore, was now at home,
and took an immense interest in my work. He helped me
to find the windmill — the only one that we could discover in
any of the engineering shops in London — and the well being
completed, he and I, with the assistance of my gardener, did
all the work of fitting the pump at the bottom of the well
with connecting-rods and guides up to the windmill, which
also we erected and set to work ourselves. As the windmill
had no regulating apparatus, and, when the wind became
strong, revolved far too rapidly, and even bent the connecting-
rod, I attached to the ends of the iron vanes pieces of plate
iron about a foot square, fixed at right angles to the line of
motion. These acted as brakes as soon as the revolution
became moderately rapid, but had little effect when it was
slow ; and the arrangement worked very well.

:-'..

Si

xxix] MY FRIENDS AND WORK, 1871-1886 93

With the help of another labourer I also myself laid down
i^-inch galvanized water-pipes to the house, with branches and
taps where required in the garden. I also built concrete walls
round the acre of ground at top, the part facing south about
nine feet high for fruit trees, the rest about five feet ; and also
laid out the garden, planted mounds for shelter, made a
winding road from below, which, when the shrubs had grown
up, became exceedingly picturesque ; and helped to sift out
hundreds of cubic yards of gravel to improve the land for
the kitchen garden. All this work was immensely interesting,
and I have seldom enjoyed myself more thoroughly, especi-
ally as my friend Geach was a continual visitor, was always
ready with his help and advice, and took as much interest in
the work as I did myself. We got into the house in March,
1872, and I began to take that pleasure in gardening, and
especially in growing uncommon and interesting as well as
beautiful plants, which in various places, under many diffi-
culties and with mingled failures and successes, has been a
delight and solace to me ever since.

During my four and a half years' residence at Grays I
received visits from several foreigners of eminence, among
whom I especially recollect three Russians — Hon. Alexander
Aksakoff, who may almost be called the Myers of Russian
and German spiritualism ; Professor Boutleroff, a biologist
and also a spiritualist ; and V. S. Solovyoff, also a spiritualist
These were all delightful people, and they somewhat amused
my wife and myself by their enjoyment of the few delicacies
we were able to give them. On one of the occasions we
had a fine crop of peaches on our concrete wall, small, but
very delicious, and we had feasted on them for some time.
So we put a handsome dish containing a dozen or more
on the tea-table, and as our Russian visitor seemed greatly
to appreciate them, we pressed him to eat as many as he
liked, and he took us at our word and finished the dish.
Another time we had some very good orange-marmalade
on the table, which we offered with bread and butter, but
our guest said, "No; with my tea" — so he asked for half
a cup of tea, of course without milk or sugar, in the Russian

94 MY LIFE [Chap

fashion, and then put spoonful after spoonful of marmalade
in, till the cup was full. " That is very nice," he said ; and
he had another cup of the same mixture. I love delicacies
myself, and these little eccentricities interested me ; but I
draw the line at marmalade and tea.

At this time I was somewhat doubtful in what particular
direction to work, as I found that I could not now feel suffi-
cient interest in any branch of systematic zoology to devote
myself to the minute study required for the classification and
description of any important portion of my collections. There
were many other men who could do that better than I could,
while my special tastes led me to some work which involved
a good deal of reasoning and generalization. It was, I think,
my two friends, Professor A. Newton and Dr. Sclater, who
urged me to undertake a general review of the geographical
distribution of animals, and after a little discussion of the
subject I came to the conclusion that I might perhaps be
able to do it ; although, if I had been aware of the
difficulties of the task, I should probably not have under-
taken it.

As this was the largest and perhaps the most important
scientific work I have done, I may perhaps be allowed here
to say a few words as to its design and execution. I had
already, in several of my papers and articles, explained my
general views of the purport and scope of geographical dis-
tribution as a distinct branch of biological science. I had
accepted and supported Dr. P. L. Sclater's division of the
earth's surface into six great zoological regions, founded upon
a detailed examination of the distribution of birds, but equally
applicable to mammalia, reptiles, and several other great
divisions, and best serving to illustrate and explain the
diversities and apparent contradictions in the distribution of
all land animals ; and I may now add that the additional
facts accumulated, and the various divisions suggested during
the thirty years that have since elapsed, have not in the least
altered my opinions on this matter.

In whatever work I have done I have always aimed at

xxixj MY FRIENDS AND WORK, 1871-1886 95

systematic arrangement and uniformity of treatment through-
out. But here the immense extent of the subject, the over-
whelming mass of detail, and above all the excessive diversities
in the amount of knowledge of the different classes of animals,
rendered it quite impossible to treat all alike. My pre-
liminary studies had already satisfied me that it was quite
useless to attempt to found any conclusions on those groups
which were comparatively little known, either as regards the
proportion of species collected and described, or as regards
their systematic classification. It was also clear that as the
present distribution of animals is necessarily due to their past
distribution, the greatest importance must be given to those
groups whose fossil remains in the more recent strata are the
most abundant and the best known. These considerations
led me to limit my work in its detailed systematic ground-
work, and study of the principles and laws of distribution, to
the mammalia and birds, and to apply the principles thus
arrived at to an explanation of the distribution of other
groups, such as reptiles, fresh-water fishes, land and fresh-
water shells, and the best-known insect-orders.

There remained another fundamental point to consider.
Geographical distribution in its practical applications and
interest, both to students and the general reader, consists of
two distinct divisions, or rather, perhaps, may be looked at
from two points of view. In the first of these we divide the
earth into regions and subregions, study the causes which
have led to the differences in their animal productions, give a
general account of these, with the amount of resemblance to
and difference from other regions ; and we may also give lists
of the families and genera inhabiting each, with indications
as to which are peculiar and which are also found in adjacent
regions. This aspect of the study I term zoological geography,
and it is that which would be of most interest to the resident
or travelling naturalist, as it would give him, in the most
direct and compact form, an indication of the numbers and
! kinds of animals he might expect to meet with.

But a large number of students now limit themselves to
a study of one of the classes, or even orders, of the higher

g6

MY LIFE

[Chap.

animals from all parts of the world, and it is of special
interest to him to be able to see at a glance how each family
and genus is distributed, with the number of known species.
He thus see what are the deficiencies in his collection, and
from what countries he most needs additional species ; and all
this information I wished to give him, as I had often felt
the want of it myself. This part of the work I termed
" geographical zoology," and to this I gave special attention,
and have given for every family of mammals, birds, and reptiles
a diagram, which in a single line exhibits its distribution in
each of the four subregions of the six regions. To give the
reader some idea of this compact method of summarizing
information, I will give here its application to one family of
mammalia : —

Family 5

0— Cervid^e (8 genera 5:

! species).

Neotropical
Subregions.

Nearctic
Subregions.

Palsearctic
Subregions.

Ethiopian
Subregions.

Oriental

Subregions.

Australian
Subregions.

1, 2, 3, -

1, 2, 3, 4,

1, 2, 3, 4,

1, 2, 3, 4,

1,

Here the distribution of the true deer over the earth is
shown at a glance when once the limits of the regions and
subregions are learnt, as marked on the general and special
maps by which the book is illustrated. The work was
published in 1876, in two thick volumes, and it had occupied
a good deal of my time during the four years I lived at Grays.
As this book, being very costly and technical, is less known
to English readers than any of my other works, I will here
give the titles of the chapters, which will sufficiently indicate
the range of subjects treated in its eleven hundred pages : —

Part I. — The Principles and General Phenomena of
Distribution.
Chap. I. Introductory.
„ II. The means of Dispersal and the Migrations of Animals.
„ III. Distribution as affected by the Conditions and Changes of the

Earth's Surface.
„ IV. The Zoological Regions.

„ V. Classification as affecting the Study of Geographical Dis-
tribution.

xxix] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1871-1886 97

Part II. — On the Distribution of Extinct Animals.

Chap. VI. The Extinct Mammalia of the Old World.
„ VII. Extinct Mammalia of the New World.
„ VIII. Various Extinct Animals; and on the Antiquity of the
Genera of Insects and Land Shells.

Part III. — Zoological Geography: a Review of the Chief
Forms of Life in the Several Regions and Subregions,
with the Indications they afford of Geographical
Changes.

Chap. IX. The Order of Succession of the Regions — Cosmopolitan
Groups of Animals — Tables of Distribution.
„ X. The Palasarctic Region.

„ XI. The Ethiopian Region.
„ XII. The Oriental Region.
„ XIII. The Australian Region.
„ XIV. The Neotropical Region.
„ XV. The Nearctic Region.

., XVI. Summary of the Past Changes and General Relations of
the Several Regions.

Part IV.— Geographical Zoology : a Systematic Sketch of the
Chief Families of Land Animals in their Geographical
Relations.

Chap. XVII. Distribution of the Families and Genera of Mammalia.
„ XVIII. Distribution of the Families and Genera of Birds.
„ XIX. Distribution of the Families and Genera of Reptiles and

Amphibia.
„ XX. Distribution of the Families of Fishes, with the Range of

such Genera as inhabit Fresh Water.
„ XXI. Distribution of some of the more important Families and

Genera of Insects.
,, XXII. Outline of the Geographical Distribution of Mollusca.
, XXIII. Summary of the Distribution and Lines of Migration of

the Several Classes of Animals.

I devoted a large amount of labour to making a fairly
:omplete index, which comprises more than six thousand
mtries.

No one is more aware than myself of the defects of the
vork, a considerable portion of which are due to the fact that
t was written a quarter of a century too soon — at a time when

VOL. II. H

98 MY LIFE [Chap.

both zoological and palaeontological discovery were advancing
with great rapidity, while new and improved classifications of
some of the great classes and orders were in constant progress.
But though many of the details given in these volumes would
now require alteration, there is no reason to believe that the
great features of the work and general principles established
by it will require any important modification. Its most
severe critics are our American cousins, who, possessing a
" region " of their own, have been able to explore it very
rapidly ; while from several references made to it, I think it is
appreciated on the European continent more than it is in our
own country.

While this work was in progress I wrote a considerable
number of reviews and articles, published my book on
"Miracles and Modern Spiritualism," and wrote the article
" Acclimatization " for the " Encyclopaedia Britannica."

In 1876 I sold the house at Grays and removed to Dorking,
where we lived two years. But finding the climate relaxing,
we moved next to Croydon, chiefly in order to send our
children first to a kindergarten, and then to a high school,
and remained there till May, 1881.

During this period, besides my usual reviews and articles,
I prepared my address as president of the Biological Section
of the British Association at Glasgow, wrote the article on
" Distribution — Zoology" for the "Encyclopaedia Britannica,"
and prepared a volume on "Tropical Nature," which was pub-
lished in 1878. In this work I gave a general sketch of the
climate, vegetation, and animal life of the equatorial zone of
the tropics from my own observations in both hemispheres.
The chief novelty was, I think, in the chapter on " climate,"
in which I endeavoured to show the exact causes which pro-
duced the great difference between the uniform climate of
the equatorial zone, and, say, June and July in England,
although at that time we receive actually more of the light
and heat of the sun than does Java in June or Trinidad in
December. Yet these places have then a mean temperature
very much higher than ours. It contained also a chapter on

ALFRED R. WALLACE. 1 878.

[To face p. 98, VOL. II.

xxix] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1871-1886 99

humming birds, as illustrating the luxuriance of tropical
nature ; and others on the colours of animals and of plants,
and on various biological problems.

As soon as we were settled at Croydon, I began to work
at a volume which had been suggested to me by the neces-
sary limitations of my "Geographical Distribution of Animals."
In that work I had, in the first place, dealt with the larger
groups, coming down to families and genera, but taking no
account of the various problems raised by the distribution
of particular species. In the next place, I had taken little
account of the various islands of the globe, except as forming
subregions or parts of subregions. But I had long seen the
great interest and importance of these, and especially of
Darwin's great discovery of the two classes into which they
are naturally divided — oceanic and continental islands. I
had already given lectures on this subject, and had become
aware of the great interest attaching to them, and the great
light they threw upon the means of dispersal of animals and
plants, as well as upon the past changes, both physical and
biological, of the earth's surface. In the third place, the
means of dispersal and colonization of animals is so con-
nected with, and often dependent on, that of plants, that a
consideration of the latter is essential to any broad views as
to the distribution of life upon the earth, while they throw
unexpected light upon those exceptional means of dispersal
which, because they are exceptional, are often of paramount
importance in leading to the production of new species and
in thus determining the nature of insular floras and faunas.

Having no knowledge of scientific botany, it needed some
courage, or, as some may think, presumption, to deal with
this aspect of the problem ; but, on the other hand, I had
long been excessively fond of plants, and was always in-
terested in their distribution. The subject, too, was easier
to deal with, on account of the much more complete know-
ledge of the detailed distribution of plants than of animals,
and also because their classification was in a more advanced
and stable condition. Again, some of the most interesting

100 MY LIFE [Chap.

of the islands of the globe had been carefully studied botani-
cally by such eminent botanists as Sir Joseph Hooker, for
the Galapagos, New Zealand, Tasmania, and the Antarctic
islands ; Mr. H. C. Watson for the Azores ; Mr. J. G. Baker
for Mauritius and other Mascarene islands ; while there were
floras by competent botanists of the Sandwich Islands, Ber-
muda, and St. Helena. With such excellent materials, and
with the further assistance of Sir Joseph Hooker's invaluable
essays on the relations of the southern and northern floras, I
felt that my work would be mainly of a statistical nature, as
interpreted by those general principles of organic evolution
which were my especial study.

But I also found it necessary to deal with a totally dis-
tinct branch of science — recent changes of climate as depen-
dent on changes of the earth's surface, including the causes
and effects of the glacial epoch, since these were among the
most powerful agents in causing the dispersal of all kinds of
organisms, and thus bringing about the actual distribution
that now prevails. This led me to a careful study of Mr.
James Croll's remarkable works on the subject of the astro-
nomical causes of glacial and interglacial periods, and I had
much correspondence with him on difficult points of his
theory. While differing on certain details, I adopted the
main features of his theory, combining with it the effects of
changes in height and extent of land which form an important
adjunct to the meteorological agents. To this subject I
devoted two of my longest and most argumentative chapters,
introducing many considerations not before taken account of,
and leading, I still think, to a more satisfactory explanation
of the causes that actually brought about the glacial epoch
than any which have since been put forth.

Besides this partially new theory of the causes of glacial
epochs, the work contained a fuller statement of the various
kinds of evidence proving that the great oceanic basins are
permanent features of the earth's surface, than had before
been given ; also a discussion of the mode of estimating the
duration of geological periods, and some considerations lead-
ing to the conclusion that organic change is now less rapid

xxix] LITERARY WORK, ETC, 1871-1886 101

than the average, and therefore that less time is required for
this change than has hitherto been thought necessary. I was
also, I believe, the first to point out the great differences
between the more ancient continental islands and those of
more recent origin, with the interesting conclusions as to
geographical changes afforded by both ; while the most
important novelty is the theory by which I explained the
occurrence of northern groups of plants in all parts of the
southern hemisphere — a phenomenon which Sir Joseph
Hooker had pointed out, but had then no means of explaining.

This volume, on "Island Life," involved much detailed
work as regards the species of plants and animals, information
on which points I had to obtain from numerous specialists,
involving a great amount of correspondence ; while it was
illustrated by a large number of maps and diagrams, most
of which were drawn by myself. The preparation and writing
this book occupied me for about three years, and it was
published in 1880. It has gone through three editions, which
have involved a large amount of corrections and additions ;
and it is a work which seems to have opened up a new world
of interesting fact and theory to a large number of readers,
from several of whom I have received letters expressing the
delight and instruction it has given them.

In 1878 I wrote a volume on Australasia for Stanford's
" Compendium of Geography and Travel," in which I gave
a fuller account than usual of the physical geography, the
natural history, and the geology of Australia. In a later
edition of this work, in 1893, I gave a much fuller account of
the natives of Australia, and adduced evidence for the theory
that they are really a primitive type of the great Caucasian
family of mankind, and are by no means so low in intellect
as has been usually believed. This view seems now to be
generally accepted.

In 1878 Epping Forest had been acquired for the public,
and its care and management were given to a committee
formed mainly of members of the Corporation of the City of
London. I was a candidate for the post of superintendent,
and obtained testimonials from the presidents of all the

102 MY LIFE [Chap.

natural-history societies of London, and from many eminent
men, but was not chosen. At the time this was a great dis-
appointment, but I have reason to believe now that it was
" all for the best."

In 1 88 1 a society was formed for advocating the nationali-
zation of the land, of which I was elected president, and in
1882 I published a volume, entitled "Land Nationalization :
its Necessity and its Aims." Some account of this move-
ment will be given in a future chapter. Its publication
brought me letters of sympathy and general agreement from
Sir David Wedderburn, M.P., Lord Mount- Temple, and
many other friends and correspondents. In this year, on
June 29, the Dublin University gave me the honorary degree
of LL.D., as already mentioned in the last chapter. I will
here give the very short but flattering Latin speech of the
public orator in introducing me, with a translation by my
friend Mr. Comerford Casey —

" Introduco quoque ALFREDUM RUSSEL WALLACE, Dar-
winii aemulum, imrao Darwinium alterum. Neque hunc
neque ilium variae eluserunt species atque ora ferarum. Dar-
winius nempe lauri foetus auricomos decerpsit primus. Sed
quid querimur ?

" ' Primo"avulso non deficit alter

Aureus, et simili frondescit virga metallo.' "

" I introduce also Alfred Russel Wallace, the friendly
rival of Darwin. Equally familiar to both are the different
species and varieties of animals. Darwin, indeed, was the
first to pluck the golden laurel-branch. Yet through this did
Wallace suffer no eclipse ; for as Virgil sang —

" ' One branch removed, another was to hand :
Another, bright and golden as the first.' "

In this year, too, the world was made poorer by the
death of my kind friend and teacher, Charles Darwin, and I
was honoured by an invitation to his funeral (on April 26)
in Westminster Abbey, as one of the pall-bearers, along
with nine of his most distinguished friends or admirers,

xxix] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1871-1886 103

among whom was J. Russell Lowell, as the representative
of American science and literature. Among the many-
obituary notices of Darwin, that by Huxley (in Nature, of
April 27) is one of the shortest, most discriminating, and
most beautiful. It is published also in the second volume of
his " Collected Essays." For those who have not read this
true and charming estimate of his friend, I may quote one
passage : " One could not converse with Darwin without
being reminded of Socrates. There was the same desire to
find some one wiser than himself; the same belief in the
sovereignty of reason ; the same ready humour ; the same
sympathetic interest in all the ways and works of men. But
instead of turning away from the problems of nature as wholly
insoluble, our modern philosopher devoted his whole life to
attacking them in the spirit of Heraclitus and Democritus,
with results which are as the substance of which their specu-
lations were anticipatory shadows."

In the year 1881 I removed to Godalming, where I had
built a small cottage near the water-tower and at about the
same level as the Charterhouse School. We had been partly
induced to come here to be near my very old friend Mr.
Charles Hayward, whom I had first known during my
residence at Neath about forty years before. He was living
with his nephew, the late C. F. Hayward, a well-known archi-
tect, whose children were about the same age as my own.
We found here some very pleasant friends among the masters
at Charterhouse School, as well as among residents who had
come to the place for its general educational advantages or
for the charm of its rural scenery. We had here about half
an acre of ground with oak trees and hazel bushes (from
which I named our place " Nutwood Cottage "), and during
the eight years we lived there I thoroughly enjoyed making
a new garden, in which, and a small greenhouse, I cultivated
at one time or another more than a thousand species of
plants. The soil was a deep bed of the Lower Greensand
formation, with a thin surface layer of leaf-mould, and it was
very favourable to many kinds of bulbous plants as well as

104 MY LIFE [Chap.

half-hardy shrubs, several of which grew there more freely
and flowered better than in any of my other gardens.

In 1884 Messrs. Pears offered a prize of ;£ioo for the best
essay on " The Depression of Trade," and Professor Leone
Levi had agreed to be one of the judges. As I had been
for some time disgusted with the utter nonsense of many of
the articles on the subject in the press, while what seemed to
me the essential and fundamental causes were never so much
as referred to, I determined to compete, though without any
expectation of success. The essay was sent in some time
during the summer of 1885, and in July I received a letter
from Professor Leone Levi, in which he writes : " My colleague
and myself were greatly pleased with the essay bearing a motto
from Goldsmith. We, however, did not see our way to recom-
mend it for the prize, especially on account of disagreement
as to the remedies suggested. But, the essay having great
merit, we thought it proper to open the envelope in order
to correspond with the author."

He then asked me if I would allow the first part of my
essay, upon " Conditions and Causes," to be printed with the
other essays.

As my proposed remedies were the logical conclusion
from the " Conditions and Causes," which I had detailed, and
of which the validity seemed to be admitted, I of course
declined this offer, and Messrs. Macmillan agreed to publish
it under the title, "Bad Times: An Essay on the Present
Depression of Trade, tracing it to its Sources in enormous
Foreign Loans, excessive War Expenditure, the Increase of
Speculation and of Millionaires, and the Depopulation of the
Rural Districts ; with Suggested Remedies."

This little book was widely noticed, but most of the
reviewers adverted to the fact that I was an advocate
of land-nationalization, and therefore that my proposed
remedies were unsound. But a few were more open-minded.
The Newcastle Chronicle declared it to be " the weightiest con-
tribution to the subject made in recent times." TIte Freeman's
Journal thus concluded its short notice: "Every point is driven

xxix] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1871-1886 105

home with vigour and directness, and the little book is well
calculated to assist in the formation of sound views upon the
urgent question of which it treats." Tfie Beacon (Boston,
U.S.A.) termed it "a very important little book," and gave
it a wholly favourable review ; but the notice that pleased
me most was that in Knowledge, then edited by Richard
Proctor, a man of originality and genius. He declared that
my book was remarkable as being the application of scientific
method to a complex problem of political economy, which, of
course, rendered it impossible for the official representatives
of that science to accept its conclusions. The book, however,
had very little sale, and after a few years the publishers sent
me about a hundred copies, which remained an incumbrance
to their shelves, and which I gave away. It is, therefore, at
present, one of the rarest of my books. In the same year
I wrote my first small contribution to the literature of
anti-vaccination, entitled " Forty-five Years of Registra-
tion Statistics, proving Vaccination to be both Useless and
Dangerous;" but this subject will be referred to in a future
chapter.

Towards the close of the year I received an invitation
from the Lowell Institute of Boston, U.S.A., to deliver a
course of lectures in the autumn and winter of 1886. After
some consideration I accepted this, and began their prepara-
tion, taking for my subject those portions of the theory of
evolution with which I was most familiar. At this time I had
made the acquaintance of the Rev. J. G. Wood, the well-known
writer of many popular works on natural history. He had
been twice on lecturing tours to America, and gave me some
useful information, besides recommending an agent he had
employed, and who had arranged lectures for him at various
schools and colleges. I had already lectured in many English
towns on the permanence of the great oceans, on oceanic and
continental islands, and on various problems of geographical
distribution. To these subjects I now added one on "The
Darwinian Theory," illustrated by a set of original diagrams
of variation. I also wrote three lectures on the " Colours of
Animals (and Plants)," dwelling especially on protective

106 MY LIFE [Chap. XXIX.]

colours, warning colours, and mimicry, and for these I
had to obtain a series of lantern slides coloured from nature,
so as to exhibit the most striking examples of these curious
and beautiful phenomena. All this took a great deal of time,
and the maps and diagrams forming a large package, about
six feet long in a waterproof canvas case, caused me much
trouble, as some of the railways refused to take it by passenger
trains, and I had to send it as goods ; and in one case it got
delayed nearly a week, and I had to give my lectures with
hastily made rough copies from recollection.

The lectures I finally arranged for the Lowell course were
eight in number, to be given twice a week in November and
December. As these lectures formed the groundwork for my
book on Darwinism, I will here give their titles —

i. The Darwinian Theory: what it is, and how it has been
demonstrated.

2. The Origin and Uses of the Colours of Animals.

3. Mimicry, and other exceptional modes of Animal
Coloration.

4. The Origin and Uses of the Colours of Plants.

5. The Permanence of Oceans, and the relations of Islands
and Continents.

6. Oceanic Islands and their Biological History.

7. Continental Islands : their Past History and Biological
Relations.

8. The Physical and Biological Relations of New Zealand
and Australia.

Shortly before I left England I gave the lecture on
" Darwinism " to the Essex Field Club in order to see how
my diagrams of variation struck an intelligent audience, and
was fairly satisfied with the result.

I left London on October 9 in a rather slow steamer in
order to have a cabin to myself at a moderate price, and
landed at New York on the 23rd, after a cold and disagree-
able passage. A sketch of my American tour will be given
in the following chapters.

CHAPTER XXX

AN AMERICAN LECTURE TOUR— BOSTON TO WASHINGTON

When I left home I had some idea of extending my journey
across the Pacific, lecturing in New Zealand and Australia,
perhaps also in South Africa, on my way home. But my
voyage out was so disagreeable, making me sick and unwell
almost the whole time, that I concluded it would not be wise
to extend my sea voyages except under very favourable con-
ditions, which did not occur. One of these was the success of
my American tour, but owing to my agent not being a good
one, or, perhaps, to my not being sufficiently known in
America, I was kept throughout the winter in Washington
waiting for lecture engagements, which did not come till
March and April.

On reaching New York (October 23), I had my first
experience of American prices by having to pay two dollars
for a cab to the American Hotel, not a mile off, where I was
obliged to go for the night. The next morning (Sunday) I
went to stay for a few days with Mr. A. G. Bro.vne, a gentle-
man on one of the New York daily papers who had called on
me at Godalming in the summer. On the way to his house
we drove to the picturesque Central Park, in the company of
Henry George, the well-known author of " Progress and
Poverty," who was then a candidate for the important post of
Mayor of New York, and who had been invited by Mr.
Browne to meet me. The next evening I attended one of
his meetings, and was called upon to say a few words to an
American audience. I tried my best to be forcible, praised
George, and said a few words about what we were doing

107

108 MY LIFE [Chap.

in England, but I could see that I did not impress them
much.

As Mr. Browne's occupation was to summarize all the
evening papers for the morning's issue, his work was from
midnight till four in the morning. Then all the forenoon he had
to do the same thing with the morning papers for the evening
issue, getting his sleep in the early morning and afternoon.
One day he got free in order to take me up the Hudson river
as far as West Point, passing the celebrated " Palisades " — a
continuous row of cliffs about two hundred feet high, and
extending for nearly twenty miles on the south bank of the
river. They look exactly like a huge fence of enormous split
trees, placed vertically, side by side, but are really basaltic
columns like those at the Giant's Causeway, crowning a
slope of fallen rock. In places the well- wooded country
was very beautiful, with the autumnal tints of bright red,
purple, and yellow, though we were a little late to see them in
perfection. Where we landed, I was delighted to see wild
vines clambering over the trees, as well as the Virginia
creeper, and there were also sumachs and other characteristic
American plants. The situation of the great American
Military College is splendid, on an elevated promontory in a
bend of the Hudson, surrounded by rugged wooded hills, and
with magnificent views up and down the river.

On the 28th I went to Boston to be ready for my first
lecture on November 1. I had been recommended by Mr.
J. G. Wood to go to the Quincy House, as being moderate in
charges, and celebrated for its excellent table. I stayed
there nearly two months, and was, on the whole, very comfort-
able ; but it was essentially a business man's hotel, and I
made no interesting acquaintances there. My scientific
friends told me I ought to have gone to a better hotel, but
as these were all four or five dollars a day, with no better
accommodation than I had at three dollars, I did not care to
change. As I never had better meals at any hotel I stayed
at in America (except, perhaps, in San Francisco), I may
quote my description of them in a letter to my daughter
while they were new to me. "You ought to see the meals at

xxx] BOSTON TO WASHINGTON 109

this hotel! The bill of fare at dinner (1 to 3 o'clock) has
generally two kinds of soup, two of fish, about twenty to
thirty different dishes of meat, poultry, and game, a dozen
sorts of pastry, a dozen of vegetables, besides ices, and what-
ever fruits are in season. You can order anything you like
in any combination, and they are brought in little dishes,
which are arranged around your plate. Everything is good
and admirably cooked. The pies and puddings are equally
good. At breakfast and supper there is about half the
number of dishes."

During the whole time I was in America I had a wonder-
ful appetite, and ate much more than I did at home, and
enjoyed excellent health. I imputed this at the time to the
more bracing air, the novelty, and the excitement. But from
subsequent events I am inclined to think that I really did not
eat enough nourishing food at home, although I had what I
liked best, and seemed to eat plenty of it.

At my first lecture on " The Darwinian Theory," I had a
crowded and very attentive audience, and the newspaper
notices the next morning showed that it was a success. One
of the shortest and best of these was in The Transcript, and
was as follows : —

" The first Darwinian, Wallace, did not leave a leg for
anti-Darwinism to stand on when he had got through his first
Lowell lecture last evening. It was a masterpiece of con-
densed statement — as clear and simple as compact — a most
beautiful specimen of scientific work. Mr. Wallace, though
not an orator, is likely to become a favourite as a lecturer,
his manner is so genuinely modest and straightforward."
% During the time my lectures were going on I occupied
myself at the museums, libraries, and institutions of Boston,
and paid a few visits in the country. I soon made the
acquaintance of Dr. Asa Gray, the first American botanist,
General Walker, the political economist, Messrs. Hyatt,
Scudder, Morse, and other biologists ; while Mr. Houghton,
the publisher, who was very polite, asked me to call at his
office to read whenever I liked, and invited me to dinner to
meet Oliver Wendell Holmes. I met the Autocrat of the

110 MY LIFE [Chap.

Breakfast Table several times afterwards, and once called at
his house and had a two hours' private conversation. He was
very interesting from his constant flow of easy conversation ;
but when we were alone he turned our talk on Spiritualism,
in which he was much interested and which he was evidently
inclined to accept, though he had little personal knowledge
of the phenomena.

The National Academy of Science was now sitting at
Boston, and I attended several of its meetings, at one of
which I heard Professor Langley explain his wonderful dis-
covery of the extension of the heat-spectrome by means of
his new instrument, the bolometer. At another meeting
Professor Cope read a paper, while Professor Marsh was in
the chair, evidently to his great annoyance, as the relations of
these great palaeontologists were much as were those of Owen
and Huxley after i860. At another meeting the question of
geographical distribution came up, and Professor Asa Gray
called on me to say something. I was rather taken aback,
and could think of nothing else but the phenomena of seed
dispersal by the wind, as shown by the varying proportion of
endemic species in oceanic islands, and by the total absence
in the Azores of all those genera whose seeds could not be
air-borne (either by winds or birds), thus throwing light upon
some of the most curious facts in plant-distribution. I think
the subject, as I put it, was new to most of the naturalists
present.

I went several times to Cambridge in order to examine
carefully the two important museums there — the Agassiz
Museum of Zoology and the Peabody Museum of Archae-
ology. Both are admirable, and Mr. Alexander Agassiz
kindly showed me over every part of the former museum, an
account of which I have given in the second volume of my
" Studies, Scientific and Social."

One day I spent at Salem on a visit to Professor Edward
Morse and his pleasant family. He had lived several years
in Japan, and had made a very extensive collection of
Japanese pottery, ancient and modern. He has about four
thousand specimens, all distinct, many of great rarity and

xxx] BOSTON TO WASHINGTON ill

value. I also dined with Professor Asa Gray to meet most of
the biological professors of Harvard University. After dinner
he asked me to give them some account of how I was led
to the theory of natural selection, and this was followed by
some interesting conversation.

One evening I was invited to a meeting of the New
England Women's Club, where the Rev. J. G. Brooks gave
an address on " What Socialists want." I could hardly
make out whether he was a socialist or not, but I thought
his views to be very vague and unpractical. I was not at
that time a thorough socialist, but considered that a true
"social economy" founded on land nationalization and
equality of opportunity was what was immediately required.
When called upon, I spoke in this sense for about half an
hour. I afterwards wrote it out, treating it more systemati-
cally, and read it to a private meeting of my friends at
Washington. Its substance is embodied in the chapter on
"Economic and Social Justice" in my "Studies."

After my earlier Lowell lectures were over, I was free to
give them elsewhere, and had a few very interesting engage-
ments. On November 19 I went to Williamstown, in the
extreme north-west corner of Massachusetts, to lecture at
Williams College on " Colours of Animals." The lecture was
appreciated, but, unfortunately, the lantern was so poor as not
to show the coloured slides to advantage. Williamstown is
in a fine mountainous country, and the next day one of the
professors drove me in a buggy over very rough roads, and
sometimes over snow, to a pretty waterfall, where I collected
a few of the characteristic American ferns, which I sent home,
and which lived for many years in my garden. I here first
noticed the very striking effect of the white-barked birches
and yellow-barked willows in the winter landscape. The fine
Cypripedium spectabile, I was told, grew abundantly in the
bogs of this district. I was hospitably entertained by Presi-
dent Carter, who invited me to visit him in the summer, when
there are abundance of pretty flowers — an invitation, I much
regret, I was unable to profit by.

Between my two last lectures in Boston I had to give one

112 MY LIFE [Chap.

at Meriden, a small manufacturing town in Connecticut, in-
volving a railway journey of nearly two hundred miles each
way. I stayed with Mr. Robert Bowman, an Englishman
and a manufacturer of plated goods, who had been thirty years
in America. Much of the country I passed through, as well
as that round Meriden itself, was picturesque with rock and
mountain and rapid streams, yet the whole effect was, as I
noted in my journal, "scraggy as usual," while an American
writer declares that the whole country " has been reduced to
a state of unkempt and sordid ugliness." But I am pretty
sure that the more naturally picturesque parts of this New
England country must be very beautiful in spring and early
summer, when the abundant vegetation would conceal and
beautify that which is bare and ugly in winter. The climate,
too, is unfavourable to that amount of verdure which we can
show throughout the year; while the universality of old
irregular hedgerows in our lowland districts gives a finish
and a charm to our scenery which is wholly wanting
where straight lines of split-wood fences are almost equally
universal.

My next lecture was at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, on
the way to which I had agreed to pay a visit to Professor
Marsh, at Newhaven, where I arrived on the evening of
November 26. My host, who was a bachelor and very
wealthy, had built himself an eccentric kind of house, the
main feature of which was a large octagonal hall, full of
trophies collected during his numerous explorations in the
far West, and used as a reception and dining-room, with
pretty suites of visitors' rooms opening out of it — a roomy
kind of solidly built bungalow. It is situated near the
Peabody Museum of Yale College, where there was at that
time the largest collection of fossil skeletons, chiefly of
mammals and reptiles of America, to be seen anywhere. The
next morning was devoted to seeing these wonderful remains
of an extinct world, among which were the huge bones of the
atlantosaurus, a reptile near a hundred feet long and thirty
feet high, supposed to be the largest land animal that has
ever existed. The remarkable horned dinosauria, the flying

xxx] BOSTON TO WASHINGTON 113

pterodactyles of strange forms, as well as the almost com-
plete series of links connecting the modern horse with the
very ancient eohippus and hyracotherium, were very in-
teresting. These latter were very small animals with four
toes, which were succeeded by larger and larger forms with
fewer toes, till they culminated in the modern horses, asses,
and zebras, with a single toe, or hoof, on each foot

In the evening I had the pleasure of meeting Professor
Dana, the first of American geologists, and one or two other
professors of Yale. The next morning was spent in a stroll
over the parks and gardens, and in admiring the grand elm
trees which line many of the streets of this picturesque city
and render it one of the most pleasing I visited in America.
In the afternoon I went by train to New York, and then on
to Poughkeepsie and to Vassar College, one of the most
extensive and complete ladies' colleges, where half the pro-
fessors are ladies, while the president was Dr. J. If. Taylor.

I breakfasted in the hall with the lady principal, doctor,
professors, and students, of whom there are about three
hundred. Each student has a separate bedroom, and to
each three bedrooms there is a sitting-room, and so far as
possible they are allowed to group themselves. Students
enter at sixteen by a rather stiff examination in mathe-
matics, Latin, either Greek, German, or French, history, etc.
The regular course of study includes natural history, physi-
ology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy, all taught ex-
perimentally in laboratories, and an observatory which has
a meridian circle and a twelve-inch equatorial. There is also
a good natural history museum and art gallery. Anglo-
Saxon and moral philosophy are taught in the last term;
The grounds are over two hundred acres of rather rough
park-like country, containing a lake with boats and a gym-
nasium. In the evening I lectured on " Oceanic Islands " to
a good and very attentive audience.

The next morning I had to be up at 5 a.m. in order to
catch the train to New York and on to Baltimore, where I
lectured in the evening on ■ Darwinism." I gave here four
lectures to the Peabody Institute, and one, on " Island Life,"

VOL. 11. I

114 MY LIFE [Chap.

at the Johns Hopkins University. The next morning I
called on President Gilman, who showed me round the build-
ings, library, reading-room, etc., and introduced me to the
professors, among whom was Dr. W. K. Brooks, the zoologist,
who asked me to lunch with him, and afterwards took me to
walk over the Druid Hill Park, a finely wooded hilly tract of
680 acres, close to the town, and forming one of the most
picturesque recreation grounds I have seen. I also spent
an evening with Professor Brooks, when we talked on Dar-
winian topics mainly. One day I dined with President Gilman,
and met afterwards a host of professors, students, and ladies,
and had a very pleasant evening. Another day I called on
Professor Ely and had a long talk on the political and social
outlook. In the evening he took me to a meeting of psycholo-
gists— professors and students — whose talk was so technical as
to be almost unintelligible to me, and when they asked my
opinion on some of their unsettled problems, I was obliged to
say that I had paid no attention to them, and that I was only
interested in the question of how far the intellectual and
moral nature of man could have been developed from those
of the lower animals through the agency of natural selection,
or whether they indicated some distinct origin and some
higher law ; and I gave them a sketch of my views as after-
wards developed in the last eighteen pages of my " Darwinism."
After my last lecture (on December 9) I went to
President Gilman's, where I met, among others, Professor
Langley, the physicist. The talk was chiefly about Professor
Sylvester, who had excited immense interest, not only by his
wonderfully original mathematical genius, but also by
his eccentricities and self-absorption. Many anecdotes were
told of him. He had started to dine with a professor who
lived not five minutes' walk from his own house, and whom
he had repeatedly visited ; yet he wandered about the streets
searching for it in vain, and came in a full hour late. After
having lived several years in Baltimore, he was one day
asked in the street to direct a person to one of the best-
known public buildings, and hastily replied, "Pray excuse
me; I am quite a stranger here." His genius for solving

xxxj BOSTON TO WASHINGTON 115

puzzles in mathematics gave him an interest in making
rhymes. There was a remarkably pretty young lady who
came to one of the University festivals whose name was suit-
able for rhyming purposes, and Sylvester started some com-
plimentary verses to see how many successive rhymes he
could make. His intimates declare that for weeks aftenvards
he would say on meeting them in the morning, " I have got

another rhyme for Miss ," and after all his friends had

declared that no more were possible, he still kept on discover-
ing new ones till they amounted to some incredible number.

On December 11 I returned to Boston, the whole
country being snow-clad and the rivers all ice-bound. On
calling upon my agent I found he had got no more engage-
ments for me, so I determined to go to Washington at the
end of the month. Considering that my lectures were so well
received wherever I went and so well spoken of in the papers,
I was puzzled to know why there was not more demand for
them. But later on some of my friends told me that it was
because I had been preceded for two years by Rev. J. G.
Wood, who, though a very clever artist in colour on the black-
board and an excellent field naturalist, put very little into his
lectures. Yet he had been well puffed by the same agent as
a " great English naturalist," and had given lectures in most
of the colleges in the United States. Hence, when the same
agent announced another "great English naturalist," there
were few bidders, as I was not at that time sufficiently well
known in America. With one exception, I had no lectures
whatever for three months !

I spent the three weeks in Boston studying the museums,
reading at the public library, paying visits, etc. One evening
I dined with the Naturalists' Club at the Revere House Hotel,
with such well-known men as Hyatt, Hagen, Minot, Scudder,
James, Gould, etc. ; and just before I left I was invited by a
wealthy merchant and yachtsman, Mr. John M. Forbes, to
a farewell dinner at Parker's Hotel to meet some of Boston's
most eminent men. These were Oliver Wendell Holmes ;
James Russell Lowell ; Edward Waldo Emerson, son of the

Il6 MY LIFE [Chap.

philosopher ; Dr. Asa Gray ; Rev. James Freeman Clarke ;
Dr. William James ; General Francis Walker, President
of the Technological Institute ; Sir William Dawson, the
Canadian geologist, who was lecturing at the Lowell Insti-
tute ; and two others less known. The dinner was luxurious
in the extreme, the table covered over with delicate ferns,
and roses with bouquets of violets and daffodils before each
guest. I sat next to Lowell, and was rather awed, as I did
not know much of his writings, and I think he had never
heard of me. The condition of things was not improved by his
quoting some Latin author to illustrate some remark addressed
to me, evidently to see if I was a scholar. I was so taken
aback that instead of saying I had forgotten the little Latin I
ever knew, and that my special interests were in nature, I
merely replied vaguely to his observation. However, the
conversation soon became more general, and such subjects
as politics, travel, Sir James Brooke, and even spiritualism,
afforded some pleasant interchange of ideas. Fortunately
there were no speeches, but I was not so much impressed by
the Boston celebrities as I ought to have been.

A good deal of time during my last three weeks in Boston
was spent in the society either of the professed men of
science or the spiritualists, with both of whom I felt myself
at ease ; while for general intelligence the latter were quite
equal to the former. I also attended some very remarkable
stances, an account of which will be given in a future chapter.
I had one good example of the sudden changes of tempera-
ture to which Boston is liable. On December 24 it was a
very mild day, so much so that walking was quite oppres-
sive, and in the evening I sat in my room with the window
open to keep cool. At night it rained tremendously till 2 or
3 a.m., but Christmas Day was a hard frost, and the next day
the greatest cold I felt in America. I was told that during
the winter and spring the thermometer often falls 6o° in two
hours, and a Bostonian never goes out for a few hours, how-
ever mild it may be, without being provided with warm
clothing against such sudden changes, which often produce
serious effects.

xxxj BOSTON TO WASHINGTON 117

I reached Washington on December 31, and after spend-
ing four days with Professor Riley, the State entomologist,
I took a room at the Hamilton Hotel, where (with the
exception of ten days in Canada) I lived till April 7. I
found Washington a very pleasant residence on account of
the large number of scientific men in the various Government
departments and in the Smithsonian Institution, and also the
presence of many literary men, as representatives of the great
northern papers or as permanent or temporary residents.
Among my earliest acquaintances was Dr. Elliott Coues, a
man of brilliant talents, wide culture, and delightful personality,
with whose ideas I had much in common, and with whom I
soon became intimate. He was not only a practical but
highly philosophical biologist, and was equally interested
with myself in psychical research. I met many pleasant
people at his house, where I often spent my Sunday evenings.
I found another equally close friend in Professor F. Lester
Ward, who divided his enthusiasms and his work between
botany and sociology, both subjects which (as an amateur)
interested myself. His writings on the latter subject are
very numerous — his "Dynamic Sociology," in two large
volumes, being a masterpiece of elaborate systematic study
of almost every phase of social science. A more readable
and more suggestive work is his " Psychic Factors of Civiliza-
tion," published in 1893, and he has since contributed numerous
papers and addresses of great value to periodicals or to the
publications of scientific societies.

As soon as the earliest flowers appeared, he took me long
Sunday walks in the wild country round Washington, our
first being, on February 13, through the stretches of virgin
forest called Woodley Park, now, I believe, a botanical and
zoological reserve, where many interesting plants were
gathered to send home — Goodyera, Epigcea repens, Carex
platyphylla, and the curious leafless parasite called beech-
drops, allied to our orobanche. One curious bog-plant,
Symplocarpus fcetidus, was in flower, as was the pretty blue
hepatica, also found in Europe. February and March were,
however, very cold, and Washington was snow-covered and

Il8 MY LIFE [Chap.

wintry, and so our first really good spring botanizing was on
March 27, when we went a rather long walk of about nine
miles to High Island, a locality for many rarities. Here we
found several pretty or curious spring flowers, the most
interesting to me being the strange little white-flowered
umbelliferous plant, Erigena bulbosa ; but other peculiar
American plants — Claytonia, Podophyllum, Jeffersonia, etc. —
I now saw in flower for the first time. During these excur-
sions we had many long talks and discussions while taking
our lunch. At that time I was not a convinced socialist, and
in that respect Lester Ward was in advance of me, though he
could not quite convince me. He was also an absolute
agnostic or monist, and around this question our discussions
most frequently turned. But as I had a basis of spiritualistic
experiences of which he was totally ignorant, we looked at
the subject from different points of view ; and I was limited
to urging the inherent and absolute differences of nature
between matter and mind, and that though, as a verbal pro-
position, it maybe as easy to assume the eternal and necessary
existence of matter and its forces as it is to assume mind as the
fundamental cause of matter, yet it is not really so complete
an explanation or so truly monistic, since we cannot actually
conceive matter as producing mind, whereas we certainly can
conceive mind as producing matter.

I also soon became very intimate with Major Powell, the
head of the Geological Survey, and also with Captain Dutton,
Mr. McGee, and other members of the survey. I spent a
good deal of time in their library, reading up the history of
the glacial phenomena and antiquity of man in America. At
twelve o'clock we all lunched together, in a very informal way,
on bread and cheese, fruit, cakes, and tea ; and at this time we
had many interesting conversations, as Major Powell was a
great anthropologist and psychologist, as well as a geologist,
and we thus got upon all kinds of subjects.

I also spent a good deal of my time in the great collection
of prehistoric remains, stone implements, weapons, etc., of
early man in the National Museum, perhaps the most

xxx] BOSTON TO WASHINGTON 119

wonderful and interesting collection of such objects in the
world. One of the gentlemen interested in such things, Dr.
Hoffman, took me to a field in the suburbs which had been
the site of an old Indian village and where arrow-heads were
still often found, and I was able to pick up a few specimens
myself.

I was also made free of Cosmos Club, where I went to
read papers and magazines. Soon after my arrival Mr. Riley
took me to one of the evening receptions, where I met most
of the scientific men and women of Washington, and was intro-
duced to many of them. Most of them told me they had
read my books, and several said that my " Malay Archipelago "
had first led them to take an interest in natural history
and its more general problems. Here, at one time or another,
I met almost all the scientific men of Washington and many
of those from other States. One evening I was taken by
Major and Mrs. Powell to a meeting of the Literary Society
at the house of Mr. Nordhoff, author of an important work
on the communistic societies of the United States, and
a very advanced thinker. Here I met hosts of people
who were really too polite and enthusiastic — ■ proud to
meet me ; " " honour and pleasure never expected ; " " read
my books all their life ! " etc. — leaving me speechless with
amazement !

The event of the evening was a paper by Mr. Kennan,
describing his recent visit, on his return from Siberia, to
Count Tolstoi, the great Russian novelist, philanthropist, and
non-resisting nihilist. It was a very clever, sympathetic, and
suggestive picture of a man described as " a true social hero — ■
one of the Christ type." I often dined at Mr. NordhofFs, and
met many interesting people there, and spent several pleasant
evenings with his highly intellectual family. Among the
celebrities I met there were Mrs. Hodgson Burnett, none of
whose works I had then read ; Captain Greely, the Arctic
explorer ; and Senator and Mrs. Stanford, whom I afterwards
visited in California.

When settled at the hotel I was allotted a place to take
my meals, at a table where there were five other persons. Not

120 MY LIFE [Chap.

knowing the etiquette of such a position, I did not begin con-
versation till, I think, the second day, a gentleman and lady of
middle age introduced themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong,
and we soon became quite friendly. They had a private sitting-
room in the hotel, and I often had afternoon tea with them
or spent the evening ; and as they were educated people
interested in science and literature, while Mr. Armstrong
was a spiritualist, they were very agreeable acquaintances.
Through them I was introduced to the other occupants of
the table — Judge Holman, with his wife and daughter. The
judge was a member of Congress, as representative of Indiana,
and we had sometimes long conversations at breakfast or
dinner on political questions. One of the most interesting
was about the Irish in America. He said, " Why does your
Government drive the Irish out of their country by not letting
them govern themselves? We find them among our best
citizens when they have a chance. I have known and
observed them for fifty years. Near me, in Indiana, is a
township which was settled about forty years ago by Irish
and Germans, all Catholics. The Germans have increased in
numbers, the Irish have diminished by emigrating further
west and other causes. Many of the Irish have became public
men of eminence, and many others rose to good positions.
Those that remain farmers cultivate their land as well as the
Germans, and show equal industry. Considering the low
class of Irish that usually come over, and their extreme
poverty as compared with the Germans and other immigrants,
it cannot be said that they are at all inferior in industry and
in success in life. That is the general experience all over our
country. They form a valuable portion of our citizens, yet
you English will have it they can't govern themselves, and
make that an excuse for keeping them down and driving
them to emigrate." That is the substance of his remarks,
which I noted down immediately ; and as he was a highly
intelligent man, and a good example of the moderate
American legislator, his opinion seemed to me especially
valuable, and should make our "Unionists" (as they call
themselves, but they are really "gaolers") pause in their

xxx] BOSTON TO WASHINGTON 121

endeavours to perpetuate the subjection of people who are
in every respect as good as themselves.

But to my mind, the question of good or bad, fit or not
fit for self-government, is not to the point. It is a question
of fundamental justice, and the just is always the expedient,
as well as the right. It is a crime against humanity for
one nation to govern another against its will. The master
always says his slaves are not fit for freedom ; the tyrant,
that subjects are not fit to govern themselves. The fitness
for self-government is inherent in human nature. Many
savage tribes, many barbarian peoples, are really better
governed to-day than the majority of the self-styled civilized
nations. America deserves the gratitude of all upholders
of liberty by founding her own freedom on the principle of
immutable right to self-government — that Governments derive
their just powers only from the consent of the governed.
To-day, however, America has taken leave of this high
ideal, and has become, like ourselves, a tyrant, ruling the
Philippinos against their will as we have so long ruled the
Irish.

Among the visitors to Washington was the Rev. J. A.
Allen, of Kingston, Canada (the father of our Grant Allen),
who, with his wife and two daughters, was living in apart-
ments nearly opposite my hotel. I soon became intimate
with this amiable and very intellectual family, and spent
many pleasant evenings with them ; while Mr. Allen some-
times went for walks with me and took me over the Patent
Museum, where there is a most wonderful exhibition of
models of all the successful and unsuccessful inventions that
have been patented in the States. From him I first learnt
that his son was a poet, and he gave me a copy of his
marvellous poem entitled " In Magdalen Tower," written
when he was an undergraduate, describing with wonderful
ingenuity and picturesqueness the appearance of the city
on a moonlight October night, but going on to discuss
the deepest problems of philosophy and their attempted
solutions. Take as a sample these two verses on law in the
universe —

122 MY LIFE [Chap.

" We yearn for brotherhood with lake and mountain ;

Our conscious soul seeks conscious sympathy,
Nymphs in the coppice, Naiads in the fountain,

Gods in the craggy heights and roaring sea.
We find but soulless sequences of matter,

Fact linked to fact by adamantine rods,
Eternal bonds of former sense and latter,

Blind laws for living gods.

" They care not any whit for pain or pleasure
That seem to men the sum and end of all ;

Dumb force and barren number are their measure ;
What can be, shall be, though the great world fall.

They take no heed of man or man's deserving,
Reck not what happy lives they make or mar,

Work out their fatal will unswerv'd unswerving,

And know not that they are ! "

The poem consists of twenty-one verses, every one of
them perfect in rhyme and rhythm, and each carrying on the
argument and illustration to the conclusion. This gifted
writer would have been a great naturalist, and perhaps also
a great poet, had he not been obliged to write novels and
magazine articles for a livelihood.

Another interesting character was Mrs. Beecher Hooker,
sister to Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
She was a fine lecturer on social, ethical, and spiritual subjects,
and was also a spiritualist and trance speaker, well known
throughout America. One evening she gave a reception, to
which she invited her friends to meet me. Many of the
clergy and a large number of the senators and congressmen,
with their wives and daughters, were present, and she would
insist on introducing me to a number of them, so that I had
to shake hands with fifty or sixty people. They seemed
quite puzzled. I heard one say to another, " I guess he's
some Western man, but I never heard of him." " No," said
his friend; "he's an Englishman, lecturing on biology and
Darwin, and such things." " Wal," said the first, " he hasn't
much of the English accent." Mrs. Hooker was very anxious
that we should come to live in America (she had visited us
in England) and form a kind of home colony, being sure that

xxxi BOSTON TO WASHINGTON 123

she could get many advanced thinkers to join ; and some years
after she wrote to me about it. But my work was at home.

Many of my most interesting and most intellectual friends
were spiritualists. Besides Professor Coues, a man of the
mental calibre of Huxley with the charming personality of
Mivart, I saw most of General Francis Lippitt, a man who
was a lawyer as well as a soldier, and had held many high
offices under the Government. He was highly educated and
had seen much of the world, and we spent many pleasant
hours together. He introduced me to Mr. Daniel Lyman,
solicitor to the Treasury, a man of powerful physique and
strong character, who had for many years made a study of
spiritualistic phenomena, and, like Sir W. Crookes, had had
mediums to live with him and be wholly subject to his own
conditions. Under such circumstances he had obtained
phenomena of a more astounding, yet more convincing nature
than any person I have met. He took us over the Treasury,
showed us the beautiful machinery for engraving bank-notes,
so that every fresh issue — and they are continually being
made — may have a new and highly complex pattern. We
were also taken to the Treasury vaults — some filled to the roof
with bags of dollars, others with gold in interminable ranges.
One huge vault, about sixty feet by thirty feet, with iron
partitions, was filled from floor to ceiling with bags of dollars,
one thousand in each bag. The total amount was fifty-seven
millions, and in another vault there was twenty-five millions
in gold. The large double doors closing these vaults are
of steel, strengthened by massive cross-bars and with huge
cylindrical bolts at top, bottom, and sides, all connected by a
clockwork arrangement, which prevents the bolts from being
moved till the hour at which the clock was previously set.
The doors and locks are highly finished pieces of engineer-
ing, and must have cost a very large sum each. These enor-
mous stores of coin, and the complex and costly arrangements
for keeping them safely, afford a striking object-lesson to the
socialist of the waste and absurdity of our existing systems
of currency, which would be completely unnecessary under a
more rational social organization.

124 MY LIFE [Chap.

One day Mr. Allen went with me to the House of
Representatives, where we heard part of a debate on the
Pleuro-pneumonia Bill, State rights, etc. The arrangements
differ widely from ours. The whole building seems to be
open to the public. There is a very broad gallery all round
the chamber with comfortable seats, accommodating perhaps
several thousand people. Every member has a separate
desk and chair, and most of them write or read at their
ease while the speeches are going on. Dozens of messenger-
boys are always running about, taking letters, telegrams, or
messages to friends. To call a boy the member claps his
hands. There is much more energy and gesticulation in the
speeches than with us. The Capitol is a very fine building,
standing on a small hill in a fine park. It is in the classical
style, with very broad flights of steps, great numbers of
columns, and a beautiful central dome, as graceful in form
as that of St. Paul's, and over three hundred feet high. The
whole building is pure white, part painted stone, the rest
white marble. The general effect is really magnificent. The
inside is equally fine, the central hall under the dome forming
a kind of public lounge. Owing, however, to its being situated
in a city which is not a great business centre, it is rarely
crowded.

The Corcoran Art Gallery occupied an afternoon. The
most remarkable pictures were Church's "Niagara," Bierstadt's
grand view in the Sierra Nevada, and Muller's " Charlotte
Corday." One morning I went by invitation to the Naval
Observatory to see the instruments and the wonderfully in-
genious electrical arrangement by which clocks all over the
country are automatically set right at noon, both second and
minute hands being moved back or forward as required. I
also saw the great equatorial, with twenty-six-inch object
glass and of thirty-feet focal length ; at that time the finest
telescope in the world. A week later, on a frosty night, I
went again, and was shown Saturn, with powers of four
hundred and six hundred. The division of the ring was very
sharp, but the dark ring was barely visible as a shadow on
the two ends. The white equatorial belt was, however, very

xxx] BOSTON TO WASHINGTON 125

distinct. I was then shown the great nebula in Orion, the
double star Castor, and a fine cluster in Perseus, the most
beautiful object I saw. The telescope is not quite achromatic,
but it is wonderfully steady, and the clockwork motion very
perfect. The night, though very clear, was not one for what
is termed "good seeing ; " hence high powers could not be used,
and the result was somewhat disappointing. A really good
telescope of moderate size, say four-inch or six-inch object
glass, properly mounted, and which can be used whenever the
conditions are good, will afford more pleasure and instruction
than chance visits to the largest instruments.

Early in January I had an engagement to lecture before
the American Geographical Society at New York, the subject
being, " Oceanic Islands and the Permanence of Continental
and Oceanic Areas." I stayed with my kind friend Mr. A.
G. Browne, who took me after the lecture to the Century
Club, where I met Clarence King, the geologist, and some
other scientific men. Next morning I visited the American
Museum of Natural History, where I met Dr. J. B. Holder,
Mr. J. A. Allen, the well-known writer on birds and mammals,
and some other naturalists ; and returned to Washington in
the afternoon.

On Sunday evening, March 6, I started on a ten days'
visit to Canada to fulfil some lecture engagements. I went
by a circuitous route by Williamsport, where I breakfasted ;
then on by Seneca lake and Rochester to Niagara. All this
country was very picturesque — much like Wales, but no walls
or hedges, and wooden houses. Willows with bright yellow
bark were conspicuous, and very handsome. Near the lake
were abundant vineyards, deep gullies in horizontal shaly
rock, with numerous waterfalls. I reached the Niagara old
suspension bridge at 5 p.m., and had just time to see the
rapids by going down the cliffs in an elevator about two
hundred feet. The leaping, irregular waves were fine, but
hardly up to my expectation. I had an excellent supper at
a small hotel, and then went on to Toronto, which I reached
at 12.20, going on next morning to Kingston, which I reached
at 2.30 p.m., where Principal Grant met me and took me

126 MY LIFE [Chap.

in a sleigh to the college. In the evening I lectured on
" Darwinism " to a good and attentive audience.

After the lecture some friends of Principal Grant came in,
and we had much conversation. A lady who was interested
in spiritualism spoke to me, and asked me if I knew that
Romanes was a spiritualist, and had tried to convert Darwin.
I told her that I knew he was interested in the phenomena
of spiritualism, but that I thought it most improbable that he
had said anything to Darwin. " But," said she, " Professor
Romanes's brother is a great friend of mine, and he gave me
the drafts of the letters they jointly wrote to Darwin. Would
you like to see them ? " I said I certainly should, and she
promised to bring them the next morning. She did so, and

I read them with great interest and surprise, as he had never
mentioned them to me when he had come to see me expressly
to discuss spiritualism. On asking, she said I might take notes
of the contents, as they were given to her without any restric-
tion, and the Canadian Romanes was a thorough spiritualist.
This curious episode, and what it led to, will be explained in
a future chapter.

In the afternoon I left for Toronto, where I arrived about

I I p.m., and drove to Professor Wright's house. We lunched
next day with Dr. Wilson, and met Mr. Hale, the well-known
anthropologist. In the afternoon there was a reception at
Professor Wright's, and in the evening I gave my lecture on
the Darwinian theory, which gave the argument as afterwards
developed in the first five and the last chapters of my book
on " Darwinism." When I had finished, the Bishop of Toronto
made a few remarks, and expressed his relief when he heard
my concluding observations. The next day I gave a combined
lecture on " Animal Colours and Mimicry," which occupied an
hour and three-quarters ; but the crowded audience seemed
much interested, and the lantern was an excellent one, and
showed the coloured slides to perfection. A Mr. Smith, the
head of a veterinary college, who had heard my first lecture,
wished me to repeat it to his pupils, which I did the next
day to a very attentive audience of three hundred young
men.

xxx] BOSTON TO WASHINGTON 127

In the evening I dined with Professor Goldvvin Smith and
a party of scientific men in his fine old house, with black
walnut staircase and furniture. Afterwards we adjourned
to his spacious library, where we discussed politics and litera-
ture. The next evening was spent at Mr. Allen's, where I
saw a fine collection of Canadian birds, and was struck by
the large number of handsome woodpeckers and other bright-
coloured birds as compared with Europe. On my way back
to Washington I spent four days at Niagara, living at the old
hotel on the Canadian side, in a room that looked out on the
great fall, and where its continuous musical roar soothed me
to sleep. It was a hard frost, and the American falls had
great ice-mounds below them, and ranges of gigantic icicles
near the margins. At night the sound was like that of a strong,
steady wind at sea, but even more like the roar of the London
streets heard from the middle of Hyde Park. When in bed a
constant vibration was felt. I spent my whole time wander-
ing about the falls, above and below, on the Canadian and
the American sides, roaming over Goat Island and the Three
Sisters Islands far in the rapids above the Horse-shoe Fall,
which are almost as impressive as the fall itself. The small
Luna Island dividing the American falls was a lovely sight ;
the 3rbor-vitae trees {Thuya Americana), with which it is
covered, young and old, some torn and jagged, but all to
the smallest twigs coated with glistening ice from the frozen
spray, looked like groves of gigantic tree corals — the most
magnificent and fairy-like scene I have ever beheld. All the
islands are rocky and picturesque, the trees draped with wild
vines and Virginia creepers, and afford a sample of the original
American forest vegetation of very great interest. During
these four days I was almost entirely alone, and was glad
to be so. I was never tired of the ever-changing aspects of
this grand illustration of natural forces engaged in modelling
the earth's surface. Usually the centre of the great falls,
where the depth and force of the water are greatest, is hidden
by the great column of spray which rises to the height of four
hundred or five hundred feet ; but occasionally the wind drifts
it aside, and allows the great central gulf of falling water

128 MY LIFE [Chap.

to be seen nearly from top to bottom — a most impressive
sight.

When I got back to Washington it was snowing hard, and
the whole country was more wintry-looking than at Niagara,
four degrees further north. I at once went to the Geological
Survey Library to look up recent works on Niagara, and
had an interesting talk with Mr. McGee about it. He told
me that the centre of the Horse-shoe Fall has receded about
two hundred feet in forty years. The Potomac falls, which
are in gneiss rock, have receded quite as fast. The conditions
that combine to produce the recession of waterfalls are
numerous, and so liable to change, that it is impossible to
trust to conclusions drawn from observations during limited
periods. It is evident, for example, that while the Canadian
falls have receded nearly one-third of a mile, the American
falls have not receded more than ten or twenty feet.

Although I did not have a single lecture engagement at
Washington, I read two short scientific papers there. There
was a Woman's Anthropological Society, which invited me
to address them, and being rather puzzled what to talk about,
I made a few remarks on " The Great Problems of Anthro-
pology." These I defined as the problem of race and the
problem of language. On the first point I stated that there
are three great races or divisions of mankind clearly definable
— the black, the brown, and the white, or the Negro, Mon-
golian, and Caucasian. If we once begin to subdivide beyond
these primary divisions, there is no possibility of agreement,
and we pass insensibly from the five races of Pritchard to the
fifty or sixty of some modern ethnologists. The other great
problem, that of language and its origin, was important,
because it was, above all others, the human characteristic,
and was the greatest factor in man's intellectual develop-
ment. I then laid down the outlines of the theory of mouth-
gestures, which I afterwards developed in my article on " The
Expressiveness of Speech," showing how greatly it extends the
range of mere initiative sounds (which had been ridiculed by
some great philologists) and affords a broad and secure
foundation for the development of every form of human speech.

XXX] BOSTON TO WASHINGTON 129

The other paper was on " Social Economy versus Political
Economy," and was given at the request of Major Powell and a
few other scientific friends to a large audience of gentlemen
and ladies. It was an attempt to show how and why the
old " political economy " was effete and useless, in view of
modern civilization and modern accumulations of individual
wealth. Its one end, aim, and the measure of its success,
was the accumulation of wealth, without considering who got
the wealth, or how many of the producers of the wealth
starved. What we required now was a science of " social
economy," whose success should be measured by the good
of all. Under this system, not only should no worker ever be
in want, but labour must be so organized that every worker,
without exception, must receive as the product of his labour
all the essentials of a healthy and happy life; must have
ample relaxation, adequate change of occupation, the means
of enjoying the beauty and the solace of nature on the
one hand, and of literature and art on the other. This must
be a first charge on the labour of the community ; till this is
produced there must be no labour expended on luxury, no
private accumulations of wealth in order that unborn gene-
rations may live lives of idleness and pleasure.

This paper was altogether too revolutionary for many of
my hearers, and the general feeling was perhaps expressed in
the following passage from the Washington Post: "It is
astounding that a man who really possesses the power of
induction and ratiocination, and who, in physical synthesis
has been a leader of his generation, should express notions of
political economy, which belong only or mainly to savage
tribes." At that time, however, there was hardly a professed
socialist in America. In the eighteen years that have elapsed
since this paper was read an enormous advance in opinion
has occurred, and to-day, not only to a large proportion of
the workers, but to thousands of the professional classes, the
views therein expressed would be accepted as in accordance
with justice and sound policy.

Another evening I was asked by Dr. T. A. Bland, editor
of TJie Council Fire, and friend of the Indians, who had seen

VOL. 11. K

130 MY LIFE [Chap.

the evils of land-speculation in leading to the robbery of
land granted as Indian reserves, to give some of his friends
a short address, explaining my views on land reform. I note
in my journal, " preached on ' Land Nationalization,' talk
afterwards." At this time, however, the one subject of
private interest everywhere in America was land-speculation,
and nobody could see anything bad in it. My ideas, there-
fore, seemed very wild, and I don't think I made a convert.

One of the most interesting visits I made in Washington
was to the National Deaf-Mute College, founded in 1857,
and one of the best institutions of the kind in the world. The
president, Dr. Galaudet, learnt to speak by signs before he
spoke audibly, his mother being deaf and dumb, while his
father was the first teacher of deaf-mutes in the United States.
There are about one hundred and twenty students from
all parts of the Union, and the buildings stand in one hundred
acres of beautifully wooded grounds, within ten miles of the
Capitol. The more advanced students learn every subject
taught in the best colleges, such as mathematics, the ancient
and modern languages, the various sciences, moral philo-
sophy, etc., and all these subjects are taught as thoroughly
and as easily as to those who possess the power of speech.

But besides being taught to use the gesture language as
easily and as quickly as we use ordinary speech, and to read
and write as well as we do, they are also now taught to
speak — a much more difficult thing, and long thought impos-
sible, because, not being able to hear either the teacher's voice
or their own, they have to be taught by watching their
tutor's mouth while speaking, and then trying to imitate the
movements of the lips and tongue, aided by feeling the
throat with their fingers. It is a very slow process, and
success depends much on the special imitative faculties and
vocal organization of the learner. Even in the best cases
there is a hardness and want of modulation in the voice, but
they learn to say everything, even to make a speech in
public, and at the same time they learn what is termed lip-
reading — that is, to know what a person is saying by watching
the motions of the lips and throat. But in this there is,

xxx] BOSTON TO WASHINGTON 131

of course, a good deal of guesswork, and unless they know
the subject of conversation, they are likely to make great
mistakes.

Many persons cannot understand how it is possible to
convey all kinds of abstract ideas by means of gestures or
signals as quickly and as certainly as by vocal sounds. But
in reality the former has some advantages over the latter,
and is equally capable of unlimited extension and the ex-
pression of new ideas, by a modification of familiar symbols.
If we consider how easily we convey the idea, " Don't speak,"
by putting the fingers to the lips ; " yes " or " no " by the
slightest motions of the head ; "come" or "go" by motions
of the hand; "joy" or "sorrow" by the expression of the
face ; • a child " or " a man " by holding the hand at the
corresponding height ; weakness of mind by tapping the
forehead with the finger, we can see how a system of signs
and gestures may be gradually built up as surely as have
been the vocal sounds of all the various languages of the
world. And such a system has been built up, and is so
complete that a spoken lecture upon any subject whatever
can be translated into gestures so as to be perfectly under-
stood and enjoyed by an audience of deaf-mutes. Of course,
proper names and the less common technical terms are given
by rapidly spelling out the word by letter-signs. No doubt
the power of speaking and lip-reading is by far the more
valuable for the deaf-mute, since it enables him to com-
municate with the outside world ; but as a means of familiar
intercourse with each other, the gesture language is the
most certain and the most enjoyable. Both require light,
but the latter, involving motions of the limbs and body, can
be understood at a greater distance and with less strained
attention.

The students trained in this college have no difficulty in
finding employment. Some become teachers to the deaf,
but others are editors or journalists, clerks, surveyors,
draughtsmen, mechanics, etc. I saw one of the younger
pupils being taught to speak, which requires immense
patience and perseverance in the teacher, and in some cases

132 MY LIFE [Chap.

is almost impossible, except to a very limited extent.
Others, on the contrary, learn with comparative rapidity,
just as some who can hear acquire foreign languages with
a rapidity which seems almost incredible to those without
the special faculty. Those who are familiar with the ges-
ture language, and can read and write with facility, seem to
enjoy their lives as well as we hearers and speakers enjoy
ourselves. They are seen walking together, laughing and
gesture-talking with each other, or engaged in the various
sports and occupations of their age without any indication
of the loss of the means of communication which seems to
us so essential. As now taught, the deaf-mute is in a far
less painful position than the blind ; indeed, Professor New-
comb told them, in an address he gave at the college in
1885, that they were peculiarly fortunate in being so situated
as to escape much of the idle, useless talk that is going on
in the world. His own time, he said, was largely taken up
by people who had nothing to say. Almost everything
worth knowing that has been said is now to be found in
print.

While at Washington I was asked by two American
papers — The Nation and The Independent — to review a book
just published by Professor Cope, with the rather catching title,
" The Origin of the Fittest," made up by combining Darwin's
title, "The Origin of Species," and Herbert Spencer's, "The
Survival of the Fittest." With such a title from a man who,
owing to his extensive knowledge of anatomy and palaeon-
tology, was looked up to as a kind of American Haeckel, a
really important work might naturally be expected. But
this volume consisted almost entirely of a collection of lec-
tures, addresses, and magazine articles, printed just as they
were written or delivered, some in the first, some in the third
person, with whole pages of the same matter repeated in
different chapters, some of the illustrations having no refer-
ence in the text. In fact, a more egregious case of book-
making with a misleading title was never perpetrated. Of
course, there was good and original matter in it ; but all

xxx] BOSTON TO WASHINGTON 133

those parts which attempted to justify the title by propound-
ing a new theory of evolution were either quite unsound in
reasoning or wholly unintelligble. When the second appli-
cation came, I told the editor that I had already agreed to
write one, but could easily write another from a different
point of view. This was accepted, and as the reviews were
unsigned, it was not difficult to make them appear to be by
distinct writers. In the first (which appeared in The Nation,
February 10, 1887) I gave a careful summary of the most
important contents of the volume, pointing out the novel
views, and stating how he differed from the Darwinians and
from the chief other schools of biologists. Only in one para-
graph at the end I pointed out the great imperfections of the
work, due to the absence of any attempt to weld the mass of
heterogeneous matter into a consistent whole.

In the other article (T/ie Independent, March 17, 1887) I
presented my readers with a severe but, I think, perfectly
fair criticism, pointing out the extraordinary incongruity of
the materials, the numerous repetitions, the illustrations with-
out explanation on the plates or any reference to them in
the text, and many other deficiencies. I showed how con-
temptuously he spoke of Darwin as a mere compiler of facts
which every one knew, and the inventor of a theory that
proved nothing, until he himself had now supplied the missing
link — the new conception which cleared up everything ! Then
I dealt with his own supposed discoveries, his growth-force,
his law of acceleration and retardation, and other such matters,
showing that, so far as they were intelligible, they were all
included in Darwin's writings ; and I concluded by express-
ing regret that the talented author should have issued so
incomplete a work. I do not think that any of my friends in
Washington suspected that I was the author of either of the
articles, which I heard spoken of as fair criticisms.

Before I left Washington, Judge Holman took me one
morning to call upon the President, Mr. Cleveland. The
judge told him I was going to visit California, and that
turned the conversation on wine, raisins, etc., which did not

134 MY LIFE [Chap.

at all interest me. There was no ceremony whatever, but, of
course, I had nothing special to say to him, and he had
nothing special to say to me, the result being that we were
both rather bored, and glad to get it over as soon as we
could. I then went to see the White House, some of the
reception rooms being very fine ; but there was a great
absence of works of art, the only painting I saw being
portraits of Washington and his wife.

Washington itself is a very fine and even picturesque
city, owing to its designer having departed from the rigid
rectangularity of most American cities by the addition of a
number of broad diagonal avenues crossing the rectangles at
different angles, and varying from one to four miles long.
The broadest of these are one hundred and sixty feet wide,
planted with two double avenues of trees, and with wide
grassy spaces between the houses and the pavements.
Wherever these diagonal avenues intersect the principal
streets, there are quadrangular open spaces forming gardens
or small parks, planted with shrubs and trees, and with
numerous seats. Conspicuous in these parks are the many
specimens of the fine Paulowina imperialis, one of the hand-
somest flowering trees of the temperate zone, but which rarely
flowers with us for want of sun-heat. It has very large
cordate leaves and erect panicles of purple flowers, in shape
like those of a foxglove. It was a great regret to me that I
had to leave before the flowering season of these splendid
trees.

It is, however, a great pity that when the city was
founded it was not perceived that the whole of the land
should be kept by the Government, not only to obtain the
very large revenue that would be sure to accrue from it, but,
what is much more important, to prevent the growth of slums
and of crowded insanitary dwellings as the result of land and
building speculation. As it is now, some of the suburbs are
miserable in the extreme. Any kind of huts and hovels are
put up on undrained and almost poisonous ground, while in
some of these remoter streets I saw rows of little villas
closely packed together, but each house only fifteen feet wide.

xxx] BOSTON TO WASHINGTON 135

My three months' sojourn in Washington, though a con-
siderable loss to me financially, was in all other respects most
enjoyable. I met more interesting people there than in any
other part of America, and became on terms of intimacy, and
even of friendship, with many of them. There was a very
good circulating library of general literature to which I sub-
scribed for a quarter, and was thus enabled to read many of
the gems of American literature which I had not before met
with. Among these I read a good many of the works of
Frank Stockton, perhaps the most thoroughly original of
modern story-writers. " Rudder Grange " and " The Adven-
tures of Mrs. Leek and Mrs. Aleshine" are among the
best known; but I found here quite a small book, called
" Every Man his own Letter- Writer," which professes to
supply a long-felt want in giving forms of letters adapted
to all the varied conditions of our modern civilization. The
result is that these conditions are found to be so complex
that to merely state them from " so-and-so " to " so-and-so "
takes up much more space than the letter itself, and is made
so humorously involved that I was, and am still, quite unable
to read them for laughter. One day a small, active-looking
man was pointed out to me as this very clever writer, and
though I did not speak to him, it is a pleasure to recall his
appearance when I read any of his delightfully fantastic
works. For many reasons I left Washington with very great
regret.

CHAPTER XXXI

LECTURING TOUR IN AMERICA — WASHINGTON TO
SAN FRANCISCO

I HAD two lecture engagements at Cincinnati, and had also
an invitation to visit Mr. W. H. Edwards, the lepidopterist,
whose book induced Bates and myself to go to Para, and
who resided at Coalburg, in West Virginia. I was also very-
anxious to see a new cavern which had been discovered about
ten years before, and which was said to be far superior to the
Mammoth Cave in the variety and beauty of its stalagmitic
formations, though not so extensive. I therefore took a
rather circuitous route in order to carry out this programme.
Leaving Washington April 6 at 3 p.m., I reached
Harper's Ferry about 5.30, through a fairly cultivated
country, a few fields green with young wheat and a few
damp meadows with grass, but otherwise very wintry looking.
Changing to a branch line up the Shenandoah Valley, I
passed through a picturesque country like the less moun-
tainous parts of Wales, but mostly uncultivated, and reached
Luray station about 9 p.m. There was a rather rough hotel
here, where I had supper and bed, and the next morning
after breakfast a waggon took myself and a few other visitors
to the cavern about a mile away, for seeing which we paid
a dollar each, and it was very well worth it. We walked
through the best parts (which are lit up with electric lights)
for about two hours, through a variety of passages, galleries,
and halls, some reaching a hundred feet high, some having
streams or pools of water, and some chasms of unknown
depth, like most caves in the limestone. But everywhere

136

THE SARACEN'S TENT, LURAY CAVERN.

[To face p. 137, Vol. II.

[Chap, xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 137

there are stalactites of the most varied forms, and often of
the most wonderful beauty. Usually they form pillars like
some strange architecture, sometimes they hang down like
gigantic icicles, and one of these is over sixty feet long, the
dripping apex being only a few inches from the floor. In
some places the stalactites resemble cascades, in others
organs, and several are like statues, and have received appro-
priate names. Many of them are most curiously ribbed ;
others, again, have branches growing out of them at right
angles a few inches long — a most puzzling phenomenon.
There is a Moorish tent, in which fine white drapery hangs in
front of a cave, a ballroom beautifully ornamented with snow-
white stalactitic curtains, etc. Some of these, when struck,
give out musical notes, and a tune can be played on them.
A photograph of the Moorish tent and the curious pillars
near it is here reproduced. The curtain is like alabaster, and
when a lamp is held behind it, the effect is most beautiful.
In many places there are stalagmitic floors, beneath which is
clay filled with bones of bats, etc., and at one spot human
bones are embedded in the floor under a chasm opening
above. The print of an Indian mocassin is also shown
petrified by the stalagmite. Rats and mice are found with
very large eyes ; and there are some blind insects and centi-
pedes, as in the Mammoth Cave. Several miles of caverns and
passages have already been explored, but other wonders may
still be hidden in its deeper recesses. The only caves in the
world which appear, from the descriptions, to surpass those
of Luray are the Jenolan caves in New South Wales. The
latter have all the curious and elegant forms of stalactites
found at Luray, and in addition others of beautiful colours,
such as salmon, pink, blue, yellow, and various tints of green,
a peculiarity, so far as I am aware, found nowhere else.

Returning to the station, I went on to Waynesboro' Junction,
where I dined, and had to wait two or three hours for the
train on at 5 p.m. I took a walk on a wooded hill close by,
but the only flower I could find was the little Epigcea repens,
the only indication of spring. The appearance of the woods
was no more advanced than with us in February ; yet it was

138 MY LIFE [Chap.

in the latitude of Lisbon ! I reached Clifton Forge, where I
had to stay the night, at 8 p.m., and found the hotel full, and
was sent to another — small, dirty, and ruinous. Next morning
I was so unlucky as to lose my train by getting into the
wrong one, which was standing ready on the line with steam
up. The conductor, after seeing my ticket, stopped the train
and set me down, telling me that if I walked back quickly I
might be in time. But I had a heavy bag to carry, and a
mile to walk, and arrived dripping with perspiration to find
that the train had gone, and there was no other till the same
hour next day. I therefore wired to Mr. Edwards, and spent
the day exploring the country for several miles around. Two
or three miles up the valley I came to a fine gorge, where
there was a good specimen of arched stratification. I came
across a thicket of rhododendrons, the first I had seen wild.
There were also some tulip trees with dry capsules, and the
brilliant red maple in flower, as well as the yellow-flowered
spice bush, Benzoin odoriferum. There was an undergrowth
of kalmia, and some of the deciduous trees were in leaf, but
there were no herbaceous spring flowers and very few showing
leaf in the woods.

The next day I left at 7 a.m., passing through a very
interesting country, first among iron works in a rather flat,
open valley, then along narrow winding valleys, then into a
dry valley always rising towards the ridge of the Alleghanies,
then through a tunnel into another valley, still going up among
woods of firs and oaks, rather small and scraggy, till at 8.30 a.m.
we passed the summit level by a tunnel, and soon got into a
rather wide, deep valley with a stream flowing west, and at
8.40 reached White Sulphur Springs, in a pleasant basin sur-
rounded by mountains, with a pretty church, neat houses,
good roads, and gardens with painted wood fences ! the
first bit of an attempt at neatness I had seen since leaving
Washington. Here were some fine pine trees, and the grand
ridges and mountains, wooded to the summits, reminded me
of Switzerland, without its great charms — the lowland and
upland pastures and snow-capped peaks. Soon the valley
widens, the rock becomes a highly inclined schist or slate,

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 139

cultivated fields are more numerous, but often still full of
tree-stumps. Men are seen ploughing with very small light
ploughs, which can turn easily among the stumps ; ugly snake
fences are present everywhere ; queer little wooden huts are
dotted about ; and ragged, dirty children abound — a regular
bit of backwoods life.

Passing through a long tunnel, we come out upon the
Greenbriar river, a quiet stream whose greenish waters are
full of logs cut in the surrounding mountains and being
floated down to the Ohio. At Hinton the New River joins
our stream, the valley gradually narrows till we are walled in
by grand crags and precipices, there are enormous fallen
boulders, and the river foams over ledges and down whirling
rapids. We passed a fine lofty point called Hawk's Nest, and
soon after reached the Kanahwha river, which is navigable down
to the Ohio. Here we saw one of the old-fashioned stern -
paddle steamboats ; the climate became warmer, a peach tree
was in full blossom, and I even saw that rarity in America, a
greenhouse attached to a small country house. All down the
valley in alluvial flats the Western plane tree (Platanus
occidentalis) had a remarkable appearance, its upper half being
pure white, exactly as if whitewashed. This is the colour
of the young bark before it flakes off, as it does on the trunk
and larger limbs. The peculiar appearance is not noticed by
Loudon, so perhaps it is not produced in our less sunny
climate.

I reached Coalburg at 3 p.m., where Mr. Edwards met me
and took me to his pleasant house with a broad verandah in
a pretty orchard at the foot of the mountain, which rises in a
steep forest-clad slope close behind. The grass of the orchard
was full of the beautiful white flowers of the blood-root
(Sanguinaria canadensis), together with yellow and blue
violets, and there were fine views of the river and high slop-
ing hills, which, together with the tramways and coal trucks
on the railway, and here and there the chimneys of a colliery
engine, reminded me of some of the South Wales valleys. I
spent four days here roaming about the country, seeing my
host's fine collection of North American butterflies and his

140 MY LIFE [Chap.

elaborate drawings of the larvae at every moult, from their
first emergence from the egg up to the pupa stage, which
often served to determine otherwise too closely allied species.
We had only met once forty years before, but had occasion-
ally corresponded on entomological subjects, and felt quite as
old friends. Mr. Edwards had some literary tastes and had
a pretty good library, so that in the intervals of work and
talk I spent many hours reading. He had lived twenty-five
years in this valley, where^ he had been among the first to
work the coal, and was still business manager of some of the
mines. He confirmed what Judge Holman had told me
about the Irish, who, he said, were industrious and very
intelligent and enterprising, many of them rising to high
positions. As workmen they are, in his opinion, better than
the Welsh, and equal to the Germans. And these are the
people we have for a century driven out of their native
country by despotic rule and the cruel oppression of absentee
landlordism, and still declare to be " incapable of self-govern-
ment." The force of racial pride, ignorance, and impudence
can no further go.

During several drives and walks I saw a good deal of the
country and population. The villages and detached houses
were usually very poor and untidy, fences and pigsties are
built of odd bits of board, and there were hardly any gardens
or cultivation of any kind, the result probably of the people
being mostly miners and mere temporary residents. In one
village, however, where the miners owned their own cottages,
these were neat and sometimes pretty, in good repair, and
with gardens well attended to. Here, again, the magic of
property (or of permanent occupation) turns a hovel into a
home, a desert into a garden — as Arthur Young remarked
more than a century ago.

On the 13th of April at 8.30 a.m. I bade farewell to Mr.
Edwards, his daughter and son, who had made my visit a
very agreeable one, and went on to Cincinnati. The journey
was very interesting. For a long way it was through a series
of small valleys bounded by low vertical bluffs and sandstone,
and with many lateral valleys opening out of them, with

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 141

wooded slopes above. In the flat valley-bottoms the white-
washed American planes were abundant, and in the villages
peach trees were in blossom, but there was no sign of spring
foliage in the woods. We then passed through a country of
horizontal beds of rock, alternately hard and soft, looking like
our Oolite, but really of Silurian age.

I remained in Cincinnati twelve days, met a good many
people who were very kind to me, and saw a good deal of
the very interesting country around the city. I also had the
use of the Cuvier Club, where there was a nice collection of
American birds, a library, reading-room, chess-room, etc.,
equally accessible on Sunday as during the week. Among
my first visitors next morning was Mr. Charles Dury, an en-
thusiastic naturalist and collector, and Mr. R. H. Warder, also
fond of natural history. They took me to call on Mr. J. R.
Skinner, who showed me some fine arrow-heads of jade, and
then took us for a drive round the beautiful suburb of Clifton,
where the handsome villas are scattered about a wooded
park-like country, with shrubs and wild flowers, but with no
fences of any kind, either between the different properties or
along the road-sides. This gives a delightfully rural aspect to
the whole place, and enables every one to enjoy an uninter-
rupted view over the hills and valleys, and also to walk across
in any direction that he may be going. Returning, Mr.
Skinner asked me to dine with him, and talked about
spiritualism, pyramid and Bible measures, etc., etc. For two
hours he poured out Hebrew names and mystic numbers,
deducing 7r, and all kinds of geometrical data and measures
from Hebrew biblical names. He seemed to be a regular
" paradoxer," and afterwards gave me many papers he had
published, but I was quite unable to follow them, or to decide
whether or not there was anything of value in them. In all
other subjects he was a pleasant companion, interested in
local antiquities, and an enthusiastic lover of native birds.

In the evening Dr. H and Dr. L called on me.

The former stayed an hour and a half, a great talker, mostly
about himself, his sayings and thinkings, his philosophy, his
admiration of Herbert Spencer, his recollection of Sir Charles

142 MY LIFE [Chap.

Lyell, etc., etc. On Saturday, May 16, I went with Mr.
Skinner to meet Mr. Warder at Valley Junction, about
twenty miles below Cincinnati, and he drove us in a light
waggon a few miles to see some old Indian mounds. One
very large tumulus, about twenty-five feet high, had been
opened by a pit in the centre down to the ground level. At
a farmhouse near we found that the farmer had opened it,
had found a skeleton, two copper bracelets, several large
stone weapons and tools, some very finely worked, and a
lump of pure graphite. Mr. Skinner thought that graphite
had never been found before in the mounds. On the way
back we saw a very large elongate mound, covered with trees
and close to a village. The valley of the Ohio was here
very pleasant, with its rich fields and low wooded hills of
varied outline. Many birds were seen, the brown thrush,
red-winged blackbird, and many others, all well known to
my companions. The American Judas tree (Cercis cana-
densis) was in full flower and very abundant, and the little
spring beauty (Claytonia virginiana) formed sheets of pale
pink blossoms on the skirts of the woods. We saw a few
patches of virgin forest on the hills, and here and there a
rather fine tree, but these are always scarce.

The following day being very wet, our excursion to the
Madisonville Cemeteries was delayed a week. But on Sun-
day, the 24th, Dr. Dunn took me in his buggy, accompanied
by several other friends in a carriage, for a long drive to
the Turner group of mounds, which are very extensive, but
have been ploughed over. Near them is the cemetery, con-
sisting of a great number of small mounds in a wood, many
of which have been opened, and bones, with numbers of
stone weapons, ornaments, etc., found in them. Circular
plates of mica are common here. On the way back we
visited a field where quantities of pottery, flints, bones, etc.,
have been found near to a small oval mound. The country
we passed through was very pleasant, and some of it quite
picturesque, with swelling hills, ridges, and valleys, often
finely wooded and park-like.

During the week preceding this excursion I had spent

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 143

four days with Mr. Dury at Avondale, where he has a small
house and some land. There were some patches of the
original forest near, with moist little valleys, and here I saw
for the first time the American spring vegetation in its full
beauty. The woods were full of an anemone-like flower
{Tlialictrum anemonoides), the curious Dutchman's breeches
{Dicentra cucullarid) in continuous sheets, the spring beauty
{Claytonia pidchella) equally abundant, with patches of Phlox
divaricata, the dwarf blue Delphinium tricorne, the little blue-
eyed Mary (Collinsia verna), yellow, blue, and white violets,
Jeffersonia diphylla, and many other flowers strange to
English eyes. During one walk I found a fine plant of
Mertensia virginica in flower. But though these were wonder-
fully attractive to me, owing to there being so many forms of
flower quite unknown in England, the actual amount of floral
colour and beauty was not to be compared with our own.
There was nothing to equal the sheets of bluebells, prim-
roses, and anemones in our woods, the buttercups and early
orchises of our meadows, or the marsh-marigolds of our
marshes and river-banks. This subject of the comparative
abundance and the striking differences between North
America and Europe in this respect I have discussed some-
what fully in my Fortnightly Review article on " English
and American Flowers," reprinted in my " Studies, Scientific
and Social " (vol. i. p. 199).

One evening when at Mr. Dury's an interviewer called,
and showed the most remarkable ignorance. He thought
Darwin's theory was limited to the change of monkeys into
men ; that Englishmen were all either Lord Dundrearys or
roughs ; that the lowest Cockney talk was the " English
accent," which he was much surprised that I did not possess ;
and, above all, that America was the finest and the greatest
country in the world, and that all who were born elsewhere
were to be pitied and condoled with. But this was quite an
exceptional type. All my other American interviewers were
educated men and knew their business.

My friend Mr. Dury had had the rare experience
of being bitten by a dead rattlesnake with very painful

144 MY LIFE [Chap.

consequences. When in Florida he shot a very large rattle-
snake, and decided to take its head only, in order to examine
its dentition. He opened its mouth with a stick, and saw it had
tremendous fangs, and proceeded to tie it up in a hand-
kerchief, and while doing so supposes he must have touched a
nerve in the cut part, for the mouth suddenly snapped, and a
fang pierced his thumb. He instantly put a ligature round
the base of the thumb, got a friend who was with him to lance
it deeply with a penknife, and sucked it for some time. On
taking off the ligature an hour afterwards, the arm swelled as
well as the side of his body, and he suffered great pain. He
applied water constantly, drank a good deal of whisky, and
kept quiet for some days ; but the thumb suppurated, and
half the bone of the terminal joint came away. Then it
healed, but the thumb was reduced to about half its normal
size, with a correspondingly small nail ; but it is quite
serviceable, and being so small is for many purposes more
useful than the other !

Mr. Dury had a very fine collection of land and fresh-
water shells from all parts of the States, and I spent one
morning looking over them. They were exceedingly numer-
ous, and of curious forms, many having strange contortions
of the lips, supposed to be for the purpose of protection
against the smaller birds, ants, etc. The freshwater shells
— mostly mussels (Unionidae) — were wonderfully fine and
varied, some curiously tubercled, some with ribs, others with
long spines. They are also often finely coloured inside —
white, pink, yellow, or orange — while in many of the species
there is a variation of form in the two sexes. Altogether
it was a most interesting collection. Mr. Dury told me he
began collecting when a boy, owing to a gentleman offering
him a few cents for every different kind of shell he could
find, however small, and he was thus led to search for them,
and to notice their forms and colours, and was surprised to
find how many different kinds there were, even within a
walk of his own home. He was thus induced to become a
professional collector. There are about two hundred and
fifty species of land-shells in temperate North America,

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 145

while the fresh-water species are still more numerous, its
magnificent water-system, including the great lakes and such
grand rivers as the Mississippi, being richer in mollusca than
any other part of the world, considerably more than a
thousand species having been described.

On Friday, April 22, I returned to Cincinnati to deliver
my lectu res on " The Colours of Animals " for the Natural
History Society. The audience was, however, a small one,
and the lantern very bad, so that the slides were not shown
to advantage, but the subject was evidently so new to the
hearers that they were much interested. The next evening
I gave the same lecture at College Hill, fifteen miles out of
town. I had tea with Dr. and Mrs. Myers, who were pleasant
and sympathetic people. Dr. Myers told me that he had
become a sceptic through Spencer and Darwin, but is regain-
ing belief through spiritualism. Here I had a good lamp, and
everything went off well ; but I only received one hundred
dollars for the two lectures, out of which I had to pay fifteen
dollars for the lamp and operator at the last one, so that
my net receipts only paid my hotel bill. But I had a very
pleasant visit, and met a number of intelligent people.

My next engagement was at Bloomington, Indiana, where
I was to lecture on the Darwinian theory to the university
students. I stayed with Dr. Branner, the professor of
geology, who had spent many years in Brazil, so that we had
a common interest He showed me his drawings of palms,
and photographs of Brazilian scenery. The university here,
like all colleges and schools in the West, is open to both
sexes. They meet in the classes, in lecture rooms, and in
debates on a perfect equality, and Mrs. Branner thinks the
results are entirely beneficial. The next morning Dr. Bran-
ner took me a long drive through the country. The rocks
were of Carboniferous age, and were of limestone and sand-
stone in nearly horizontal strata, leading to pretty undu-
lations of hill and valley, with abrupt slopes. We passed
through some fine tracts of forest, but there were very few
flowers, though the red maples in the woods, and the white
A melanchier canadensis were pretty.

VOL. II. L

146 MY LIFE [Chap.

Returning at 3 p.m., we found that my large roll of
diagrams, which could not be brought as passengers' luggage,
had not arrived, and I could not well give my lecture without
them. There was nothing for it but to make some rough
sketches from memory ; so we went to the lecture-room, got
some large sheets of paper, and I sketched out the four or
five diagrams (of curves of variation, lines and dots showing
amounts of variation, etc.) on a small scale, and then Dr.
Branner and myself, with the assistance of one of the students,
set to work to enlarge them, and draw them in thick black
ink, the result at a distance being almost as good as the more
accurate originals, which turned up after I had left, and were
sent after me. Then we had to hurry back to dinner at 6.30,
to which several professors were asked to meet me, and then
to the lecture at 8, which went off very well, notwithstanding
the makeshift diagrams.

My next destination was Sioux City vid Kansas City, but
I stopped for a day at St. Louis in order to see the Trelease
Botanic Garden, recently given to the town, and which I had
heard highly spoken of. I travelled mostly through various
kinds of prairie country, level or rolling, with occasional hilly
tracts covered with wood. Everywhere some wood was in
sight, and the land seemed very rich ; but the general effect
was usually ragged from the ugly, rough wood fences. Crossing
the fine three-arched bridge over the Mississippi to St. Louis,
I went to the Laclade Hotel. After breakfast next morning
I called on Dr. Trelease, who was out. I then went on to
the gardens, a little outside the city. Though rather poor as
a botanical garden, there were a number of fine conserva-
tories and plant-houses, and plenty of seats. The many
American, Rocky Mountain, and other plants I wanted to see
were not to be found, ordinary South European garden plants
and a few Cape and Australian species being the chief occu-
pants of the garden. In the afternoon Dr. Trelease called
on me. He was a youngish, pleasant man, and we had two
hours' talk on natural history and other subjects. He kindly
offered me plants, seeds, etc.

I left at 8.20 in a sleeping-car for Kansas City, and at

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 147

sunrise next morning saw the Missouri river on our right,
from half to three-quarters of a mile wide, the opposite bank
wooded. We soon left it, crossing the prairie in a nearly
straight line for Kansas City, over a rich alluvial plain, with
numerous clumps of trees — poplars, planes, etc. Steep bluffs,
from one hundred to two hundred feet high, were frequent,
either bare or wooded. As we approached the city we came
near the river again, and here there were bluffs of rock of
cretaceous sands or limestones — a typical rich prairie country.
The Missouri here was like liquid mud, with a swift stream
and numerous eddies. On reaching the city I breakfasted at
the Station Hotel, bought my ticket for Sioux City, and after
much trouble got my trunk and lecture diagrams checked
through. We started at 1 1 and reached Council Bluffs, where
I had to stay the night, at 6.30, the whole way along level
prairie with the river always in sight. At the hotel here
were pleasant female waiters instead of the usual white,
brown, or black men waiters. Leaving early next morning
I saw abundance of water-birds, especially thousands of
grebes, scuttling off from the banks as the train passed, leav-
ing long trails on the water. At Missouri Valley, a large
village, we had to wait an hour and a half. Here the plain
was several miles wide, bounded by sloping bluffs of loess,
often covered with deep black mould. I walked on to some
waste ground, but could find no flowers, the soil being
very dry, with a little grass and a few stunted shrubs just
sprouting. About twenty miles further we reached Sioux
City, where the bluffs come close to the river. The city is
on gentle slopes which merge into high rolling prairie inland,
intersected by deep valleys ; but at this time of year it was
looking rather arid.

Three lectures had been arranged for me here by Mr.
D. H. Talbot on behalf of the Natural History Society, and
Mr. E. H. Stone had kindly offered me hospitality in his
very pretty house in the suburbs. In the afternoon Mr.
Talbot took me to call on a lady who made beautiful draw-
ings in oil of native flowers. These were very skilfully
executed, and almost equal to those of Miss North at Kew. I

148 MY LIFE [Chap.

lectured here Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, on " Colours
of Animals," " Mimicry," and " Oceanic Islands," and every day
had drives or excursions about the country or to Mr. Talbot's
zoological farm. On the Sunday morning after my arrival
Mr. Talbot called in a two-horsed buggy to take me to his
farm ; two other gentlemen in another ; Judge Wakefield,
Miss W. (the lady who painted flowers), and two children in a
third. We first went to a bluff near the town to see a thick
bed of loess resting on glacial drift, and this on Cretaceous
sandstone. Then up the valley of the great Sioux river, a
fine, clear stream, passing another bluff showing a thick bed
of obliquely stratified gravel with enclosed pebbles and
boulders, and about one hundred and fifty feet of loess over
it. We then turned up a thinly wooded valley to Mr. Talbot's
farm, about four miles from the city. Here we picnicked in
a rather scrubby wood with very little shade, as no leaves
were yet out, and it was very hot and dusty ; but we had
quite a luxurious feast and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly,
lighting a fire and making tea and coffee to finish with.

We then inspected our host's animals — six fine American
bisons, twelve elks, an East Indian zebu, a drove of solid-
hoofed pigs, a flock of four-horned sheep, hybrids of zebu
and cattle, a fine trotting colt, wolves, foxes, rabbits, wild
geese, and other aquatic birds, pigeons, rattlesnakes, and
other curious birds and reptiles. He has here six thousand
acres of land, wooded valleys, and prairie, where, besides
keeping all these animals in order to observe their habits,
make experiments on their instincts, etc., he carries on a
considerable business in growing agricultural seeds of choice
qualities, breeding the solid-hoofed hogs, which are said to
be superior for fattening purposes, as well as the four-horned
sheep, Angora goats, hybrid cattle, etc. He has also
patented metallic tags for identifying cattle and other farm
stock, and several agricultural implements. These animals
are all looked after by youths trained by himself — boys and
girls, who are, he finds, as soon as they take an interest in
the work, much more trustworthy than any men. He has
also a large building for a museum, or rather laboratory, of

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 149

experimental zoology. Here he showed me several hundred
skins of wild geese, roughly prepared, but every one with
numbered labels giving the date, hour, and exact spot where
they were each shot, with the direction of their flight, while
the contents of the stomach of each is preserved for examina-
tion. These have been obtained from various north-western
States, and by a close study of them he hopes to trace out
the exact course of their migration year by year. He hoped
that in time some of his land would be included within the
city limits, and would sell for a high price, in which case
he would leave the rest as a zoological experimental station
to the public. I made some suggestions to him as to experi-
ments in regard to instinct, heredity, and evolution, which
were much needed, and he said he would take them in hand
when his affairs were more settled.

Sioux City had recently become a centre for agricultural
produce, and had a large pork-curing establishment ; and, as
in many other Western cities, there had been " a great boom
in real estate." Land two miles from the town, which was
bought three or four years back for ten dollars an acre, is now
selling at a hundred and fifty dollars ; while in the residential
parts of the city plots of one hundred and fifty feet square
sell for nine thousand dollars, equal to £1800, or about £3500
per acre, and in the business part of the city twice as much.

One morning Mr. Talbot took me to see the pork-curing
establishment, where, during the season, they kill a thousand
hogs a day. The animals are collected in pens close to the
building, with a gate opening to an inclined pathway of
planks up to the top of the building. They walk up this of
their own accord in a continuous procession, and at the top
are caught up one after another by a chain round their hind
legs, and swung on to the men who kill, scald, scrape, and
cut them up ; all the separate parts going through the
several stages of cleaning and curing till the result is bacon,
hams, barrels of pork, black puddings, sausages, and bristles,
while the whole of the refuse is dried and ground up into a
valuable manure. The ingenuity of the whole process is

ISO MY LIFE [Chap.

undeniable ; but to go through it all, as I was obliged to do,
along narrow planks and ladders slippery with blood and
water, and in the warm, close, reeking atmosphere, was
utterly disgusting. My friend was, however, quite amazed
at my feeling anything but admiration of the whole estab-
lishment, which was considered one of the sights and glories
of the city.

On coming out I was told something that interested me
more than the wholesale pork factory had done. A gentle-
man was standing at the door of an office close by, and in
the course of conversation with him, the subject of tornadoes
came up, in reference to one that had done some damage
there two years before. There was a very large iron oil
reservoir a few yards from the office, something like the
largest-sized cylindrical steam boilers, supported on a strong
wooden framework. The tornado struck this cylinder, lifted
it off its support, and threw it down some yards away. Yet
our friend's office and other small wooden buildings close by
were absolutely untouched by it. This illustrates a peculiar
feature of these storms, which, though sometimes sweeping
along the surface and destroying everything in their track
for miles, at other times seem to pass overhead, descending
occasionally to the surface and then rising again, picking up
a house or a tree at intervals. The kind of destruction a
tornado often producers well shown in the photograph of
the main street of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, after the tornado
of the preceding year (April 14, 1886). This town is about
two hundred miles north of Sioux City.

Leaving Sioux City in the afternoon, with several stop-
pages and changes I reached Kansas City at six next morn-
ing. After breakfasting there, I went on to Lawrence through
a pretty country in the valley of the Kansas river, the rich
alluvial land still partly covered with wood, and apparently
unoccupied. Several camps of emigrants (or migrants) with
waggons, etc., were passed. On the sides of the railway
there were dots, clumps, and even large patches of the beauti-
ful Phlox divaricata, with brilliant bluish-purple flowers. No
other flower was seen, but the trees were just coming out

1: S

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 151

into leaf, hardly so forward as with us at the same time of
year, though twelve degrees further south.

At Lawrence, a small town of ten thousand inhabitants, is
the State University, where I was to lecture on the " Colours
of Animals." The buildings are on the top of a hill a little
way out of the town, on a plateau of rock almost like a
natural pavement. There are fine views over the plains of
Kansas all round, something like the view from Blackdown
over the Weald, but less woody and less cultivated. In the
museum I saw a good collection of the fossil plants from
West Kansas. They are found in a fine-grained iron sand-
stone, mostly in nodules which split open showing the leaf
most beautifully, often with the stalk and articulation per-
fect and in one case a complete bud in the axil of a leaf.
The interesting thing is, that they are mostly Dicotyledons
of very peculiar forms, though the rock is of Cretaceous age.
Icthyosaurus remains are also found, sometimes with portions
of the skin and keeled scales.

After my lecture in the evening there was a reception of
the professors and their families. I heard much of the co-
education system, and, as usual, all in its favour. A lady is
professor of Greek, and at Des Moines a lady is the prin-
cipal, although there are pupils of both sexes up to eighteen
years old. Everywhere the girls hold their own with the
boys, and are often superior to them in languages. At the
last high school examination here, thirteen girls and eleven
boys "graduated."

Next day I went on to Manhattan, where there is a State
Agricultural College, at which I was to lecture. During the
journey of about one hundred miles, I passed through much
rich alluvial land, with rolling prairies in the distance. Some-
times there were bluffs of horizontal strata, with frequent
projecting masses of rock, many of which had broken off and
lay at the foot of the slope. There were many wooded
gullies with the trees nearly in full leaf, but no flowers any-
where. About the farmhouses there were usually a few
trees, also some good-looking orchards and a few vineyards.

At Manhattan, which I reached early in the afternoon, it

152 MY LIFE [Chap.

was very hot and very dusty. At five o'clock President
Geo. F. F. Fairchild called, and we had some interesting
talk about the college. This, too, is open to both sexes, and
one-third of the pupils are women. Some come direct from
the common and high schools, others are adults. The men
learn the theory and practice of agriculture, agricultural
chemistry, English, mechanics, use of tools, etc. The girls
and women learn horticulture, cooking, domestic economy,
poultry rearing, etc. In the evening I strolled about the
town ; no liquor-shops, but abundance of " real estate " and
loan offices, the former a common mode of gambling in
Western America.

Next morning (Sunday) Professor Marlott called with
Mr. Hogg, a young Englishman farming here, who had a
ranch of a thousand acres twelve miles out. He offered to
take me for a drive. We went a few miles round the city,
by fine grassy fields on the improved prairie, but saw very
few flowers. Mr. Hogg complained of the climate ; the long
very cold winter, often 20° below zero Fahr., and the hot
dusty summer. There are only a few pleasant months in
winter and spring, few nice houses, and no gardens. After
dinner I took a walk alone across the river to some woods
and alluvial meadows, but all very dusty and no flowers.
After tea, Professor E. A. Popenhoe, a botanist, called in his
buggy and took me for a drive to the top of a rocky bluff,
where there were a number of interesting plants, of which a
few were in flower, among them Tradescantia virginica, a
Sisyrinchium, a yellow Baptisia, etc.

On Monday morning I went to the college to put up my
diagrams, and was then, of course, taken over the buildings
from top to bottom. Everybody wanted to show me every-
thing in their departments — the clothes the girls made, the
nice cupboards they kept the clothes in, the store-rooms for
flour, potatoes, sugar, spices, jams, etc., the kitchen and all its
arrangements. Then every class-room, and all the classes,
and all the teachers. Then out-of-doors to see the sheds
and stables, the cattle and the horses, and the machines ;
how the calves and the cows are fed ; to inspect the tool- and

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 153

work-shops, the gardens, the greenhouses, the tree-nursery,
etc., which latter interested me most.

I spent the afternoon at the hotel writing letters, and in
the evening I went to tea with President Fairchild — a regular
country high tea ; cold meat, oranges, strawberries, cakes,
weak green tea, etc. We talked politics, and especially pro-
hibition. Kansas, like Iowa, is a prohibition State ; had been
so seven or eight years. It had had a most beneficial effect —
not one-twentieth of the noise, dirt, and bad language formerly
met with. I had noticed myself how quiet was the hotel and
the streets in the evenings. The feeling in favour of pro-
hibition was increasing. Spirits were sold by druggists, with
mineral waters, etc.; but it was in the open shop, and did not
lead to drunkenness. And even this had been recently re-
stricted. The President had never heard of the Gothenburg
system, but thought it good in principle. Afterwards I gave
my lecture on " Darwinism," which went off well, and gave
much satisfaction.

The next day, after dinner, Mr. Popenhoe came in his
buggy to show me some good botanizing ground, chiefly on
rather dry, rocky slopes with loose stones. Here we found a
fine dwarf, large-flowered form of Baptisia australis, besides
others seen on Sunday, and a number of very interesting
dwarf plants not yet in flower, including species of ruellia,
houstonia, echinacea, aster, delphinium, and others, which
make these banks very gay about the end of the month.
We also saw a phrynosoma, one of the curious lizards com-
monly known as "horned toads." A Californian species
which had been sent me by my brother, when irritated
ejects a red, blood-like secretion from its eye. Professor
Popenhoe had been in the Rocky Mountains, and told
me that flowers were very abundant, and that some of
the little valley-bottoms were complete flower gardens. I
received a letter from Colonel Phillips, whom I met at
Washington, and who invited me to stay a week with him
at Salina, a new town he had himself founded, and where he
was a large landowner.

Next day (May 1 1) I went on to Salina in the afternoon,

154 MY LIFE [Chap.

and to the Wittanann Hotel, where Colonel and Mrs. Phillips
lived when in the country. On an elevation, called Iron Hill,
Colonel Phillips was going to build a house, which would
have a rather extensive view. The hill was covered with
yuccas, and with the elegant tradescantia with blue or pink
flowers in great abundance. I also found the fine dwarf
Baptisia and Penstemon cobcea. As I required a lantern for
my lecture, we called first on a Mr. Seitz, a druggist, who
sent us to the Masonic Hall, but in vain. Then we tried the
Wesleyan College and the Normal University, but both were
recently established, and not the possessors of a lantern. At
length we found one at a Mr. Chapman's, but it was an
ordinary magic-lantern, suitable for a disc about four feet
diameter, and with a common oil-lamp, giving a poor light.
When the lecture was given, to add to my difficulties the
lamp went out in the middle, and I had to go on talking till
it was set right. There were only about a hundred people,
so that there were none very far off, and they seemed fairly
well satisfied.

One day we drove over to call on an old French farmer,
M. Joseph Henry, who was a botanist and a student of mosses
and grasses. He was out, but his wife showed us a little heap
of stones near the house, in which, on the north side, he had
a few very small mosses growing, one of them a new species
he had discovered, named after him, Barbula Henrici. It was
a shabby, rickety wooden farmhouse, with a few sheds in the
usual style of small prairie farmers. Going back we met the
owner returning home, and stayed a few minutes to talk.
He had been in the country twenty years but could only
speak very broken English, and when he found we could not
speak any better French, he was quite indignant that a
scientific man could not speak in his beautiful language — the
language of the civilized world ! He made me feel quite
small. However, he managed to tell us that the American
botanists did not know their own country. "They all say
there are no mosses in Kansas. But / have found mosses !
I have found new species of mosses ! And when I send them
my discoveries they will not give me the names — they will

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 155

not write to me even ! " So we condoled with him, and said
good-bye to the unappreciated botanist of the arid plains of
Kansas.

Twenty-nine years before my visit great herds of buffalo
roamed over the site of Salina, and there was not a house or
a hut for fifty miles around. It is now a rapidly growing town,
with five railways diverging from it, and land speculation is
rampant. In the business part of this small town lots twenty-
five feet wide and one hundred and twenty deep, in the main
street, sell at from $6000 to $ 10,000 (from £1200 to ^2000) ;
in the suburbs (a mile from centre of town) about $1200.
Farms near the town, of good land, can be had at from £6 to
;£io an acre. But the climate, the solitude, the dreariness of
such a life must be a great drawback.

I left Salina in the evening of May 18 for Denver and
San Francisco. We soon reached open undulating prairie,
small villages or towns fifteen or twenty miles apart, and
often not a house visible ; very little cultivation, and rarely
any trees. At five o'clock next morning, still in undulating
sandy plains with very little grass but a few tufts of herba-
ceous plants with white composite flowers. Then low hills
of horizontal strata of sandstone ; and we crossed some
small streams in broad sandy beds, with sometimes a few
cotton-wood trees growing near them. Here I first saw some
of the prairie-dog cities, as they are called — sandy mounds
thrown up by these pretty rodents, one of which would be
often seen sitting upright on the top of it.

We reached Denver at 8.20, and having four hours to wait
here, after breakfast I called on Professor James H. Baker,
Principal of the High School, to inquire if he knew of any
local botanist who could give me information as to any good
localities in the mountains for alpine plants. He told me that
one of his lady teachers was a botanist, and took me into
her class-room. As she was engaged in giving a lesson on
ancient history to a class of boys and girls, we sat down and
waited till it was over, when I was introduced to her, and
we had an hour's talk, and she showed me dried plants she
had collected on Pike's Peak. She told me that Graymount,

156 MY LIFE [Chap.

near Gray's Peak, was a fine spot, and I decided to visit it on
my return from California.

At 1.30 p.m. I continued my journey to Cheyenne, across
open plains of thin grass partly irrigated. Near me in the train
was a lady chewing gum ; I saw her at intervals for an hour,
her jaws going regularly all the time, just like those of a
cow when ruminating. Not a pleasant sight, or conducive
to beauty of expression. It must be tiring to beginners. We
had supper at Cheyenne, good, but a crush ; and then turned
west up the slope towards a pass in the Rocky Mountains.
The valley we ascended was among rounded hills, more like
our downs than mountains. Though the country was quite
wild, there were here and there lines of high posts and rails of
strong, rough timber, sometimes on one side sometimes on
the other, sometimes below and sometimes above the level of
the railway. These, I was told, were snow-guards, and were
placed just where experience showed they would check the
drifts and keep the line clear. In a few places there were
snow-sheds with one or two short tunnels, and we reached the
summit level at 8 p.m., only 8240 feet above the sea. The
next morning we were going through similar rolling, half-
desert scenery, with greasewood bushes and bare sand or
mud flats white with alkali. At Green river, one of the upper
tributaries of the great Colorado river, we got into more
picturesque scenery, with rocks standing up like castles, and
further on rocky valleys, with wind-worn rocks in strange
detached pinnacles. Fine precipices occur at Echo Caflon
and Weber's Canon. The Devil's Slide is formed by two
vertical dykes descending a steep mountain-side only two
or three feet apart, leaving a narrow passage or "slide"
between them.

Reaching Ogden in the afternoon, I took the train to Salt
Lake City, passing the fine highly cultivated plain on the
shores of Salt Lake, the fields being all irrigated. Some of
the meadows were blue with the beautiful Camassia esculetita,
an easily grown garden plant with us. I spent next morning
roaming about the city and suburbs. The tabernacle is a
wonderful hall that will seat six thousand persons, and is so

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 157

shaped that a speaker at one end can be heard distinctly
over the whole building when speaking in an ordinary con-
versational tone. To produce this effect it is a flat semi-
ellipsoid, so that the regularly curved ceiling is very low for
the size of the building. But the result is acoustically perfect,
and such as none of our architects have equalled.

The city itself is in many respects unique and admirable.
It is a kind of " Garden " city, since every house (except in
the few business streets) stands in from half an acre to one
acre and a half of garden. Some are pretty stone-built villas,
some mere rude hovels, but all have the spacious garden.
And they are real gardens, the first I have seen in America,
full of flowers and fruit trees, and with abundant creepers
over the houses.

The streets are about one hundred and thirty feet wide,
with shady trees, and a channel of clear water on both sides
of each street brought from the mountain. Every garden is
thus supplied with abundance of water for irrigation, when
required, by small channels under the side walks, and sluice
gates to regulate the supply. Crops can thus be grown
during a large part of the year. I walked a few miles into
the country, and seeing a small house and pretty flower
garden with some of our commonest garden flowers, roses,
stocks, marigolds, etc., I spoke to a homely looking woman
and found she was Welsh. A good many Welsh have
become Mormons.

In the afternoon I returned to Ogden, and went on by
train in the evening. All the next day (Sunday, May 22)
we passed through an arid dreary country, the ground
covered with saline incrustations, and almost the only vege-
tation the sage bush (A rtemisia spinescens). At the stations
in more fertile spots there was a little verdure and sometimes
a few wild flowers — Oenotheras or composites. At all the
stations there were groups of Indians, usually with painted
faces but with European dress, one old man only with the
native blanket, boys shooting with bows and arrows, groups
of men and women playing cards. The passengers give them
money or buy ornaments, etc., and thus they live idly, get fat,

158 MY LIFE [Chap.

and are thoroughly demoralized. At Reno, where we supped,
the country began to get less arid, and there were some good
farms in the valleys. We passed over the pass of the Sierra
Nevada at night, and before sunrise were in the foothills of
California, bare, except for a few second-growth pines ; then
farms, orchard, and vineyards, with eucalyptus trees planted
round the houses ; then a low, flat country to Oakland, where
huge ferry-boats cross the bay to San Francisco.

Here my brother John, whom I had not seen since I left
for the Amazon in 1848, met me, and we went on to the
Baldwin Hotel in San Francisco, where he had taken rooms
for us, and had made arrangements for me to give two lectures
on Wednesday and Friday. In the afternoon we had many
callers, including Professor Holden of the Lick Observatory,
Dr. Leconte, Mr. Davidson of the Geological Survey, and
many others, as well as one or two interviewers. Dr. Holden
kindly invited us to dinner on Thursday, where we met Pro-
fessor Hilgard and Mr. Sutro. The latter gentleman invited
us to breakfast with him at his beautiful cottage on the cliff,
looking over the Pacific and the seal rocks, and surrounded by
beautiful gardens. Mr. Sutro was a wealthy merchant and one
of the magnates of San Francisco ; he gave us one of the most
luxurious and pleasant breakfasts I ever enjoyed, beginning
with cups of very hot, clear soup, followed by fish, cutlets,
game, etc., with various delicate wines, tea and coffee, hot
cakes of various kinds, and choice fruits. He entertained us
also with interesting conversation, being a man of extensive
knowledge and culture. My two lectures on " Darwinism "
and " Colour " were fairly attended.

On Saturday Dr. Gibbons of Alameda, on the Bay of
San Francisco, took me for a drive into the foothills to see the
remains of the Redwood forest that once covered them, but
which had all been ruthlessly destroyed to supply timber for
the city and towns around. Our companion was Mr. John
Muir, whose beautiful volume, " The Mountains of Cali-
fornia," is, in its way, as fine a piece of work as Mr. Hudson's
" Naturalist in La Plata." On our way we passed a dry hilly
field, brilliant with hundreds of the lovely Calochortus luteus,

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 159

which grew in a soil of stiff, hard-baked clay. We wound
about among the hills and valleys, all perfectly dry, till we
reached a height of fifteen hundred feet, where many clumps
of young redwoods were seen, and, stopping at one of these,
Dr. Gibbons took me inside a circle of young trees from
twenty to thirty feet high, and showed me that they all grew
on the outer edge of the huge charred trunk of an old tree
that had been burnt down. This stump was thirty-four feet
in diameter, or quite as large as the very largest of the more
celebrated Big Trees, the Sequoia gigantea. The doctor has
searched all over these hills, and this was the largest stump
he had found, though there were numbers between twenty
and thirty feet. The tree derives its botanical name, semper-
virens, from the peculiar habit of producing young trees
from the burnt or decayed roots of the old trees. These
enormous trees, being too large to cut down, were burnt till
sufficiently weakened to fall, and this particular tree had been
so burnt about forty years before. We lunched inside this
ancient mammoth tree, and saw several others on the way
back. Among the few plants I saw in flower were the
Diplacus glutinosus, a favourite in our greenhouses.

The next day we went to Stockton, where my brother
lived, and found his wife, whom I had last seen as a little
girl, two of his sons and his only daughter, as well as two of
his grandchildren. I gave one lecture in Stockton — a com-
bination of Darwinism and Oceanic Islands — but only had
a small audience. I made the acquaintance here of Mr.
Freeman, a friend of my brother, who had called on me at
Godalming with his wife two or three years before, on their
way round the world on a pleasure tour. He told me then
that he had had good luck in his business, had made a few
thousand dollars, his only daughter was just married, so he
thought that he and his wife might as well see the world.
On asking him how he had made the money, he said, " By
handling mules," and this enigmatic profession was ex-
plained as buying them in some of the Western States, where
they are largely bred, and selling them in Nevada, where
there was a great demand for them at the mines, etc. Now

160 MY LIFE [Chap.

he had taken to store-keeping, while his wife kept poultry,
and as soon as they had made some more money they
meant to go another tour. They had been through Central
Europe and Italy, the Holy Land, India, China, Japan,
and the Sandwich Islands, and had brought home many
ornaments and fabrics from the East ; but what Mrs.
Freeman most valued were some bottles of water which
she had filled with her own hands from the River Jordan.
This water she had given to some of her dearest friends to
baptize their children with, a distinction of the highest
kind.

While in San Francisco I had agreed to give a lecture on
" Spiritualism," under the management of Mr. Albert Morton,
and I went over on Sunday, June 5, and had an audience
of over a thousand people in the Metropolitan Theatre. The
title of my lecture was, " If a Man die, shall he live again ? "
The audience was most attentive, and it was not only a
better audience, but the net proceeds were more than for any
single scientific lecture I gave in America. I had spent the
morning in the fine Golden Gate Park, where I saw some
eucalyptus trees over sixty feet high, with numerous acacias
and other greenhouse plants growing out-of-doors. I also
had a fine view of the extensive sandhills, covered with huge
clumps of blue and yellow tree-lupines, which produced a
splendid effect. The interesting stances I had here will be
described later on.

Returning to Stockton, I went with my brother and his
daughter for a few days in the Yosemite Valley. The
journey there — two hours by rail and two days by coach —
was very interesting, but often terribly dusty. The first day
we were driving for nine hours in the foothills, among old
mining camps with their ruined sheds and reservoirs and
great gravel heaps, now being gradually overgrown by young
pines and shrubs. Here and there we passed through bits of
forest with tall pines and shrubby undergrowth, but generally
the country was bare of fine trees, scraggy, burnt up, and the
roads insufferably dusty. At 9 p.m. we reached Priest's (two

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 161

thousand five hundred feet elevation), where we had supper,
bed, and breakfast.

Next day was much more enjoyable. The road was
wonderfully varied, always going up or down, diving into
deep wooded valleys with clear and rapid streams, then up
the slope, winding round spurs, crossing ridges, and down
again into valleys, but always mounting higher and higher.
And as we got deeper into the sierra, the vegetation con-
tinually changed, the pines became finer both in form, size,
and beauty. At about three thousand feet we first saw the
beautiful Douglas fir, and the cedar (Libocedruo decurrens),
both common in our gardens ; then still higher there were
silver firs and the fine Picea nobilis, as well as a few of the Big
Trees {Sequoia gigantea), the road being cut right through the
middle of one of these (at about five thousand eight hundred
feet). Higher up still we saw the tamarisk pine (Pinus
contorta) and the grand sugar-pine {Pinus Lambertiana) the
resin of which is quite sugary, with very little of the turpen-
tine taste ; and among these, especially on the valley slopes,
is an undergrowth of the beautiful white azalea and the hand-
some dogwood {Cornus Nuttallii), with very large white bracts.
Then on the highest spur (seven thousand feet), where there
were still patches of snow, we saw many of the strange snow
plants {Sarcodes sanguined), a thick fleshy root-parasite with a
dense spike of flowers of a blood-red colour. It belongs to
the heath family, and is allied to our Monotropa hypopitys.
The sarcodes is figured in one of Miss North's pictures at
Kew. From the summit we descended towards the valley, and
then down a steep zigzag road, with the beautiful Bridal Veil
Fall opposite, and the grand precipice of El Capitan before us,
then into the valley itself with its rushing river, to the hotel
in the dusk.

As both hotel and excursions were here very costly, we
| only stayed two clear days, and went one " excursion " to the
Nevada Fall, the grandest, if not the most beautiful, in the
valley. My brother and niece rode up, but I walked to enjoy
the scenery, and especially the flowers and ferns and the fine
glaciated rocks of the higher valley. The rest of my time I

VOL. II. M

162 MY LIFE [Chap.

spent roaming about the valley itself and some of its lower
precipices, looking after its flowers, and pondering over its
strange, wild, majestic beauty and the mode of its formation.
On the latter point I have given my views in an article on
"Inaccessible Valleys," reprinted in my "Studies." The
hotel dining-room looks out upon the Yosemite Falls, which,
seen one behind the other, have the appearance of a single
broken cascade of more than two thousand five hundred feet.
I walked up about a thousand feet to get a nearer view of the
upper fall, which, in its ever-changing vapour-streams and
water-rockets, is wonderfully beautiful. To enjoy this valley
and its surroundings in perfection, a small party should come
with baggage-mules and tents, as early in the season as pos-
sible when the falls are at their grandest and the flowers in
their spring beauty, and where, by camping at different stations
in the valley and in the mountains and valleys around it, all
its wonderful scenes of grandeur and beauty could be explored
and enjoyed. It is one of the regrets of my American tour
that I was unable to do this.

Returning from the Nevada Falls on foot, I had the
advantage of passing close to the lower Vernal Fall, where a
natural parapet of rock enables one to look over and almost
touch the water at the brink of the fall, which shoots clear of
the rock and falls four hundred feet. Here, with great skill
and daring, a series of ladders has been constructed from
ledge to ledge to near the foot of the fall, whence a tho-
roughly alpine path leads down to the main valley. Growing
in clefts of the rock, and wetted by the spray of the fall, was
the beautiful Pentstemon Nezvberryi — a dwarf shrub with
deep-red flowers, more like those of some ericaceous plant
than a pentstemon. On the return journey I noted several
interesting plants. At Crockett's (where we dined), a little
beyond the summit, there was a vase full of the beautiful
orchis Cypripedium montanum, which they told me grew in
the bogs near ; and I also found the brilliant scarlet Silene
Calif ornica. Lower down, the Calochortus ventistus was abun-
dant and in richly varied colour, the curious BrodicBa volubilis,
and the handsome blue B. grandiflora.

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 163

On our way back I turned off at the foot of the hills to
visit the Calaveras Grove of big trees which my brother and
niece had seen before, and I had to sleep on the way. I
stayed three days, examining and measuring the trees, collect-
ing flowers, and walking one day to the much larger south
grove six miles off, where there are said to be over a thou-
sand full-grown trees. The walk was very interesting, over
hill and valley, through forest all the way, except one small
clearing. At a small rocky stream I found the large Saxi-
fraga peltata growing in crevices of rocks just under water,
and I passed numbers of fine trees of all the chief pines, firs,
and cypresses. At the grove there were numbers of very fine
trees, but none quite so large as the largest in the Calaveras
Grove. Many of them are named. " Agassiz " is thirty-three
feet wide at base, and has an enormous hole burnt in it
eighteen feet wide and the same depth, and extending
upwards ninety feet like a large cavern ; yet the tree is in
vigorous growth. The Sequoias are here thickly scattered
among other pines and firs, sometimes singly, sometimes in
groups of five or six together. There are many twin trees
growing as a single stem up to twenty or thirty feet, and then
dividing. But the chief feature of this grove is the abundance
of trees to be seen in every direction, of large or moderate
size, and with clean, straight stems showing the brilliant
orange-brown tint and silky or plush-like glossy surface,
characteristic of the bark of this noble tree when in full
health and vigorous growth. In no forest that I am ac-
quainted with is there any tree with so beautiful a bark or
with one so thick and elastic.

In the chapter on "Flowers and Forests of the Far
West" (in my "Studies"), I have given a summary of the
chief facts known about these trees, with particulars of their
dimensions and probable age. I need not, therefore, repeat
these particulars here. But of all the natural wonders I saw
in America, nothing impressed me so much as these glorious
trees. Like Niagara, their majesty grows upon one by living
among them. The forests of which they form a part con-
tain a number of the finest conifers in the world — trees that

1 64 MY LIFE [Chap.

in Europe or in any other Northern forest would take the
very first rank. These grand pines are often from two hundred
to two hundred and fifty feet high, and seven or eight feet in
diameter at five feet above the ground, where they spread
out to about ten feet. Looked at alone, these are noble
trees, and there is every gradation of size up to these. But
the Sequoias take a sudden leap, so that the average full-
grown trees are twice this diameter, and the largest three
times the diameter of these largest pines ; so that when first
found the accounts of the discoveries were disbelieved. My
brother told me an interesting story of this discovery. The
early miners used to keep a hunter in each camp to procure
game for them, venison, and especially bear's meat being
highly esteemed. These men used to search the forests for
ten or twenty miles round the camps while hunting. The
hunter of the highest camp on the Stanislaus river came
home one evening, and after supper told them of a big tree
he had found that beat all he had ever seen before. It had
three times as big a trunk as any tree within ten miles round.
Of course they all laughed at him, told him they were not
fools : they knew what trees were as well as he did ; and
so on. Then he offered to show it them, but none would go ;
they would not tramp ten or twelve miles to be made fools
of. So the hunter had to bide his time. A week or two
afterwards he came home one Saturday night with a small
bag of game ; but he excused himself by saying that he had
got the finest and fattest bear he had ever killed, and as next
day was Sunday he thought that six or eight of them would
come with him and bring the meat home.

The next morning a large party started early, and after
a long walk the hunter brought them suddenly up to the
big tree, and, clapping his hand on it, said, " Here's my fat
bear. When I called it a tree, you wouldn't believe me.
Who's the fool now?" This was the great pavilion tree
of the Calaveras Grove, twenty-six feet in diameter at five
feet from the ground — over eighty feet in circumference, so
that it would require fourteen tall men with arms out-
stretched to go round it. This tree was cut down by boring

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 165

into the trunk at six feet from the ground with long pump-
augers from each side, so as to meet in the centre. The first
fourteen feet was then cut into sections, and one supplied to
each of the older States. The rest remains as it fell, and can
be walked on to a distance of about two hundred and ten feet
from the stump, and here it is still six feet in diameter. To
examine this wonderful wreck of the grandest tree then living
on our globe is most impressive. The rings on the stump of
this tree have been very carefully counted by Professor Brad-
ley, of the University of California, and were found to be 1240,
which no doubt gives the age of the tree very accurately, as
the winters are here severe, and the season of growth very
well marked.

On reaching Stockton, on Saturday evening, I found a
letter from Senator Leland Stanford, one of the Californian
millionaires whom I had met at Washington, inviting me to
visit him at his country house at Menlo Park on the following
Monday. Senator Stanford's father was a large farmer near
Albany, New York State, who was also the first railroad
contractor in America. Up to twenty years of age he had
lived and worked for his father. He then became a lawyer,
and when his studies were completed, went to Wisconsin to
practise. A few years later he removed to California, where
he had several brothers who were merchants, and after keep-
ing a store of his own, and thus acquiring business knowledge,
he joined them. In 1861 he became Governor of California
and President of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, of
which he was one of the founders, and by means of which,
with the large State and Union subsidies to help its con-
struction and the enormous grants of land which became of
value through the making of the railroad, he acquired his
great fortune of five or six millions sterling.

When I met him and Mrs. Stanford in Washington,
through the introduction of Mrs. Beecher Hooker, it was as
a spiritualist, and to talk about spiritualism. Their only son,
a youth of sixteen, had died three years before at Florence,
and they both assured me that they had since had long-
continued intercourse through several different mediums, and

1 66 MY LIFE [Chap.

under circumstances that rendered doubt impossible. Senator
Stanford has shown himself throughout his life a man of
exceptional ability and intellectual vigour, and would hardly
be imposed upon in such a matter.

Mr. Stanford met me at the station, and drove me to
his house, about a mile and a half. It is a large, roomy
cottage, luxuriously furnished, with very wide verandahs
shaded by trees and awnings, carpeted and furnished so as to
form open-air rooms, very delightful in a Californian summer.
The grounds are spacious and fairly wooded with some old
pines and large eucalypti, as well as many beautiful shrubs.
For some distance round the house there are grass lawns, as
green and smooth as any I have ever seen, with beautiful
borders and flower-beds, the whole kept in the most perfect
order by Chinese gardeners, with water laid on everywhere to
keep up the perpetual verdure during the six or seven months
of continuous heat and drought.

In the house, as in the garden, all the servants are China-
men and boys, and both Mr. and Mrs. Stanford spoke of
them in the highest terms. One of these boys had charge of
her private rooms, and as they continually moved backward
and forward between this house and their mansion at San
Francisco, going and coming without notice, on her return
she always found everything in the most perfect order, and
has never missed the smallest article, though jewellery
was often left on her dressing-table. Mr. Stanford declared
that the Chinese had been the making of California,
doing all kinds of domestic work, gardening, and shop-
keeping when every European was rushing after gold. He
had incurred much obloquy on account of his opposition
to the anti-immigration laws and through his employing
Chinese servants, but had now, to a large extent, lived it
down.

After dinner we drove out to see some of the other
millionaires' residences. The most remarkable of these was
Mr. Flood's — a kind of fairy palace built entirely of wood,
highly decorated with towers and pinnacles, and painted pure
white throughout. There were also fine grounds and gardens,

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 167

but none we saw were so exquisitely kept up as Mr. Stanford's
by his thirty Chinese gardeners.

Next morning I was taken to see the site of the great
university he was going to build to the memory of his son.
He had here about eight thousand acres of land, in the midst
of which the buildings and residences were to stand. There
were large wooden offices close by, occupied by the architect
and draughtsmen preparing the plans and working drawings ;
and the surrounding land was already planted with shade-
trees and avenues. The plans showed a central chapel in a
Norman, or rather Moorish, style of architecture, surrounded
by low, one-storey buildings arranged around spacious courts,
about five hundred feet by two hundred and fifty feet, to be
laid out in grass, trees, and flower-beds. These buildings
were [to comprise dwellings for professors and students, class-
rooms, workshops, libraries, museums, etc., and could be almost
indefinitely extended as desired. It was intended for all
classes, from the poorest to the most wealthy, and to furnish
a complete education from the kindergarten up to the highest
departments of human knowledge, including the applications
of science to industry and the arts. Arrangements would be
made for the students to board themselves at the lowest
possible cost Mr. Stanford had gone into this question, and
he assured me that in the best American hotels, where the
rates are four or five dollars a day, the actual cost of the
food, including cooking, is not more than from two or three
dollars a week for each person.1

1 My friend, Professor J. C. Branner, has kindly sent me the latest register of
the university, together with a popular account of it, with excellent photographic
illustrations and plans ; and it may interest my readers to have some particulars of
this newest and in many respects most remarkable, of great educational institutions.

The whole design, of which I saw the drawings, appears to have been now
carried out, and the result is very striking. The educational buildings, including a
magnificent churcb, are arranged around a central quadrangle, five hundred and
eighty feet long by two hundred and forty-six feet wide. Around this are arranged
twenty-six spacious buildings, each devoted to one department of study, and these
are grouped around a series of outer courts, the whole forming a quadrangle
about nine hundred feet by seven hundred and seventy feet. Quite detached, at
various distances around, are the boarding-houses for the students, the residences
of the professors, a general library, gymnasium, workshops, and laboratories, and
a magnificent museum round a central court, six hundred feet by two hundred feet.

168 MY LIFE [Chap.

Senator Stanford had a very high opinion of his adopted
State, California, as being the richest part of the Union. He
dilated on its million inhabitants producing corn enough for
ten millions, of its illimitable possibilities of fruit production,
and on the general well-being of the people. He expressed
surprise that we do not federate all our English-speaking
colonies, and thus form a " union " comparable in strength
and extent with their own ; and it is no doubt the great and

The educational portion is massively constructed of stone or concrete, and a very
striking feature, and one well adapted to the climate, is that both the inner and the
outer quadrangles are surrounded by continuous arcades, supported on massive
stone pillars with groined roofs and about twenty feet wide, thus affording com-
munication between the whole of the buildings, with complete protection from the
ardent sun of California. These magnificent cloisters aggregate a mile and a
quarter in length ; and at the more important entrances the semicircular arches are
highly decorated with carved ornamentation in the Mooresque style, and are
supported on clustered columns.

The museum is a very fine building in a graceful Romano-Grecian style, and is
full of fine works of art of all periods, as well as specimens of natural history. But
ornament has been most lavishly bestowed upon the church, which is cruciform,
one hundred and ninety feet long by one hundred and sixty feet wide, with a
central tower, one hundred and ninety feet high. It is decorated with costly
mosaic work both inside and out, and must be one of the most magnificent of
modern churches.

At the present time there are more than fifteen hundred students, and nearly one
hundred and fifty professors and teachers. The entire education is free for residents in
California, with very moderate fees for those from other States. The entire cost of
board and lodging, with incidental expenses, is about j£6o a year ; but it is stated that
a very considerable number of the students are able to support themselves by about
three hours' daily work, either in or outside the university, more especially those
who are bookbinders, printers, carpenters, or mechanics ; while many others, who
can perform any domestic or manual labour thoroughly, can do the same. There
are also several scholarships, which give free education and board.

The university has been endowed by Senator and Mrs. Stanford with about
eighty thousand acres of land, besides the estate of Palo Alto in which it is situated
(about nine thousand acres) and the Stanford mansion in San Francisco, amount-
ing in all to about six millions sterling. It only remains to state the purpose for
which the university was established by its founders.

"The object of the university is to qualify students for personal success and
direct usefulness in life ; it purposes to promote the public welfare by exercising
an influence in behalf of humanity and civilization, teaching the blessings of liberty
regulated by law, and inculcating love and reverence for the great principles of
government as derived from the inalienable rights of man to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness."

It is to be hoped that this last clause will be taught in its spirit as well as in its
letter. Never, surely, has a grander memorial been raised by parents to a beloved
son.

xxxi] WASHINGTON TO SAN FRANCISCO 169

fatal mistake of our Governments not to have seen this before
it has become too late, and the absurd and useless tariffs in
every colony have created insuperable difficulties to what
would at first have been natural and acceptable to all. His
view as to the general well-being of the people was, however,
fallacious. He looked at the world, just as our legislators
do, from the point of view of the employer and the capitalist,
not seeing that their prosperity to a large extent depended
on the presence of a mass of workers struggling for a bare
subsistence. At the very time of our interview the actual
fruit-grower could hardly earn the scantiest subsistence,
because he was dependent on the middlemen and railway
companies to get his crop to market, and because the very
abundance of the crop often so lowered prices as to make it
not pay to gather and pack. Since then, year by year, the
unemployed and the tramp have been increasing in California
as in the Eastern States, while San Francisco reproduces all
the phenomena of destitution, vice, and crime characteristic
of our modern great cities. But neither capitalists nor workers
yet see clearly that production for profit instead of for use
necessarily leads to those results. The latter class, however,
thanks to the socialists, are rapidly learning the fundamental
principle of social economy. When they have learnt it, the
beneficent and peaceful revolution will commence which will
steadily but surely abolish those most damning results of
modern (so-called) civilization — insanitary labour, degrading
over-work, involuntary unemployment, misery, and starvation
— among those whose labour produces that ever-increasing
wealth which their employers are proud of, and which their
rulers so criminally misuse.

On returning to Stockton I went with my brother to
Santa Cruz, one of the health resorts on the Pacific coast
south of San Francisco, and thence to the forest tract of the
Coast Range, where are a few of the finest trees of the red-
wood left in Southern California. We stayed the night at the
hotel, and till the following afternoon, quite alone. The trees
themselves are more beautiful than those of the Sequoia

170 MY LIFE [Chap. XXXI]

gigantea, the foliage being more like that of our yew. The
largest tree is forty-seven feet round at six feet from the
ground (sixty feet at the base), and only a few feet less than
three hundred feet high. The forests in which they grow
are not, however, either so picturesque or so full of other fine
trees, shrubs, and flowers as are those of the Sierra Nevada.

While at Santa Cruz for a day, both going and returning,
I saw something of the luxuriance of Californian gardens.
The common scarlet geranium grew into large bushes, forming
clumps six or eight feet high, a mass of dazzling colour, and
in the small back garden of a lady we visited was a plant of
Tacsonia van Volxemi, which grew all over the house, and
had sent branches out to an apple tree some yards away, and
covered it completely with its foliage and hundreds of its
drooping crimson flowers. On the sand of the sea-beach
were masses of calandrinia a yard across, covered with their
gorgeous blossoms, which seemed to luxuriate in the intense
heat and sun-glare.

Returning to Stockton for a week, I had the opportunity
of witnessing a Fourth of July celebration. There was a great
procession of all the trades and professions, firemen, army
corps, volunteers, officials, etc., to the town hall. A school-
boy read the Declaration of Independence, and then the
" Oration " was delivered. It was pretty good in substance,
but declaimed with outrageous vehemence and gesture. Then
a patriotic poem was recited by a lady, but two crying infants
and exploding crackers outside much interfered with the effect.
All the rest of the day there were crackers all over the town,
and in the evening another procession of animals, clowns, etc.,
crowds of people, carriages and buggies, crackers and fire-
works— a kind of small and rough carnival. This over, I
bade farewell to my brother and sister-in-law, my nephews
and nieces, my grand-nephew and grand-niece, and left for
the summit level of the Sierra Nevada on my way across the
continent to Quebec, whence I was to sail for Liverpool.

CHAPTER XXXII

LECTURING TOUR IN AMERICA— CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC

As my only lecture engagement on my way home was at
the Michigan Agricultural College on July 29, I proposed
to spend a fortnight among the alpine flowers of the Sierra
Nevada and the Rocky Mountains ; and as on my way to
San Francisco I had passed over the Sierra in the night, I
left Stockton at 7 a.m. in order to proceed by a local mid-
day train from Sacramento to the summit level, where there
is a small, rough hotel, chiefly used by the men engaged in
the repair of the railway.

I had three hours to wait at Sacramento, the State capital,
a pleasant town, with abundance of trees and gardens in the
suburbs. I bought here a very handy two-foot rule, which
folded up into a length of four inches, being thus most con-
venient for the pocket. It was also very usefully divided in
a variety of ways. The outer side of one face was divided
into eighths of an inch, and the inner side into tenths. The
other face was divided into sixteenths and twelths of an inch,
while the outer edge was divided into tenths and hundredths
of a foot. It was well made, would go into my waistcoat
pocket, and has been very useful to me ever since. I have
never seen one like it in any English tool-shop, and though it
was rather dear (three shillings), it has served as a pleasant and
useful memento of my American tour.

Leaving Sacramento at noon, we reached the foothills in
about two hours, and soon began to see the effects of hydraulic
mining in a fine valley reduced to a waste of sand, gravel, and
rock heaps, the fertile surface soil broken up and buried under

171

172 MY LIFE [Chap.

masses of barren and unsightly refuse, which may in time
become covered with trees, but will probably never be profit-
ably cultivable. Having passed this, at one spot I saw a group
of tall golden yellow lilies, which blazed out grandly as the
train passed them. When we had reached a height of forty-
five hundred feet snow-sheds began, short ones at first, and
at considerable intervals, but afterwards longer and closer
together, and for the last fourteen miles below the summit
they were almost continuous. They are formed of massive
roughly-hewn or sawed logs completely enclosing the line,
but with so many crevices as to let in a good deal of light ;
but the snow soon stops these up, and in the winter they are
as dark as a bricked tunnel.

Before entering them we had fine views, looking backward,
down deep valleys and lateral ravines, among the slopes and
ridges of which the line wound its way at a nearly uniform
incline in order to avoid tunnelling. Everywhere within sight
the country had been denuded of its original growth of large
timber, but there were abundance of young trees of the sugar-
pine, white pine, Douglas and silver firs, and a few cedars,
which, if allowed to grow, will again clothe these mountains
with grandeur and beauty for a future generation. The
visible rocks were either granite or talcose slaty beds and
decomposing gneiss. There were also considerable tracts of
white volcanic clay or ash, in which -the gold-miners work,
and the layers of large round pebbles here and there showed
where ancient river channels had been cut across by the
existing streams.

We reached the summit (seven thousand feet above the
sea) at 6.13 in a large snow-shed opening into the railroad
warehouses and workshops, and into the hotel. After dinner
I strolled out to a small marshy lake in a hollow, and
found a fine subalpine vegetation with abundance of flowers,
promising me a great treat in its examination. The country
immediately around consists of bare granite hills and knolls,
with little lakes in the hollows. Just beyond the hotel there
is a short tunnel which brings the railway out to the western
slope of the Sierra, whence it winds round the southern shore

xxxii] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC i;3

of Donner Lake on a continuous descent to Truckee and the
great Nevada silver-mines. The granite rocks in the pass
are everywhere ground smooth by ice into great bosses and
slopes, in the fissures of which nestle many curious little
alpine plants.

I stayed here four days, taking walks in different direc-
tions, ascending some of the nearest mountains, exploring
little hidden valleys, and everywhere finding flowers quite
new to me, and of very great interest. The pentstemons
were of great beauty, especially one which grew in fissures
of the granite rocks, with clusters of sky-blue flowers and
yellow buds, forming a most striking combination. The
curious and beautiful Pedicularis greenlandica was common
in bogs, with tall spikes of purple-red flowers, having long,
strangely curved beaks, giving the appearance of some
fantastic orchid. The genus Gilia was abundant in various
curious modifications, one species (G.pungens) being like a
minute furze-bush. On some of the hillsides there were
sheets of the pretty butterfly- tulip {CalocJwrtus Nuttallti),
and in moister places the blue Camassia esculenta, the very
dwarf Bryanthus Breweri like a miniature rhododendron*
the pretty starlike dodecatheons, the brilliant castillejas,
and a host of others. Eriogonums, allied to our poly-
gonums, were abundant and varied, and there were many
curious composites and elegant little ferns in the rock-
crevices. One of the higher mountains was of volcanic
rock, and having once seen their characteristic forms, it was
evident that most of them were of this formation, being the
sources of the great extent of Pliocene lava-streams and ash-
beds which cover so much of the country in California,
Nevada, and Idaho. The older rock here is a kind of gneiss,
full of fragments of other rocks, both crystalline and volcanic,
producing a result similar to the rocks I found in the granitic
region of the Upper Rio Negro, and which I have figured in
my "Amazon and Rio Negro" (p. 423, cheap ed. p. 293).
The smooth, rounded forms of the rocks here are plainly due
to glaciation, and have quite a different character to the
globular or dome-form at the Yosemite and in Brazil, due to

174 MY LIFE tCHAP.

sub-aerial decomposition and exfoliation. Here they show
the remains of what were rugged or jagged peaks worn down
smooth into rounded hummocks of very varied forms.
Striation is sometimes faintly visible, but under the intense
climatic changes of this region, weathering has in most cases
quite obliterated it.

Having read Miss Bird's account of Lake Tahoe as being
superbly beautiful, I determined to see it, and if the country
looked promising to stay a few days. I accordingly left by
the train on Monday morning, stayed the night at a very
poor hotel at Truckee, and took the stage at seven the next
morning for the lake, a distance of fourteen miles. The road
was up a very picturesque, winding valley, very precipitous
and rocky on the east side, more sloping on the west. The
bottom of the valley seemed to be granite or gneiss, but the
craggy heights on the east side were all of lava, sometimes
scoriaceous, sometimes almost columnar basalt, and occasion-
ally laminated. Sometimes there were precipices, peaks, and
detached pillars of scoriaceous lava, two hundred tofive hundred
feet high, of strange forms and highly picturesque. This valley
had a rapid stream, which was the outlet of the lake. It had
once probably been full of lava and ashes, when the lake
would have been much deeper and larger. This was in-
dicated by stratified deposits in places at different levels,
and by layers of rock full of rounded pebbles. The lake
itself, though a fine piece of water, did not come up to
my expectations. The mountains around were bare and
monotonous, rather higher and snow-flecked on the west, but
the highest peaks visible not more than ten thousand feet.
On the west side there was most wood, but the mountains
" were not more than two thousand to four thousand feet above
the lake, and therefore not high in proportion to its size,
which is thirty-five miles long and fifteen miles wide. It is
really less striking than Loch Lomond or Windermere, where
the mountains are more picturesque and more precipitous ;
while it can bear no comparison with the sub-alpine Swiss
and Italian lakes.

I strolled about the shores of the lake, and into some of

xxxii] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 175

the woods near, but all was very dusty and arid, and I found
only a few flowers already familiar to me. The hotel looked
clean and comfortable, and I had a very good dinner there,
and in the afternoon sat in the verandah admiring the view
over the lake, it being too hot and dry to go out. I was glad
I had seen it, and especially the valley up to it, but I pre-
ferred to get on to the Rockies as soon as possible. I there-
fore went back to Truckee by the return of the stage in
the afternoon, and went on to Reno by the evening train.
While waiting at the station, two ladies addressed me, and
said they had met me last autumn at the meeting of the
American Association at Boston. They were both botanists,
and had been camping out in the Californian mountains ; so
we compared notes, and had some interesting botanical con-
versation. Their names were Miss J. W. Williams and Miss
Sarah W. Horton, of Oakland, California.

The line from Truckee to Verdi (twenty-four miles) passes
through a very interesting series of gorges in the volcanic
district. The rocks and precipices exhibit all the varied
characteristics of basalt, lava, and volcanic ash, with frequent
intercalated layers of gravel, and glacial drifts. The lateral
gorges give frequent peeps into the interior, with strange
castellated cliffs and pinnacles. Sometimes the main gorge
narrows, leaving barely room for the railway, with the river
foaming against the black, rugged, precipice. The whole coun-
try from Gold Run, in California, to Verdi, in Nevada (eighty
miles), is a region of extinct (Pliocene?) volcanoes, but at
and near the summit these rocks have been denuded down
to the gneiss and granite, which there exhibits the grinding
power of ice as in the mountains of Europe. In this region
we have the results of fire, water, and ice action well illus-
trating their respective shares in modelling the earth's surface.
The long and deep valley of the Truckee has probably been
entirely excavated through volcanic rocks since a quite
recent geological period.

Leaving Reno the next morning, we passed through
similar volcanic country, for about fifty miles, in the Truckee
valley ; then across an arid plateau to the valley of the

176 MY LIFE [Chap.

Humboldt river, only reaching stratified rocks at the Hum-
boldt mountains, towards the source of the river, in the
evening ; and the next morning found ourselves near Ogden,
where I changed for the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, in
order to see a different portion of the mountains, two hundred
miles further south, and to visit Colorado Springs and the
celebrated Garden of the Gods.

I left Ogden at 10 a.m. July 14, passing Salt Lake City,
about fifty miles beyond which, near Provo, we entered a
fine gorge of the Wasatch Mountains, leading to an upland
valley with abundant vegetation. The cliffs were of a red
conglomerate with pebbles, and among the flowers I noticed
Cleome integrifolia, yellow Oenotheras, handsome thistles, a
fine golden-rod, and red castillejas. When the train stopped
at small stations, for water or other causes, I would jump out
and gather any flowers I saw near me, keeping a sharp watch
for the conductor's cry of " All aboard ! " Having with me
Coulter's " Flora of the Rocky Mountains," I was able to
make out many of the species. Climbing up a high, open
valley, we reached Soldier Summit, where there was half a
mile of snow-sheds. This was the divide between the Salt
Lake and the Colorado basins, and we then entered Pleasant
Valley, and winding about came to the picturesque Castle
Gate, where a mass of rock like the ruins of a mediaeval
castle rises close to the line. Passing this, we entered an
almost desert region, with great bare flats of mud and clay,
with occasional low ridges of gravel. During the night in this
district we were stopped by a " wash out ; " a few hours' deluge
of rain having fallen, turned dry channels into roaring tor-
rents, and destroyed the track for some yards in several
places. These were rapidly repaired by building up the line
with sleepers laid across and across to the required level, and
at eight o'clock we went on again ; but were again stopped
early in the afternoon. Here I strolled about, but it was a
miserable desert, with only a few stunted, ugly spiny bushes.
Some of the cliffs around were splendid, in strata of red,
yellow, bluish, and green. This district is between the Green
and the Gunnison rivers, the latter a very turbid stream.

5
In

t

ATt.POICt CANON, UT*M-

ON THE DENVER AND RIO GRANDE RAILWAY.

\Toface p. 176, Vol. II.

xxxil] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 177

Here were a few patches of cultivated land and little rude
cabins.

Entering Clear Creek valley, the country becomes
smoother, the hills more rounded and more clothed with
vegetation, like parts of Wales or Scotland, with some pines and
cedars. The occasional bare slopes show a covering of earth
and boulders, washed from above by the melting of the
winter snows. Here we wound in and out among the
mountains up to the heads of all the lateral valleys, then
returning on the other side so as to see the line we had come
by many hundreds of feet below us. Several short snow-
sheds were passed through before reaching the summit
between two branches of the Gunnison river, just short of
eight thousand feet above the sea. On the east side we again
wound about, in and out of valleys, sometimes round such
sharp curves that the train made almost a semicircle, till in
the evening we reached Cimarron, where we stopped the night,
as there is a fine gorge of the Upper Gunnison river through
which the line passes.

Starting at 9 a.m. on July 16, we at once entered the
gorge, and for fifteen miles had a succession of very fine
scenery, the gneissic rocks forming grand precipices, sometimes
overhanging, or in picturesque forms with towers and pin-
nacles, at others widening into little basins with fine peeps of
mountain summits. Pines and firs clung to the rocks, increas-
ing the beauty of the scene. On emerging from the gorge, the
valley became wider with moderate slopes and table-topped
mountains. We reached Gunnison (7580 feet) at 11. 10 a.m.,
situated in a rather bare open plain, with rounded hills ; then
entering an open upland valley with fine-looking meadows
full of flowers — a perfect garden speckled with pale and dark
yellow, pink, blue, and white flowers — the most flowery valley
I have seen during my American tour, and the only one that
equalled the finest of the European Alps. I could distinguish
great patches of dodecatheon, masses of lupins, and white
and pink gilias. Then we came to patches of pines and firs,
and reached Sargent, 8400 feet above the sea, and I should
think a fine station for a botanist at this time of the year.
VOL. II. N

178 MY LIFE [Chap.

From here we entered a series of high branching valleys, up
and round which we wound to ascend to Marshall Pass, the
summit level of the main range of the Rocky Mountains, at an
elevation of 10,850 feet. Stopping a few minutes on the summit,
I saw many fine flowers, among which was a pentstemon with
blossoms of a very dark vinous purple. The descent into the
Upper Arkansas valley was very interesting from the way we
entered and wound round the head of every lateral valley to
gain distance for the descent at a practicable slope, so that in
one place we could see three lines of the railway, one below
the other, which we had just passed along. Salida, where we
stayed to dine, is in a flat valley near the sources of the
Arkansas river, and on leaving it we soon entered upon a
very fine narrow valley with lofty mountains of conical or
pyramidal forms, either smooth or jagged. Then we came to
a granite district, with tors of strange and fantastic forms,
with huge blocks, peaks, and balanced rocks, like hundreds
of Dartmoor tors crowded together. Then more open rocky
valleys before we reached the " Royal Gorge," where we
beheld towering rocks of fantastic form and colouring closing
in upon the river and hardly leaving room for the railway.
In places there were vertical precipices about a thousand feet
high, side canons like narrow slits, or winding majestic ravines,
often with vertical walls, or with quartz dykes running up
the precipitous valley sides, and always the river roaring and
raging in a tumultuous flood close alongside of us. It was a
fine example of the canons of the Rocky Mountains, and of
the skill and enterprise required to build a railway through
such a country. But there are many other lines which
penetrate still wilder gorges, and which have overcome much
greater difficulties, and I greatly regret I could not afford the
time and cost of visiting these. As compared with Switzer-
land, the Rocky Mountains are very poor in snow-clad peaks
and high alpine scenery, but are quite equal, and perhaps
even superior, in the number, extent, and grandeur of its
cafions or deep valley-gorges.

On leaving this gorge the country became flat and

THE SQUATTER," GARDEN OF THE GODS, COL.

[To face p 179, VOL II.

xxxii] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 179

uninteresting, and we reached Colorado Springs (six thousand
feet above the sea) at half-past ten at night, having travelled
about six hundred miles, through the most varied, grand,
and interesting portion of the Rocky Mountain system. The
next morning, after breakfast, I went on by the branch
railway to Manitou Springs (6360 feet) — the " Soda Springs "
of the old-time trappers, mentioned in some of Mayne
Reid's inimitable stories. Here, where the mountains rise
abruptly from the great plains, which are themselves more
than six thousand feet above the sea, are a group of springs
situated near together on a small plateau, yet each of different
character and composition. The most interesting is the
" boiling spring " or ■ soda spring," which is so full of gas
that it looks as if boiling, but is really effervescing. It is as
clear as crystal, and tastes just like good aerated water. The
springs are surrounded by several pretty hotels, and a small
number of shops, boarding-houses, and private residences. I
spent the morning walking up some of the curious little
valleys that open at once into the mountains, and found a
few interesting plants, among which was the Monardafistulosa,
of a very bright lilac pink colour, some campanulas, and a few
others. After dinner, it being too hot to walk, I hired a buggy
to drive me round the Garden of the Gods and Glen Eyrie, a
distance of about seven miles. This consists of a tract of un-
dulating or hummocky land backed by a range of cliffs, and
presenting scores and even hundreds of isolated rock masses
of varying heights, but generally about ten or twenty feet, and
worn by wind-action into the strangest forms, which have
received distinctive names. They are composed of sandstone
in nearly horizontal strata of varying hardness, whence has
resulted their curious shapes. Some are like pillars with
overhanging tops, but most of them, when seen from the right
point of view, are ludicrous representations of men or animals.
In one we see an old Irish peasant, in another a Scotchman
with plaid and glengarry cap, and one is named the Lady of
the Garden. There is a cobbler, a bear, a buffalo, a Punch
and Judy, and the Squatter ; — the last is here reproduced
from a photograph.

ISO MY LIFE [Chap.

But even more remarkable than these are the wonderful
group of isolated rocks, forming what is called the gateway to
the garden. Here are two enormous walls or slabs of red
sandstone rising abruptly out of the smooth grassy surface to
a height of three hundred and fifty feet, and leaving about
the same distance between them, in the centre of which is a
smaller similar rock. Through this opening is seen the fine
rocky mass of Pike's Peak, snow-clad in spring and flecked with
snow in summer, contrasting with the rich red of the sand-
stone gateway and the flower-specked sward, so as to produce
a landscape which for singularity and beauty I have never seen
equalled. In nature, as in the view here reproduced, the
precipices forming the gateway have the appearance of rocky
hills pierced by a chasm, and it is only when one goes through
the gate and looks back, and then walks completely round
them, that one sees that they are mere vertical slabs of sand-
stone, quite comparable with those which form the fantastic
groups and pillars already described, but of much greater
dimensions. Looked at from another point of view, the
upper ridge is seen to be worn into strange shapes with open-
ings and pinnacles, the central mass having excellent
representations of a seal and a bear, while on the left is seen
the figure of an Indian in his robes. From yet another point
the same masses, when seen edgeways, appear as a wonderful
group of lofty rock-pinnacles, which are appropriately named
the Cathedral Spires. Glen Eyrie, a little way further north,
is a small valley terminating in a narrow gorge full of isolated
columnar masses of various forms and overhanging ; often
mushroom-like tops, as shown in the photograph, have quite
a distinct character, but have not the varied beauty of the
" Garden."

The next day (Monday, July 18) I went on to Denver,
and arranged with Miss Eastwood, whom I had met in May,
to go to Graymount, the nearest station to Gray's Peak, for a
few days' botanizing. Starting at eight the next morning, we
went up very picturesque valleys to the mining settlement of
Georgetown (eight thousand five hundred feet), and thence
on to Graymount, eight miles further, in which distance we

CATHEDRAL SPIRES," GARDEN OF THE GODS.

{To face p. 1 80, Vol.. II.

xxxii] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 181

ascended 1170 feet. On the way we had recourse to a loop,
the line crossing the valley winding up its side, then crossing
back again by a lofty viaduct and thus overcoming the greatest
abrupt rise in the valley, making, in fact, an aerial instead of a
subterranean corkscrew as they so often do under similar cir-
cumtances in the Alps. At Graymount we found a tolerable
hotel, where we stayed a few days to explore. There were
two valleys from here, the most northerly and larger, called
Grizzly Gulch, penetrated further into the mountains to the
north of Gray's Peak ; the smaller and steeper leading to a
small collection of miners' huts called Kelso's Cabin, and then
along a wide, upland valley just above timber-line up to the
very foot of Gray's Peak, whence a winding mule-track led
to its summit.

On the second day, when going up Grizzly Gulch, we
came to a miner's cabin, and two men we saw there asked us
to have dinner with them. They gave us some good soup,
pork, and peas, with hot coffee. They told us that a little
higher up there was a fine place for flowers, and that they
were going by there to their work. So we went with them,
and about a quarter of a mile up we came to some patches of
snow at the foot of a fine alpine, rocky slope, and all around
it was a complete flower-garden. We remained here some
hours to botanize, and gathered thirty-five species of alpine
plants in flower. Some, as Mertensia alpina, Parnassia
fimbriata, PJiacelia sericea, and Primula angustifolia, were
among the gems of the Rocky Mountain flora. Others
were European, as Anemone narcissiflora, Ranunculus nivalis,
Astragalus alpina, and Androsace septentrionalis ; while others,
again, were British, as Silene acaulis, Dryas octopetala, and the
rare Szvertia perennis, which here dotted the grass with its
curious slaty-blue flowers. The scenery was just like many
a Swiss Alp, where snow-peaks were not in sight, and the
flowers, if not quite so brilliant or so numerous in species,
were especially charming to me from the curious mixture of
European and American species.

On our second visit to Kelso's Cabin we were overtaken
by Mr. Thomas West, an English mining engineer, in whose

182 MY LIFE [Chap.

house in Grizzly Gulch we had dined the day before, and he

asked us to make use of his hut high up the valley, so as to

have plenty of time for our visit to Gray's Peak. We took

our lunch in a miner's hut, and I was greatly pleased with the

little chipmunks — a very small ground-squirrel — which came

round the door to pick up crumbs, and after a little time

entered the house and ate whatever we gave them without

any fear. The miners are as fond of these little creatures as

we are of robins, and thus they become quite pets about

houses in the wilds where they abound. In the evening we

made our way to the cabin, said to be the highest house in

the States (about thirteen thousand feet), where it freezes at

night nearly all the year round. Some of Mr. West's men

had brought up stores, the house being used for prospecting

purposes and trial-workings. They made us quite welcome,

and we had supper together.

The next morning we walked up to the top of Gray's Peak
(14,340 feet), one of the highest in the Rocky Mountains. On
this side the ascent was very easy, over grassy slopes inter-
spersed with streams of loose stone fragments, everywhere
dotted with interesting alpine plants. The summit was a
nearly level plateau, with precipices on the north-west, and with
a magnificent view all round, only limited by the yellow haze
which cuts off the horizon. We had, however, a view of the
celebrated Holy Cross mountain, about thirty-five miles to
the south-west, below the summit of which some deep gorges
preserve perpetual snow in the shape of a cross. Over an
area of about three hundred miles from north to south, and
two hundred from east to west, there are said to be over
thirty summits which reach fourteen thousand feet, and many
more above thirteen thousand — a clear indication of this
whole region having been once a nearly level plateau,
which, during the process of elevation, has been cut into
innumerable valleys and canons by sub-aerial denudation.
This is the more remarkable, as the geological structure of
the region is very complex, consisting of ancient rocks, and
has "probably once been covered by the Secondary and
Tertiary deposits which now everywhere surround it, as

xxxii] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 183

illustrated by the belt of Triassic sandstones of the Garden
of the Gods.

We luxuriated here in plants which were altogether new
to me. By the side of the road up were great clumps of the
common Silene acaulis, embedded in which were little tufts
of the exquisite blue Omphalodes nana, var. arctioides, closely
allied to a rare alpine species. In damp, shady spots was a
curious alpine form of columbine (Aquilegia brevistyla), while
minute saxifrages, potentillas, trifoliums, and many dwarf
composites starred the grassy slopes with beauty. In the
afternoon we crossed over a low pass and descended through
a precipitous forest into Grizzly Gulch, and then up to Mr.
West's house and laboratory, where he did a good deal of work
as an assayer of minerals for the numerous prospectors in the
district. In the boggy parts of the wood we found great
masses of the fine purple Primula Parryi.

We spent Sunday with Mr. West and his son, who were
working a mine here in partnership with several other men,
and these invited us to dine with them. After a morning
among the flowers on the way up, we reached the mine
tunnelled into the face of the mountain. After going in a
few feet the whole surface of the tunnel becomes a mass of
ice-crystals as white as snow, showing that the mean tempera-
ture of the earth at a few feet deep is below the freezing-
point. This continues for a distance of about five hundred
feet, when the increase of temperature with depth becomes
just sufficient to prevent freezing, and with every twenty or
thirty yards further an increase of warmth is felt. We dined
with about a dozen men in a large, rough cabin with sleeping-
bunks all round. Our table and benches were of rough
planks, but they were covered with a clean table-cloth, and
our hosts gave us a most excellent dinner of soup, stew,
fruit, and cheese, with very good coffee. In these camps they
always get a good cook.

In the afternoon we walked up the main gulch into a high,
upland valley, with Gray's Peak on our left. Here I found
Bryanthus empetriformis, a pretty dwarf, heath-like plant
new to the flora of Colorado. The grassy slopes here were

1 84 MY LIFE [Chap.

wonderfully flowery, with the beautiful Aquilegia cczrulea and
the scarlet Castillejas, and higher up was a little moraine lake
where Primula Parryi and Arnica cordifolia were abundant.
Some account of the relations of the American and European
alpine plants is given in my chapter on " Flowers and Forests
of the Far West," in my "Studies" (vol. i. p. 217).

The next morning, after gathering a few more choice
plants to send home to England, we bade farewell to our
kind friends the miners, walked down to Graymount and
took the train to Denver, noticing many fine plants on the
way, as well as the grand precipices of Clear Creek canon,
where the strata are seen to have been " twisted and tortured
into indescribable forms," as I noted in my journal. In the
evening I had a visit from Mr. and Mrs. Eastwood, and the
next day, at 8.30 a.m., left Denver for Chicago. For some
time I had the sleeping-car, eighty feet long, all to myself,
there being three alternative lines to Chicago, all starting at
the same time. I was now going by the northernmost, so as
to see the prairie country along a new line, about two hundred
miles north of that by which I had come.

For some time after starting I had a fine view of the
range of the Rockies, Long's Peak, to the north-west, being
the most conspicuous object. At Julesberg, two hundred
miles from Denver, we stopped to allow the train for
California to pass us, and I took a short walk out on the
prairie. All around was a boundless expanse of slightly
undulating country, covered irregularly with short wiry grass,
with a few patches of weeds here and there, a purple and a
yellow cleome, and a dwarf entire-leaved golden rod. There
was also a yellow-flowered prickly solanum and a small white-
flowered asclepiad, with linear crowded leaves, like a mare's
tail. The soil was mainly gravel, composed of small crystalline
pebbles, not much rounded. The smallest of these, about the
size of very small peas, were gathered into many anthills
about a foot high. Coming near the North Platte river, the
fine blue Iris missouriensis was seen in the marshes. There
was good grass here, and plenty of cattle grazing. The river
was about a mile wide, but shallow and full of mud-banks.

xxxii] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 185

The next morning (Wednesday, July 27) we were near
Omaha, in a flat but fertile and cultivated country of un-
dulating prairie, with meadows, and even hedges ! the hay-
stacks, horses, and cattle near the farmhouses having a more
homely aspect than the usual half-desert waste of prairie.
After crossing the Missouri, and leaving Council Bluffs, the
country became more undulating, with fields of maize and
rather more flowers. Among these were yellow Oenotheras
showy rudbeckias, orange marigolds, and the white euphorbia.
Further on, the country was almost all cultivated, wheat being
all cut, maize growing vigorously, grass all closely cropped
off, and no flowers. Every engine that has passed us has
poured out a column of smoke of intense blackness, the result
of bad coal, careless stoking, and total disregard of the
comfort of passengers. We passed the Mississippi about
midnight, and in the morning found ourselves near Chicago.
For miles before reaching it there are grass-grown streets
laid out in the bare open country, with a house here and
there — indications of a land " boom," such as are continually
got up by speculators.

Having six hours to wait for my train to Michigan, I took
a bus and some walks after breakfast to see the town. The
chief impression was of endless vistas of long parallel streets
ending in the lake-shore, the whole enveloped in a smoky
mist worthy of London itself. Like all new American cities,
there were great incongruities in the buildings, small two-
storey wood houses next door to handsome shops or palatial
warehouses seven or eight stories high. This extreme irregu-
larity is the more an eyesore from the contrast of wood and
granite, or other fine building stone; but, of course, this will
gradually disappear. The great lake, which might have given
the city a grandeur and dignity of its own, has been spoilt by
the railroad companies, for though there is a belt of park
and promenade, the shore-front itself is given up to eight
parallel lines of railways with ugly iron railings, and a notice
that the public will cross this at its own risk. There is here
a great area of black dust or mud, screeching engines pouring
out dense volumes of the blackest smoke, and at this time of

1 86 MY LIFE [Chap.

year the grass is dried up, and the trees all blacker than in
London. The Dearborn Railway Station is a fine building,
but the restaurant attached to it is very poor — ragged table-
cloths or bare tables, and a general air of shabbiness per-
vades it. I did not regret having no business to keep me in
Chicago.

Leaving at noon, I passed through a nearly level country
of prairie and wood, with luxuriant meadows near the streams
or burnt-up pastures, and reached Trowbridge Station at 5.30,
where I was met by Mr. Cook, with whom I was to stay.
We had supper, of tea, fruit, etc., and I afterwards tried their
stereopticon lantern, which was very poor. The next evening
(Friday) I gave my lecture on "Darwinism," and offered to give
that on " Colours of Animals " on Monday evening as a return
for their hospitality. The next morning Professor Beal took
me to a fine bit of original swamp forest, with features which
were quite new to me. Throughout my wanderings in the
Sierra and the Rockies I had never met with any sphagnum
moss, which I should often have been glad of to pack my
plants in. In this bit of forest, however, there were acres of
such sphagnum as I had never seen before, forming a con-
tinuous carpet more than a foot thick, and in this congenial
rooting medium there were numbers of very interesting plants.
American pitcher-plants (sarracenia) were abundant, but what
pleased me more were quantities of the elegant orchis
(Habenaria ciliaris\ with curious fringed flowers, making quite
a sheet of yellow in places, its tubers not in the soil, but
embedded in the sphagnum a few inches below the surface.
There was also a curious little plant called gold-thread, allied
to the hellebore, and a number of ferns. Among the shrubs
were tall vacciniums, and the beautiful red-berried Nemo-
panthes canadensis^ allied to the holly, but deciduous.

On Sunday I saw the botanical garden attached to the
college, the library, and the insect collections, which latter
were very fine as compared with our English species. Of
moths of the genus Catocala, instead of our four species there
were about twenty, many of them much larger and more
gorgeously coloured, while the Saturnias and other groups

xxxii] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 187

were in equal proportion. After giving my lecture on
" Colour " in the evening, I had to hurry off to catch the
train, in which I slept, and reached Kingston the next day
early in the afternoon. Here I had been invited to spend a few
days in a delightful old country house on the shores of Lake
Ontario, in the refined and very congenial society of Mr. and
Mrs. Allen, and their two daughters. I much enjoyed this
visit, and my genuine admiration of the writings of their only
son, Grant Allen, was a bond of sympathy. The house is a
roomy old-world mansion, situated in a small park with grand
old trees, and fruit, flower, and kitchen garden sloping down
to the water. Mr. Allen himself worked at his flowers, and
had a magnificent collection of gladioli now in full bloom.
But what interested me even more was to see rows of vines
in the open ground laden with as fine fruit as we grow in a
vinery, though the winters are far longer and more severe
than ours. But the higher temperature due to the more
southern latitude, combined with a clearer atmosphere and
greater amount of sunshine, are far more favourable to
all fruit and flowers which are uninjured by low winter
temperatures.

One afternoon I went to visit a relative of the Aliens at
Gananoque, where they have a small cottage on the rocky
bank of the St. Lawrence, looking on to the celebrated
Thousand Islands. There is an acre of wild ground, with
a little woody ravine bounded by granite rocks, where interest-
ing wild plants are found. The next morning I was taken
among the nearer islands in a small yacht, landing on some
to collect ferns. They are all ice-ground, often mere bosses
rising a few feet above the water, some of the larger ones
having pretty villas and gardens on them. A description of
this place has been made the subject of one of Grant Allen's
bright magazine articles.

One evening Mr. Allen took me to tea at Sir Richard
Cartright's, one of the Canadian ministers, at his fine country
house in a spacious park, a few miles in the country. One of
the sons took me to a wood where trilliums were in flower;
afterwards we had tea in a spacious hall. There were several

188 MY LIFE [Chap.

visitors, and the conversation was chiefly about Ireland.
Here, as elsewhere in America, our conduct in persistently
refusing self-government to Ireland is hardly intelligible,
and is almost universally condemned.

On Sunday morning, August 7, I took leave of my very
kind hosts, and went by a small steamer through the Thousand
Islands to Alexandria Bay on the American shore, and stayed
the night at the Thousand Islands Hotel. The trip of about
thirty-five miles was most interesting among the countless
islands, varying from mere granite rocks to others several
miles long. The hotel has a broad verandah out of the
dining-room on the first floor, affording a magnificent view
up the river, of varied and beautiful combinations of rock,
wood, and water hardly to be surpassed. After-dinner at
3 p.m., I walked a few miles into the country, consisting of
cultivated fields alternating with rock-masses or ridges.
These were all rounded, furrowed, and smoothed by ice,
and on some of them, where hard quartzose sandstones
occurred, the striae, furrows, and deep scooping were perfectly
developed, all following the general direction of the St. Law-
rence valley, whatever their shape or aspect. This is the most
conclusive indication of ice-action as opposed to other causes.
In the evening the scene from the hotel was charming. In
addition to the natural beauties of the surface, there were
many pretty or elegant villas on the larger islands, with fine
lawns and masses of bright flowers, while many pretty yachts
were sailing about or lying at anchor. American wealth
had here displayed itself to some advantage in a tract of
country of such a nature as hardly to admit of any serious
deterioration of its natural beauty.

The next morning at seven I went on by steamer to
Montreal, passing many picturesque islands, and with
occasional distant views of the Adirondacks. We also passed
down the whole series of rapids, not very remarkable as com-
pared with those of the Rio Negro, except the two named
the " Coteau " and the " Lachine." These rush and boil, and
form waves as in a chopping sea, with occasional eddies
and whirls where the vessel had to pass between reefs and

xxxii] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 189

rock-ledges, requiring good steering ; but there is nowhere any
perceptible fall of the water, and on the whole the scenery of
the St. Lawrence was somewhat monotonous. We passed
under a fine girder bridge and the great Victoria Tubular
Bridge before reaching Montreal, the appearance of which is
much spoilt by factory chimneys and the usual but quite
unnecessary pall of smoke. For all this unsightliness in
almost every city in the world, land monopoly and competi-
tion are responsible. If each city owned its own land, it
would be no one's interest to destroy its beauty and healthi-
ness with smoke and impure water ; and if every parish,
district, or county owned its own land, factories would only
be permitted away from centres of population, and would be
so regulated as to prevent all injury or even inconvenience to
those who worked in them.

I had been kindly invited by Mr. lies, the manager of the
Windsor Hotel, to stay there a day or two as his guest He
was a great admirer of Herbert Spencer, who had visited
him when in America, and through him I obtained a fine
photograph of our great philosopher, the very best I have
seen, both for likeness and expression. The next morning
he took me for a drive round the city, and up to the top
of Mount Royal, whence there is a magnificent view of the
sloping plain below, on which the city stands, with its
abundance of churches and of trees, which give it a character-
istic aspect. It is c arious to see all public notices in French
and English, even in this comparatively English part of
Canada. Mr. lies is a literary man as well as a hotel
manager. He lent me an article of his on " Mathematics
and Evolution," in which he made use of the theory of per-
mutations and combinations to illustrate Spencer's principle
of " multiplication of effects," applied especially to sociology
— an ingenious and well-written paper. He is also a student
of Emerson and Darwin, and he entertained Butler, the
author of " Erewhon," a few years before, and gave me a
copy of the inimitably humorous rhapsody on Montreal,
which I have quoted in Chapter XXVIII.

In the evening at 9.30 I went on board the steamer

190 MY LIFE [Chap.

Vancouver for Liverpool, and we reached Quebec at 3.30 the
next afternoon. As the ship stayed here the night to coal, I
determined to sleep on shore and see this celebrated city.
Taking my bag in my hand, I walked to the town. On my
way I saw a gardener at work — an Irishman — and inquired
for a quiet place for a night's lodging. He directed me to a
small private hotel — the other hotels, he said, were too noisy
and too dear. Securing a room and leaving my bag, I
walked to Dyffryn Terrace, where is the monument to Wolfe
and Montcalm. Then up to the ramparts of the citadel, from
which there is a grand view of the river and the country
round, and where the strength of the position can be well
seen. For dinner they gave me beef-steak pie, quite English,
the first real homely pie I have met with on the American
continent. I then strolled into the town and bought a few
trifles in the shops. Everywhere they were talking French.
The terraces and gardens with electric lights were very
pretty.

Next morning I went out at 7 a.m., called on the Irish
gardener again, and asked the way to the best part of the
town. He offered to show me : went along St. Louis Street
and the Grande Allee by the new Parliamentary Buildings,
which are very large and handsome ; a new Drill Hall,
fantastic Mooresque ; then to| the open down and the Plains
of Abraham. The gardener said ; there were many Irish and
Scotch in Quebec, but more French than all the others. He
thought they could not become independent, because they
could not pay their share of the Canadian Debt. I suggested
that perhaps France would help pay it in order to get back
their old colony. Yes, he thought they might some day ; but
he did not think the French people wanted that. He told
me he had been in Quebec forty-six years, and the winters
were not nearly so cold as they used to be. He is sure of it.
Noses and ears were often frozen and lost then ; now one
never hears of such a thing.

I got back to breakfast soon after eight, and then
descended to the lower town by the elevator, and to the
wharf, where a tender took us on board in a drizzling rain

xxxil] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 191

and very cold wind ; and at 10 a.m. we started down the St.
Lawrence. Fortunately, I had a cabin to myself, as I was
very unwell during the whole voyage, with chest oppression,
and asthma for the first time in my life.

Having now left North America, I may say just a few
words of my general impressions as to the country and the
people. In my journal I find this note : " During more than
ten months in America, taking every opportunity of exploring
woods and forests, plains and mountains, deserts and gardens,
between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and extending over
ten degrees of latitude, I never once saw either a humming-
bird or a rattlesnake, or even any living snake of any kind.
In many places I was told that humming-birds were usually
common in their gardens, but they hadn't seen any this year !
This was my luck. And as to the rattlesnakes, I was always
on the look out in likely places, and there are plenty still,
but they are local. I was told of a considerable tract of land
not far from Niagara which is so infested with them that it is
absolutely useless. The reason is that it is very rocky, with
so many large masses lying about overgrown with shrubs and
briars as to afford them unlimited hiding-places, and the
labour of thoroughly clearing it would be more costly than
the land would be worth."

The general impression left upon my mind as to the
country itself is the almost total absence of that simple
rural beauty which has resulted, in our own country and in
some other parts of Europe, from the very gradual occupa-
tion of the land as it was required to supply food for the
inhabitants, together with our mild winters allowing of con-
tinuous cultivation, and the use in building of local materials
adapted to the purposes required by handwork, instead of
those fashioned by machinery. This slow development of
agriculture and of settlement has produced almost every
feature which renders our country picturesque or beautiful :
the narrow winding lanes, following the contours of the
ground ; the ever-varying size of the enclosures, and their
naturally curved boundaries ; the ditch and bank and the

192 MY LIFE [Chap.

surmounting hedgerow, with its rows of elm, ash, or oak,
giving variety and sylvan beauty to the surroundings of
almost every village or hamlet, most of which go back to
Saxon times ; the farms or cottages built of brick, or stone,
or clay, or of rude but strong oak framework filled in with
clay or lath and roughcast, and with thatched or tiled roofs,
varying according to the natural conditions, and in all show-
ing the slight curves and irregularities due to the materials
used and the hand of the worker; — the whole, worn and coloured
by age and surrounded by nature's grandest adornment of
self-sown trees in hedgerow or pasture, combine together to
produce that charming and indescribable effect we term
picturesque. And when we add to these the numerous foot-
paths which enable us to escape the dust of high-roads and
to enjoy the glory of wild flowers which the innumerable
hedgerows and moist ditches have preserved for us, the
breezy downs, the gorse-clad commons and the heath-clad
moors still unenclosed, we are, in some favoured districts at
least, still able thoroughly to enjoy all the varied aspects of
beauty which our country affords us, but which are, alas !
under the combined influences of capitalism and landlordism,
fast disappearing.

But in America, except in a few parts of the north-eastern
States, none of these favourable conditions have prevailed.
Over by far the greater part of the country there has been
no natural development of lanes and tracks and roads as
they were needed for communication between villages and
towns that had grown up in places best adapted for early
settlement ; but the whole country has been marked out into
sections and quarter-sections (of a mile, and a quarter of a
mile square), with a right of way of a certain width along
each section-line to give access to every quarter-section of
one hundred and sixty acres, to one of which, under the home-
stead law, every citizen had, or was supposed to have, a right
of cultivation and possession. Hence, in all the newer States
there are no roads or paths whatever beyond the limits of the
townships, and the only lines of communication for foot or
horsemen or vehicles of any kind are along these rectangular

xxxii] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 193

section-lines, often going up and down hill, over bog or
stream, and almost always compelling the traveller to go a
much greater distance than the form of the surface rendered
necessary.

Then again, owing to the necessity for rapidly and securely
fencing in these quarter-sections, and to the fact that the
greater part of the States first settled were largely forest-clad,
it became the custom to build rough, strong fences of split-
trees, which utilized the timber as it was cut and involved
no expenditure of cash by the settler. Again, to avoid the
labour of putting posts in the ground the fence was at first
usually built of rails or logs laid zigzag on each other to the
height required, so as to be self-supporting, the upper pairs
only being fastened together by a spike through them, the
waste of material in such a fence being compensated by the
reduction of the labour, since the timber itself was often
looked upon as a nuisance to be got rid of before cultivation
was possible. And yet again, this fact of timber being in the
way of cultivation and of no use till cut down, led to the very
general clearing away of all the trees from about the house,
so that it is a comparatively rare thing, except in the eastern
towns and villages, to find any old trees that have been left
standing for shade or for beauty.

For these and for similar causes acting through the
greater part of North America, there results a monotonous
and unnatural ruggedness, a want of harmony between man
and nature, the absence of all those softening effects of
human labour and human occupation carried on for genera-
tion after generation in the same simple way, and in its slow
and gradual utilization of natural forces allowing the renovat-
ing agency of vegetable and animal life to conceal all harsh-
ness of colour or form, and clothe the whole landscape in a
garment of perennial beauty.

Over the larger part of America everything is raw and
bare and ugly, with the same kind of ugliness with which we
also are defacing our land and destroying its rural beauty.
The ugliness of new rows of cottages built to let to the poor,
the ugliness of the mean streets of our towns, the ugliness of

VOL. 11. O

194 MY LIFE [Chap.

our " black countries " and our polluted streams. Both
countries are creating ugliness, both are destroying beauty ;
but in America it is done on a larger scale and with a more
hideous monotony. The more refined among the Americans
see this themselves as clearly as we see it. One of them has
said, "A whole huge continent has been so touched by human
hands that, over a large part of its surface it has been reduced
to a state of unkempt, sordid ugliness ; and it can be brought
back into a state of beauty only by further touches of the
same hands more intelligently applied." 1

Turning now from the land to the people, what can we
say of our American cousins as a race and as a nation ?
The great thing to keep in mind is, that they are, largely
and primarily, of the same blood and of the same nature
as ourselves, with characters and habits formed in part by
the evil traditions inherited from us, in part by the influence
of the new environment to which they have been exposed.
Just as we owe our good and bad qualities to the inter-
mixture and struggle of somewhat dissimilar peoples, so
do they. Briton and Roman, Saxon and Dane, Norsemen
and Norman-French, Scotch and Irish Celts — all have inter-
mingled in various proportions, and helped to create that
energetic amalgam known the world over as Englishmen.
So North America has been largely settled by the English,
partly by Dutch, French, and Spanish, whose territories were
soon absorbed by conquest or purchase ; while, during the
last century, a continuous stream of immigrants — Germans,
Irish, Highland and Lowland Scotch, Scandinavians, Italians,
Russians — has flowed in, and is slowly but surely becoming
amalgamated into one great Anglo-American people.

Most of the evil influences under which the United States
have grown to their present condition of leaders in civilization,
and a great power among the nations of the world, they
received from us. We gave them the example of religious
intolerance and priestly rule, which they have now happily
thrown off more completely than we have done. We gave

1 The Century, June, 1887.

xxxii] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 195

them slavery, both white and black — a curse from the effects
of which they still suffer, and out of which a wholly satis-
factory escape seems as remote as ever. But even more
insidious and more widespread in its evil results than both of
these, we gave them our bad and iniquitous feudal land system ;
first by enormous grants from the Crown to individuals or to
companies, but also — what has produced even worse effects —
the ingrained belief that land — the first essential of life, the
source of all things necessary or useful to mankind, by labour
upon which all wealth arises — may yet, justly and equitably,
be owned by individuals, be monopolized by capitalists or by
companies, leaving the great bulk of the people as absolutely
dependent on these monopolists for permission to work and
to live as ever were the negro slaves of the south before
emancipation.

The result of acting upon this false conception is, that the
Government has already parted with the whole of the acces-
sible and cultivable land, and though large areas still remain
for any citizen who will settle upon it by the mere payment of
very moderate fees, this privilege is absolutely worthless to
those who most want it — the very poor. And throughout the
western half of the Union one sees everywhere the strange
anomaly of building lots in small remote towns, surrounded
by thousands of uncultivated acres (and perhaps ten years
before sold for eight or ten shillings an acre), now selling at
the rate of from ^ioco to £20,000 an acre ! It is not an
uncommon thing for town lots in new places to double their
value in a month, while a fourfold increase in a year is quite
common. Hence land speculation has become a vast organized
business over all the Western States, and is considered to be
a proper and natural mode of getting rich. It is what the
Stock Exchange is to the great cities. And this wealth, thus
gained by individuals, initiates that process which culminates
in railroad and mining kings, in oil and beef trusts, and in the
thousand millionaires and multi-millionaires whose vast accu-
mulated incomes are, every penny of them, paid by the toil-
ing workers, including the five million of farmers whose lives
of constant toil only result for the most part in a bare

196 MY LIFE [Chap.

livelihood, while the railroad magnates and corn speculators
absorb the larger portion of the produce of their labour.

What a terrible object-lesson is this as to the fundamental
wrong in modern societies which leads to such a result ! Here
is a country more than twenty-five times the area of the
British Islands, with a vast extent of fertile soil, grand
navigable waterways, enormous forests, a superabounding
wealth of minerals — everything necessary for the support
of a population twenty-five times that of ours — about fifteen
hundred millions — which has yet, in little more than a century,
destroyed nearly all its forests, is rapidly exhausting its
marvellous stores of natural oil and gas, as well as those
of the precious metals ; and as the result of all this reckless
exploiting of nature's accumulated treasures has brought about
overcrowded cities reeking with disease and vice, and a popu-
lation which, though only one-half greater than our own, ex-
hibits all the pitiable phenomena of women and children
working long hours in factories and workshops, garrets and
cellars, for a wage which will not give them the essentials of
mere healthy animal existence ; while about the same pro-
portion of its workers, as with us, endure lives of excessive
labour for a bare livelihood, or constitute that crying disgrace
of modern civilization — willing men seeking in vain for
honest work, and forming a great army of the unemployed.

What a demonstration is this of the utter folly and
stupidity of those blind leaders of the blind who impute
all the evils of our social system, all our poverty and starva-
tion, to over-population ! Ireland, with half the population
of fifty years ago, is still poor to the verge of famine, and is
therefore still overpeopled. And for England and Scotland
as well, the cry is still, " Emigrate ! emigrate ! We are over-
peopled ! " But what of America, with twenty-five times as
much land as we have, with even greater natural resources,
and with a population even more ingenious, more energetic,
and more hard-working than ours ? Are they over-populated
with only twenty people to the square mile? There is
only one rational solution of this terrible problem. The
system that allows the land and the minerals, the means

xxxii] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 197

of communication, and all other public services, to be
monopolized for the aggrandisement of the few — for the
creation of millionaires — necessarily leads to the poverty, the
degradation, the misery of the many.

There never has been, in the whole history of the human
race, a people with such grand opportunities for establishing
a society and a nation in which the products of the general
labour should be so distributed as to produce general well-
being. It wanted but a recognition of the fundamental
principle of "equality of opportunity," tacitly implied in the
Declaration of Independence. It wanted but such social
arrangements as would ensure to every child the best nurture,
the best training of all its faculties, and the fullest opportunity
for utilizing those faculties for its own happiness and for the
common benefit. Not only equality before the law, but
equality of opportunity, is the great fundamental principle
of social justice. This is the teaching of Herbert Spencer,
but he did not carry it out to its logical consequence — the
inequity, and therefore the social immorality of wealth-
inheritance. To secure equality of opportunity there must
be no inequality of initial wealth. To allow one child to be
born a millionaire and another a pauper is a crime against
humanity, and, for those who believe in a deity, a crime
against God.1

It is universally admitted that very great individual
wealth, whether inherited or acquired, is beneficial neither to
the individual nor to society. In the former case it is
injurious, and often morally ruinous to the possessor ; in the
latter it confers little or no happiness to the acquirer of it,
and is a positive injury to his heirs and a danger to the
State. Yet its fascinations are so great that, under con-
ditions of society in which the yawning gulf of poverty is
ever open beside us, the amassing of wealth at first seems a
duty, then becomes a habit, and, ultimately, the gambler's
excitement without which he cannot live. The struggle for
wealth and power is always exciting, and to many is
irresistible. But it is essentially a degrading struggle, because
1 I have discussed this subject in my " Studies," vol. ii. chap, xxviii.

193 MY LIFE [Chap.

the few only can succeed while the many must fail ; and
where all are doing their best in their several ways, with their
special capacities and their unequal opportunities, the result
is very much of a lottery, and there is usually no real merit,
no specially high intellectual or moral quality in those that
succeed.

It is the misfortune of the Americans that they had such
a vast continent to occupy. Had it ended at the line of the
Mississippi, agricultural development might have gone on
more slowly and naturally, from east to west, as increase of
population required. So again, if they had had another
century for development before railways were invented,
expansion would necessarily have gone on more slowly, the
need for good roads would have shown that the rectangular
system of dividing up new lands was a mistake, and some of
that charm of rural scenery which we possess would probably
have arisen.

But with the conditions that actually existed we can
hardly wonder at the result. A nation formed by emigrants
from several of the most energetic and intellectual nations
of the old world, for the most part driven from their homes
by religious persecution or political oppression, including
from the very first all ranks and conditions of life — farmers
and mechanics, traders and manufacturers, students and
teachers, rich and poor — the very circumstances which drove
them to emigrate led to a natural selection of the most
energetic, the most independent, in many respects the best
of their several nations. Such a people, further tried and
hardened by two centuries of struggle against the forces
of nature and a savage population, and finally by a war of
emancipation from the tyranny of the mother country, would
almost necessarily develop both the virtues, the prejudices,
and even the vices of the parent stock in an exceptionally
high degree. Hence, when the march of invention and
of science (to which they contributed their share) gave
them the steamship and the railroad ; when California gave
them gold and Nevada silver, with the prospect of wealth to
the lucky beyond the dreams of avarice ; when the great

xxxii] CALIFORNIA TO QUEBEC 199

prairies of the West gave them illimitable acres of marvel-
lously fertile soil ; — it is not surprising that these conditions
with such a people should have resulted in that mad race
for wealth in which they have beaten the record, and have
produced a greater number of multi-millionaires than all the
rest of the world combined, with the disastrous results already
briefly indicated.

But this is only one side of the American character.
Everywhere there are indications of a deep love of nature, a
devotion to science and to literature fully proportionate to
that of the older countries ; while in inventiveness and in the
applications of science to human needs they have long been
in the first rank. But what is more important, there is also
rapidly developing among them a full recognition of the
failings of our common social system, and a determination
to remedy it. As in Germany, in France, and in England,
the socialists are becoming a power in America. They
already influence public opinion, and will soon influence the
legislatures. The glaring fact is now being widely recog-
nized that with them, as with all the old nations of Europe,
an increase in wealth and in command over the powers of
nature such as the world has never before seen, has not added
to the true well-being of any part of society. It is also
indisputable that, as regards the enormous masses of the
labouring and industrial population, it has greatly increased
the numbers of those whose lives are "below the margin of
poverty," while, as John Stuart Mill declared many years
ago, it has not reduced the labour of any human being.

An American (Mr. Bellamy) gave us the books that first
opened the eyes of great numbers of educated readers to the
practicability, the simplicity, and the beauty of Socialism. It
is to America that the world looks to lead the way towards a
just and peaceful modification of the social organism, based
upon a recognition of the principle of Equality of Oppor-
tunity, and by means of the Organization of the Labour of
all for the Equal Good of all.

CHAPTER XXXIII

LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1887-1905

LEAVING Quebec early in the morning of Friday, August 12,
after a week of cold and dull weather, we anchored at 6 a.m.
on the 17th off Portrush, on the north coast of Ireland, to
leave mails and passengers for Londonderry. Here and all
along this coast I gazed upon the intensely vivid green of the
grassy slopes, and for the first time understood the appro-
priateness of " Emerald Isle " as a name for Ireland ; for the
colour is altogether unique, and such as I have never seen
elsewhere. Two hours later we passed the grand range of
basaltic cliffs above the Giant's Causeway, and here, too,
all the grassy patches and slopes were of the same vivid tint.
Then the Mull of Cantire, in Scotland, came into view, and
later Port Patrick and the Mull of Galloway, just catching
sight of Ailsa Craig between them. In the afternoon we
passed south of the Isle of Man, and reached Liverpool late
at night, having thus seen a portion of the British Isles that
was quite new to me. Between 6 and 10 a.m. I managed
to get all my baggage through the Custom House and taken
to the station, had a good breakfast at the hotel, and was off
by the 11.5 a.m. express to London, then to Waterloo, and
home to Godalming at 5.30.

On my way from Godalming old station to Frith Hill in
a fly, an extraordinary event happened. Suddenly I per-
ceived that the driver's coat was on fire behind — actually in
flames I I called out to him. He looked round, beat it with
his hands, said, "All right, sir!" and went on. After a few
minutes it began smoking again. I called out louder, it

200

[Chap, xxxni] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1887-1905 201

flamed again ; both overcoat, trousers, and cushion were
burning. Then he got down, took off his overcoat, trampled
on it, and beat out the rest We went on. A third time it
burst out in smoke and flame. Again I shouted, and passers-
by called out and stopped to look. And then at last, with
their help, he finally extinguished the conflagration. A cab-
man on fire ! No more curious incident occurred during my
six thousand miles of travel in America. It originated, no
doubt, from his having put a lighted pipe in his pocket, or
perhaps from a loose phosphorous match. But he did not
seem to mind it much, even when in a blaze.

The rest of the year 1887 was occupied at home in over-
taking my correspondence, looking after my garden, and
making up for lost time in scientific and literary reading, and
in considering what work I should next occupy myself with.
Many of my correspondents, as well as persons I met in
America, told me that they could not understand Darwin's
■ Origin of Species," but they did understand my lecture on
" Darwinism ; " and it therefore occurred to me that a popular
exposition of the subject might be useful, not only as en-
abling the general reader to understand Darwin, but also
to serve as an answer to the many articles and books pro-
fessing to disprove the theory of natural selection. During
the whole of the year 1888 I was engaged in writing this
book, which, though largely following the lines of Darwin's
work, contained a great many new features, and dwelt
especially with those parts of the subject which had been
most generally misunderstood.

The spring of 1889 was occupied in passing it through the

>ress, and it was published in May, while a few corrections

,ere made for a second edition in the following October.

)uring this time, however, I gave several of my American
lectures in various parts of the country — at Newcastle and
Darlington in the spring of 1888; in the autumn at

iltrincham and Darwen ; and in 1889 at Newcastle, York,

Arlington, and Liverpool.
In the autumn of this year the University of Oxford did

202 MY LIFE [Chap.

me the honour of giving me the honorary degree of D.C.L.,
which I went to receive in November, when I enjoyed the
hospitality of my friend Professor E. B. Poulton. The Latin
speech of the Public Orator on the occasion has been trans-
lated for me by my friend Mr. Comerford Casey, and I here
give a copy of the translation.

Addressing the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors of the
University of Oxford, the Public Orator spoke words to this
effect : —

" In that department of natural science which is con-
cerned with the accurate study of animals and plants, be well
assured that no living man has laboured more diligently and
with happier results than Alfred Russel Wallace.

* For having wandered long in early life through the
forests of Brazil, and among those islands which lie beyond
the Golden Chersonese, and beneath a burning sun, he thought
out and explained with wonderful insight the law accord-
ing to which (as learned men now believe) new species of
animals arise : namely, that a stronger and more vigorous
offspring is left behind by those individuals whom nature
has, in some way or other, best fitted to endure the vicissi-
tudes of life. Thus, in the course of ages, scions are pro-
duced which differ more and more widely from the original
stock.

"When this law was discovered, almost simultaneously
by the distinguished naturalist, Charles Darwin, neither
begrudged to the other his meed of praise ; and so high-
minded were they both that each was more desirous of
discovering new truths than of gaining credit for himself.

" I need not enumerate the many and learned works which
Alfred Russel Wallace has published, since the facts which I
have related give him sufficient claim to the honorary degree
of Doctor of Civil Law which this University is about to
confer upon him."

Finding my house at Godalming in an unsatisfactory
situation, with a view almost confined to the small garden, the

xxxni] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1887-1905 203

south sun shut off by a house and by several oak trees, while
exposed to north and east winds, and wishing for a generally
milder climate, I spent some weeks in exploring the country
between Godalming and Portsmouth, and then westward to
Bournemouth and Poole. I had let my house from Lady
Day, and had moved temporarily into another, and there-
fore wished to decide quickly. We were directed by some
friends to Parkstone as a very pretty and sheltered place,
and here we found a small house to be let, which suited us
tolerably well, with the option of purchase at a moderate
price. The place attracted us because we saw abundance of
great bushes of the evergreen purple veronicas, which must
have been a dozen or twenty years old, and also large speci-
mens of eucalyptus ; while we were told that there had been
no skating there for twenty years. We accordingly took the
house, and purchased it in the following year ; and by adding
later a new kitchen and bedroom, and enlarging the drawing-
room, converted it from a cramped, though very pretty
cottage, into a convenient, though still small house. The
garden on the south side was in a hollow on the level of the
basement, while on the north it was from ten to thirty feet
higher, there being on the east a high bank, with oak trees
and pines, producing a very pretty effect. This bank, as well
as the lower part of the garden, was peat or peaty sand, and
as I knew this was good for rhododendrons and heaths, I
was much pleased to be able to grow these plants. I did
not then know, however, that this peaty soil was quite un-
suited to a great many other plants, and only learnt this by
the long experience which every gardener has to go through.
During the eight years I had lived at Godalming, I had
greatly enjoyed my garden, and had grown, more or less
successfully, an immense number of hardy and half-hardy
plants in about half an acre of ground. The soil was of the
Lower Greensand formation, with a thin layer of leaf-mould,
the whole district having been originally woodland and copse.
On the whole this soil was the best for gardening purposes I
have ever had, being easy to work, and well suited to a great
variety of herbaceous plants and shrubs, and especially to

204 MY LIFE [Chap.

bulbs. Here, without any special trouble, I was able to grow
on a raised bank Iris susiana and I. durica for several years
in succession, and the lovely jalap plant, Exogonium purga,
grew most luxuriantly over a low trellis at the back of the
same bed. Here, too, I had the magnificent Eremurus
robustus on a raised bank, with Leonotis leonurus, and many
other tender shrubs in the borders. I received contributions
of uncommon plants from many friends, and ransacked all
the nurserymen's catalogues for rarities and curiosities, and I
find that I attempted the cultivation in this garden, or in a
very small greenhouse and verandah, of about fifteen hundred
species of plants, some of which, of course, never reached
flowering size, others survived only a few years ; but the
delight of watching the growth of these, to me, new forms of
vegetable life, and seeing them flower even once or twice, was
so great that no trouble was spared to obtain it.

My gardening has always been to me pure enjoyment.
I have never made any experiments with my plants, never
attempted to study their minute structure or to write about
them ; the mere seeing them grow, noting the infinite diversi-
ties of their forms and habits, their likes and dislikes, all
made the more interesting by the researches of Darwin,
Kerner, H. Miiller, Grant Allen, Lubbock, and others, on the
uses of each infinitely varied detail of stem and leaf, of bract
and flower — all this was to me a delight in itself, and gave
me that general knowledge of the outward forms and inward
peculiarities of plants, and of the exquisite beauty and almost
infinite variety of the vegetable kingdom, which enabled me
better to appreciate the marvel and mystery of plant life,
whether in itself or in its complex relations to the higher
attributes of man.

When I came to Parkstone (in June, 1889) I had a
smaller garden, but one which I thought would prove better
adapted to a variety of species which I had not hitherto
succeeded with. I thought my peat-bank facing the south-
west might grow some of the beautiful Cape heaths which I
had always so greatly admired, so I obtained in the spring

xxxiii] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1887-1905 205

of 1890 a dozen choice species, as well as a considerable
number of Sikhim rhododendrons (seedlings and young
plants) from different dealers. But although I protected
them with fern, ashes, etc., every heath was killed the first
winter, while most of the rhododendrons lived and have now
grown into large bushes, of which two or three have flowered
and others I still hope to see flower. That winter (1890-91)
was the first of a series of five severe winters ; while the first
of them for duration of hard frost and the last for extreme
low temperature were the worst known, at all events in the
south of England, for about sixty years. What I regretted
even more than the heaths was a fine young plant of the
celebrated blue Puya, a present from my kind friend Miss
North, who had raised it from seed she brought from Chile.
Not having had time to get well rooted in the soil it died,
like the heaths, the first winter, although when once well
established it will bear a considerable amount of frost

I made a little pond here to grow water-lilies and
other aquatic plants, and here again I met with one of the
commonest difficulties of the amateur who grows more than
he can properly attend to, the presence of what are now
termed " dangerous plants." I got a small bit of the fine red
Swedish water-lily from Ware, and after the first year or
two it grew well and formed one of the greatest attractions
of my garden ; but I also had at one side of the pond the fine
native plant, Ranunculus lingua, and this, if left alone, would
in a few years have monopolized the whole pond and
destroyed the more valuable plants. Another of these
rapid growers is the very pretty Villarsia nymphoeoides, which
sends out runners in all directions, and so becomes a danger
to all less vigorous plants. The same thing happens with
alpine plants. Many, indeed most of them, are quite easy to
grow with a suitable position and soil, but they require con-
stant protection against stronger-growing plants and weeds.
The amateur must therefore either make them his chief care
or else limit his rockery to small dimensions and grow only
a few of the best kinds. In stocking my garden at Parkstone
I received valuable contributions from many kind friends,

206 MY LIFE [Chap.

among whom were the late Miss Owen, Mr. H. J. Elwes,
Miss Jekyll, and Sir W. T. Thistelton Dyer of Kew, and
many others. Among the plants which I grew here with
some success were the fine blue, purple, and yellow Hima-
layan poppies, the curious Periploca grceca, which produced
masses of its strange blossoms, the beautiful Akebia quinata
with its wire-coloured flowers, a very large Solatium crispus,
and the strange Chilian climber, Mutisia decurrens, which we
called the "glory dandelion," from its very large stellate
flowers of intense orange. Even Sir Thomas Hanbury, who
paid me a visit here, had not before seen this plant in flower.
An unusually clear blue hydrangea on a shady bank was
also one of the glories of my Parkstone garden.

As already stated, from my very schoolboy days and my
early youth orchids had a fascination for me, from the
strangeness of their growth and habits and their fantastic
and beautiful flowers. In the parts of the tropics I visited
they were comparatively few in number, while their limited
flowering period made the finding of any of the more showy
species in flower a rare event. It was only after my return
home that at flower shows, and especially at Mr. William
Bull's annual exhibition of orchids at Chelsea, I became
really acquainted with their inexhaustible variety, extreme
interest, and marvellous beauty. There was no exhibition in
London that was at once so enjoyable and satisfying as these
orchid shows, which I generally managed to visit every
year.

Being, as I thought, settled for life at Parkstone, I deter-
mined at last that I would try and grow some orchids myself,
and accordingly built a small house in three divisions so as to
get different temperatures, and for about four or five years
persevered in the attempt, with a great deal of labour and
enjoyment to myself, though with only a limited amount of
success. As I was always longing for new species, I did not
content myself with a few of the most showy and most easily
managed, but endeavoured to get examples of almost all the
chief forms. Some I bought at sales, a few from dealers, and
I had a nice lot of Jamaica orchids sent me by Mr. W.

xxxiii] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1 887-1905 207

Fawcett, among which was the handsome Broughtonia san-
guined, which flowered for several years. I also received a
large case of fine Indian orchids from the Botanic Gardens
at Calcutta. At last I got together more than a hundred
species, most of which I had the pleasure of seeing flower
once, though many refused to do so a second time.

Owing to the entrance to the orchid house being on a
different floor from my study, the constant attention orchids
require in shading, ventilating, and keeping up a moist
atmosphere, involved such an amount of running up and
down stairs, or up and down steps or slopes in the garden,
that I found it seriously affected my health, as I was at that
time subject to palpitations and to attacks of asthma, which
were brought on by any sudden exertion. I was therefore
obliged to give up growing them, as I found it impossible to
keep them in a satisfactory condition. This was partly owing
to the position of my houses, which were exposed to an
almost constant wind or draught of air, which rendered it
quite impossible to keep up the continuously moist atmosphere
and uniform temperature which are essential conditions for
successful orchid-growing. One of my friends who began
growing orchids soon after I did, having a well-sheltered
position and better aspect, succeeded far better, although
he was able to give them much less attention and often did
not enter the house for days together, having a boy to
keep up the fire, shade from the sun, and moisten the floors
twice a day. It is a well-known fact that, even under the
same gardener, orchids will grow well in one house, while in
another, perhaps only twenty yards distant, it is almost
impossible to keep them in health.

It was in the early part of my residence at Parkstone that
I received a visit from the great French Geographer, Elisee
Reclus, who had, I think, come to England to receive the
gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society. He was a
rather small and very delicate-looking man, highly intellectual,
but very quiet in speech and manner. I really did not know
that it was he with whose name I had been familiar for twenty

208 MY LIFE [Chap

years as the greatest of geographers, thinking it must have
been his father or elder brother ; and I was surprised when,
on asking him, he said that it was himself. However, we did
not talk of geography during the afternoon we spent together,
but of Anarchism, of which he was one of the most con-
vinced advocates, and I was very anxious to ascertain his
exact views, which I found were really not very different from
my own. We agreed that almost all social evils — all poverty,
misery, and crime — were the creation of governments and of
bad social systems ; and that under a law of absolute justice,
involving equality of opportunity and the best training for
all, each local community would organize itself for mutual
aid, and no great central governments would be needed, except
as they grew up from the voluntary association of their parts
for general and national purposes.

On asking him if he thought force was needed to bring
about such a great reform, and if he approved of the killing
by bombs or otherwise of bad rulers, he replied, very quietly,
that in extreme cases, like that of Russia, he thought there
was no other way to force upon the rulers' notice the deter
mination of the people to be free from their tyrants ; but
under representative governments it was not needed, and
was not justifiable. Few would think to look at this frail
man that he was not only in the very first rank among the
students and writers of the nineteenth century, but that he
had fought for his country against the foreign invader, as
well as against the despotism of enthroned officialdom which
succeeded it.

He has now passed away (1905), having completed one of
the greatest (if not the very greatest) literary works of the
past century. But he will also be remembered as a true and
noble lover of humanity — a firm believer in the goodness, the
dignity, and the perfectibility of man.

During the first half of my residence at Parkstone (1889-
96), I did not write any new books, having, as I thought, said
all that I had to say on the great subjects that chiefly
interested me ; but I contributed a number of articles to

xxxiii] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1 887-1905 209

reviews, wrote many notices of books, with letters to Nature
on various matters of scientific interest. A short account of
the more important of these will show that I was not alto-
gether inactive as regards literary work.

In the spring of 1890 I lectured at Sheffield and at Liver-
pool, and have since declined all invitations to lecture, partly
from disinclination and considerations of health, but also
because I believed that I could do more good with my pen
than with my voice. During the year I prepared a new
edition of my " Malay Archipelago," bringing the parts deal-
ing with natural history up to date.

In the same year I contributed to the Fortnightly Review
an article on "Human Selection," which is, I consider, though
very short, the most important contribution I have made to
the science of sociology and the cause of human progress.
The article was written with two objects in view. The first
and most important was to show that the various proposals
of Grant Allen, Mr. Francis Galton, and some American
writers, to attempt the direct improvement of the human
race by forms of artificial elimination and selection, are both
unscientific and unnecessary ; I also wished to show that the
great bugbear of the opponents of social reform — too rapid
increase of population — is entirely imaginary, and that the
very same agencies which, under improved social conditions,
will bring about a real and effective selection of the physically,
mentally, and morally best, will also tend towards a diminu-
tion of the rate of increase of the population. The facts and
arguments I adduce are, I believe, conclusive against the two
classes of writers here referred to.

A year later I contributed a paper to the Boston Arena,
dealing more especially with the laws of heredity and the
influence of education as determining human progress, show-
ing that such progress is at present very slow, and is due
almost entirely to one mode of action of natural selection,
which still eliminates some of the most unfit. And I pointed
out that a more real and effective progress will only be made
when the social environment is so greatly improved as to
give to women a real choice in marriage, and thus lead both

VOL. II. P

210 MY LIFE [Chap.

to the more rapid elimination of the lower, and more rapid
increase of the higher types of humanity.

Shortly afterwards I was interviewed for the Daily
Chronicle on this subject, in which I gave a condensed sketch
of these two articles, and this drew attention to them, and
brought me a very kind and appreciative letter from the
late Frances Willard, who was then in England.

In 1 89 1 I wrote the two articles on the American flora
already referred to, and prepared a new edition of my two
books on " Natural Selection " and " Tropical Nature," now
forming one volume, but from which some of the more technical
portions were omitted, while two new chapters were added
— "The Antiquity of Man in North America," and "The
Debt of Science to Darwin." I also wrote two articles on
"Apparitions" for the Boston Arena, which are included in
the later editions of my " Miracles and Modern Spiritualism ; "
and I reviewed a few books in Nature, among which was the
important work of Professor Lloyd Morgan on "Animal Life
and Intelligence."

In 1892 I wrote four review articles, three of which are
reprinted in my " Studies," and I reviewed (in Nature) Mr.
W. H. Hudson's delightful volume, "The Naturalist in
La Plata."

In the year 1893 I was pretty fully occupied with literary
work. I prepared for Mr. Stanford a new edition of the
Australian volume of his " Compendium of Geography," in-
volving a large amount of new matter ; I contributed five
articles to reviews or books, two of which, on " The Ice Age
and its Work," gave an entirely new argument in favour of
the ice-origin of valley-lakes in glaciated regions ; and I also
reviewed two books and wrote a number of letters to Nature
on biological and physical problems. In the summer of this
year I went with my wife to the lake district — our first visit ;
we ascended two of the mountains, and I paid particular
attention to the phenomena of glaciation, which are every-
where prominent in rounded rocks, glacial striae, and abund-
ance of moraines.

xxxiii] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1 887-1905 211

In the year 1S94 I read a paper to the Cambridge
Natural Science Club on the question, " What are Zoological
Regions ? " which was printed in Nature (April 26). But
my conclusion — that the six regions first defined by Dr. P. L.
Sclater are, for all practical purposes of the study of distribu-
tion, the most convenient and those which best illustrate the
actual facts of nature — was contested by my friend, Professor
Alfred Newton as regards the Nearctic and Palaearctic
regions, which he contended formed but one natural region.
I therefore thought it necessary to go into the subject in
more detail, and contributed a paper to Natural Science in
the following June, entitled " The Palaearctic and Nearctic
Regions compared as regards the Families and Genera of
their Mammalia and Birds."

The first of these papers was for the purpose of showing
that, to be of any practical use to naturalists, zoological regions
must be so defined as to serve to elucidate the distribution
of all land animals. This will be evident if we consider the
results of the contrary view, that many classes, orders, and
even families, require a special set of regions to exhibit their
distribution with any approach to accuracy. Now as there are
some hundreds of these groups in the animal kingdom, we
should, perhaps, require fifty or a hundred sets of zoological
regions — each set differing in the number of regions and in
the boundaries of each, involving a different set of names in
each case. The result would be that each specialist would
have his own set of regions, with different names and
different boundaries ; and as no one could be familiar with
all these, the conclusions of each could be unintelligible and
useless to others. With one set of regions, on the other
hand, the distribution in every case can be described in terms
which would be intelligible to all ; and the comparison of the
distribution of groups differing in powers of dispersal and in
other ways, would often lead to an explanation of the differ-
ences of distribution, which is the whole aim and end of the
study, and which, so far as I can see, can be arrived at in no
other way.

The second and more technical paper was for the purpose

212 MY LIFE [Chap.

of showing the great importance of the absence of extensive
groups from one region that are present in the adjacent
region, even though these groups are not peculiar to either.
Thus, the fact that both the bear and the deer families are
absent from Africa south of the Sahara, though abundant
throughout all Asia and North America, marks out the
Ethiopian region as distinctly as does the presence of giraffes
and hippopotami, which are now peculiar to it.

But I show that, in mammals, about one-third of the
families in the Palaearctic and the Nearctic regions re-
spectively are not found in the other ; while in birds, one-
third of the families found in the Palaearctic region are not
found in the Nearctic, and one-fourth of those in the Nearctic
are not found in the Palaearctic region. These facts prove,
I maintain, a radical dissimilarity, although, owing to the
fact that temperate Europe and Asia are continuous with
tropical Africa and Asia, and temperate with tropical
America, neither of the regions we are considering have any
important families of birds altogether peculiar to them. Any
of my readers who are interested in the problems here stated
should read the two articles above referred to.

Other articles were, "A Representative House of Lords,"
in the Contemporary Review (June), and "A Suggestion to
Sabbath-Keepers," in the Nineteenth Century (October), both
which articles attracted notice in the Press. I also wrote
a paper criticizing the Rev. George Henslow's views as to the
origin of irregular flowers, and of spines and prickles, in
Natural Science (September), the three articles being in-
cluded in my " Studies." I also reviewed James Hutchinson
Stirling's " Darwinianism " in Nature (February 8), and Mr.
Benjamin Kidd's " Social Evolution " in the same paper
(April 12), as well as an anonymous volume, entitled
"Nature's Method in the Evolution of Life," by a writer
who suggests vague theories, less intelligible even than those
of Lucretius, as a substitute for the luminous work of
Darwin.

In the next year (1895) I wrote an important article on
" The Method of Organic Evolution " {Fortnightly Review,

xxxni] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1887-1905 213

February-March), which was chiefly devoted to showing that
the views of Mr. Francis Galton, and of Mr. Bateson in his
book on " Discontinuous Variations," are erroneous ; and
that such variations, which are usually termed " sports," and
in extreme cases " monstrosities," do not indicate the method
of evolution. Darwin gave special attention to this view,
and finally rejected it ; and I think I have shown why it is
not effective in nature. It is a view which is continually
cropping up as if it were a new discovery, and a Dutch
botanist, De Vries, has recently written a large work claiming
that new species are produced in this manner, through what
he terms "mutations." It was therefore important to show
that all such methods are fallacious, and that owing to the
constancy, universality, and extreme severity of elimination
through survival of the fittest, such large and abrupt varia-
tions, except through some extraordinary and almost im-
possible concurrence of favourable conditions, can never
permanently maintain themselves.

Another article (in the October issue of the same Review)
on " The Expressiveness of Speech " develops a new principle
in the origin of language, and brought me a holograph (and
partly unintelligible) letter from Mr. Gladstone, expressing
his concurrence with it. I also brought out a new edition of
my " Miracles and Modern Spiritualism," containing two new
chapters, and a new preface giving a sketch of the changes of
opinion on the subject during the preceding half century.

In July I went with my friend Mr. William Mitten for a
short botanizing tour in Switzerland. We walked a good deal
of the time, and I thus had a further opportunity of examining
glacial phenomena. We went to Lucerne, whence we ascended
the Stanzerhorn by the electric railway, and found a very
interesting flora on the summit. Then to the head of the
lake, and to Gceschenen, whence we walked to Andermatt ;
then over the Furca pass to the Rhone glacier, staying two
days at the hotel ; then over the Grimsel pass, where we
greatly enjoyed both the flowers and the wonderful indications
of glacial action, especially on the slope down to and around
the Hotel Grimsel, where we stayed the night. The valley

214 MY LIFE [Chap.

down to Meiringen was excessively interesting, being ice-
worn everywhere. We stayed an hour at the fine Handeck
cascade, and then, with the help of a chaise, into which two
ladies hospitably received us, got on to Meiringen. Here we
stayed two days, exploring the gorge of the Aar and the
wonderful rock-barrier of the Kirchet, visited the Reichenbach
falls, and had an excursion to Brunig, where, in some hilly
beech woods, we were greatly pleased to find the beautiful
Cephalanthera rubra in fair numbers and in full flower. This
is one of the rarest of British orchises, having been found
only at long intervals in Gloucestershire and Somersetshire.
I remember, I think about fifty years ago, seeing a newly
gathered specimen exhibited at the Linnean Society. Other
orchises which occur at similar long intervals are the beautiful
ladies slipper (Cypripedium calceolus) in some Yorkshire woods,
and the strange goat-orchis (O.hircina) in copses in Kent and
Suffolk. In all these cases, no doubt, the plant persists in the
respective localities, but is accidentally prevented from flower-
ing, or requires some specially favourable seasons which only
recur at long intervals. We then went on to Lauterbrunnen
and the Wengern Alp, where we stayed two days, botanizing
chiefly among the woods and slopes near the Trummetthal.
We were, however, so dreadfully persecuted by swarms of
blood-sucking flies, which filled the air and covered us in
thousands, piercing through our thin clothing, that we returned
home some days earlier than we had intended.

In 1896 I wrote three articles. "How best to model the
Earth," in the Contemporary Review (May), was a discussion
of the proposal by Elisde Reclus to erect an enormous model
of the globe, about four hundred and twenty feet in diameter,
giving a scale about one-third smaller than our ordnance
maps of one inch to a mile. It was to be modelled in
minute detail on the convex side, and would therefore
require to be completely covered in by a building nearly
six hundred feet high, and would need an elaborate system
of platforms and staircases in order to see it, while only
a very small portion of it could be seen at once, and
accurate photographs could only be taken of very small areas.

xxxni] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1 887-1905 215

My proposal was to adopt the plan of Wyld's great globe
in Leicester Square, many years ago, giving all the detailed
features on the inside surface, while the outside could be
boldly modelled in some indestructible material to show all
the chief physical features, which might also be coloured in
fresco as naturally as possible, and would then be a grand
object seen either near or at a distance, while a captive balloon
would afford a splendid view of the polar regions and of all
parts of the northern hemisphere. The numerous advantages
of this plan are explained in some detail, and I have little
doubt that it will be realized (perhaps on half the scale) some
time during the present century. The article is contained in
the second volume of my " Studies."

I also wrote an article on " The Gorge of the Aar and its
Teachings," as serving to enforce my papers on the " Ice Age
and its Work " three years before. But my most important
scientific essay this year was a paper I read to the Linnean
Society on "The Problem of Utility." My purpose 'was to
enforce the view that all specific and generic characters must
be (or once have been) useful to their possessor, or, owing
to the complex laws of growth, be correlated with useful cha-
racters. It was necessary to discuss this point, because Mr.
Romanes had unreservedly denied it, and Professor Mivart,
the Rev. Mr. Henslow, Mr. Bateson, and others, had taken
the same view. I endeavoured to show that the problem is a
fundamental one, that utility is the basic principle of natural
selection, and that without natural selection it has not been
shown how specific characters can arise. By specific is, of
course, meant characters which, either separately or in com-
bination, distinguish a species from all others, and which are
found in all, or in the great bulk, of the individuals composing
the species ; and I have shown that it is for want of clear
thinking and accurate reasoning on the entire process of
species formation that the idea of useless specific characters
has arisen (see " Studies," vol. i.).

I also reviewed Copes' ■ Primary Factors of Evolution "
and Dr. G. Archdall Reid's "Present Evolution of Man"
in Nature (April 16), and wrote a long letter in Nature

2l6 MY LIFE [Chap.

(January 9) on "The Cause of the Ice Age," pointing out
the extreme complexity of the subject, and the fallacy
of discussing the problem as if it were merely one of the
amount of sun-heat received in different latitudes under
differing degrees of eccentricity, as several eminent mathe-
maticians had done. In the same issue Sir Robert Ball
pointed out the same fallacy ; and this affords a good illustra-
tion of the fact that specialists are usually not well fitted to
arrive at the true explanation of great natural phenomena
which are highly complex in their nature, and which require
the consideration of a great variety of physical forces and
laws in order to arrive at their causes. It is for this reason
that Mr. Croll's theory is so much more satisfactory than any
of the modern substitutes for it. His views were, however,
spread over many different periodicals, and are often rather
obscure and disconnected, while few of his recent critics
appear to have studied the whole of them. I venture to
think that my chapter viii. of "Island Life" gives the
best connected and systematic statement of Croll's views
which are to be found, and that the further explanations
of essential points, and some modifications in detail, render
it the completest and most rational theory which has yet
been set forth. Being myself a mere outsider, neither a
geologist nor a mathematician, and only an amateur physicist,
none of the writers on the subject appear to have read my
chapter, since I have never seen it referred to. Yet it
appeals throughout to astronomical, physical, geographical,
and meteorological facts, showing their actions and reactions
on each other, and how they co-operated to produce the
glacial epoch, as they now co-operate to bring about the
strikingly contrasted climates of the eastern and western
shores of the North Atlantic, and the still more striking
contrasts of the Arctic and Antarctic regions.

During this summer I was invited by Dr. H. S. Lunn to
go with him and his party to Davos for a week early in
September, and to give them a lecture on Scientific Progress
in the Nineteenth Century. As I had never been in this part

xxxni] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1887-1905 217

of Switzerland I accepted the invitation, and had a very-
pleasant time. My companion on the first part of the journey
was Mr. Le Gallienne, and at Basle we were joined by Dr.
and Mrs. Lunn and others. At Davos we were a large party
in one of the best hotels, and our special party, who sat
together at meals, included the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes and
the Rev. H. R. Haweis, both talented and witty men, whose
presence was enough to render almost any party a brilliant
success. Mr. Price Hughes was, I think, without exception,
the most witty man and one of the best companions I ever
met. At breakfast and dinner he was especially amusing
and brilliant, ranging from pure chaff with his old friend Dr.
Lunn to genial wit and admirably narrated anecdotes. He
often literally kept the table in a roar of laughter. But this
was only one side of his character. He was a Christian and
a humanitarian in the best sense of the words. I saw a good
deal of him in private, and we often walked out together, at
which times we discussed the more serious social problems
of the day ; and he gave me details of his rescue work in
London which were in the highest degree instructive, show-
ing that even those who are considered to be the most
degraded and irreclaimable can be reached through their
affections. Their degradation has usually been brought
about by society, and has been intensified into hate and
despair by the utterly unsympathetic and cruel treatment of
our workhouses and prisons. Mr. Price Hughes gave me an
account of one of these cases — a woman who had reached
the uttermost depths of drunkenness and vice, and who was
besides so violent that it was dangerous to approach her.
Knowing her case, a lady who was one of Mr. Hughes' chief
helpers in his rescue work went to the prison to receive her
on her discharge, and begged to be allowed to] go to her cell
and take her with her. She was assured it was not safe,
that she would be instantly attacked, and perhaps seriously
injured. But the lady insisted, and at length was allowed to
try, with several of the strongest female warders at hand to
assist or rescue her from one whom they described as an
utterly irreclaimable wild beast. Mrs. entered without

218 MY LIFE [Chap.

the least fear, opened her arms, kissed the poor woman with
every indication of compassion and love, and spoke to her as
if she were an unfortunate and ill-used daughter or sister.
The woman was utterly disarmed by the reality of the
affection showed her, and burst into tears. She was taken
to the home of which the lady was the head, and at the time
Mr. Hughes was speaking had been there several years, and
was one of his most useful and earnest helpers. This
woman had not, for years, received a single word of real
sympathy or love. A similar marvellous effect was produced
by Mrs. Fry on the female prisoners in Newgate by her
intense sympathy and affection for them ; yet we still go on
with our crude, harsh system of prison discipline, which in-
evitably degrades and brutalizes the great majority of those
subject to it. And we dare call ourselves enlightened,
humane, civilized, and even Christian !

I also had some pleasant intercourse with Mr. Haweis,
and one day we spent a whole afternoon in a private room,
talking chiefly about spiritualism, of which he had a con-
siderable practical knowledge. He was one of the few
clergymen of the Church of England who not only acknow-
ledged his belief, but preached the doctrines of spiritualism
openly from his London pulpit.

Dr. Lunn arranged for his party some amusement for
several evenings in each week, either a concert, lecture, or
conversazione. Mr. Le Gallienne gave a very interesting
lecture on "English Minor Poets," reading selections from their
works to illustrate their style. Among these he included
Grant Allen, better known as a delightful writer on nature-
study and a novelist, but who was also gifted with the true
poetic power; and, the lecturer thought, had he devoted
himself to developing his power he might have become a
major instead of a minor poet. As an example of his work,
a very agnostic and even atheistic poem was quoted.

I cannot find this, as I remember it, in his little volume
of verse, " The Lower Slopes ; " but there is one which

xxxiii] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1887-1905 219

expresses the same idea, and which perhaps may be it —
A Prayer — as follows : —

" A crowned Caprice is god of this world ;
On his stony breast are his white wings furled.
No ear to listen, no eye to see,
No heart to feel for a man hath he.
But his pitiless arm is swift to smite,
And his mute lips utter one word of might ;
' Mid the clash of gentler souls and rougher,
Wrong must thou do, or wrong must suffer.'
Then grant, oh, dumb, blind God, at least that we
Rather the sufferers than the doers be."

The lecturer stated that, however extreme and even out-
rageous these views would appear to many of his audience,
he could assure them from personal knowledge, that they
represented the opinions of almost all of the poets of whom
he had spoken.

After the lecture Dr. Lunn protested against the idea that
poets were generally agnostic or even irreligious, referring to
Milton, Browning, Tennyson, and many others ; but Mr. Le
Gallienne had said nothing about these — the major poets —
and he assured me afterwards that he was well acquainted
with all the poets he had referred to, and that every one of
them were more or less pronounced agnostics. This seems
to me an interesting fact.

My own lecture was mainly devoted to a sketch of the
chief great advances of science during the century, but I
added to it a kind of set-off in discoveries which had been
rejected and errors which had been upheld, referring to
phrenology as one of the first class, and vaccination as one
of the second. There were, of course, in such a place as
Davos, many doctors among the audience, and they signified
their disapproval in the usual way ; but I assured them that
some of them would certainly live to see the time when the
whole medical profession would acknowledge vaccination to
be a great delusion.

Although Davos has no grand alpine scenery immediately
around it, there are many delightful walks through woods full
of flowers and ferns, alpine meadows with gentians and

220 MY LIFE [Chap.

primulas, and stony passes from which the snow had just
retreated. On the Strela pass, about eight thousand feet, I
found some charming little alpines I had not seen before,
among them the very dwarf Viola alpina, growing among
stones, the leaves hardly visible and the comparatively large
flat flowers of a very deep blue-purple, with a large orange-
yellow eye. This is peculiar to the Eastern Alps, and seems
difficult to cultivate, as few dealers have it in their lists. I
sent home a few plants, but could not succeed in keeping
them alive.

On leaving Davos, I made my way across to Adelboden,
where my wife and daughter, with some friends, were staying.
This is surrounded with fine alpine peaks and snow-fields, and
though the weather was unsettled we spent a pleasant week
here — probably the last visit I shall make to ever-delightful
Switzerland — the sanatorium and alpine garden of overworked
Englishmen.

From this time onwards I did not write many articles or
reviews, the more important being " The Problem of Instinct,"
in 1897, in which I gave an attempted solution of bird migra-
tion, though the article was really a review of Professor Lloyd-
Morgan's " Habit and Instinct ; " an article on the question
whether " White men can work in the Tropics," which most
English writers declare to be impossible without thinking it
necessary to adduce evidence, but which, I affirm, is proved by
experience to be quite easy. Both these are reprinted in my
" Studies," as is also a short essay on " The Causes of War
and the Remedies," written for L'Humaniti Nouvelle. I also
wrote letters to the Daily Chronicle on America, Cuba, and the
Philippines ; and a protest against the Transvaal War in the
Mancliester Guardian.

In the year 1900^ I wrote an article for the New York
Journal on "Social Evolution in the Twentieth Century —
An Anticipation," for which I received a very complimentary
letter from the editor. During the next two years I was en-
gaged in preparing new editions of my books on " Darwinism "
and " Island Life," and I also wrote several letters on political
and social subjects, such as an " Appreciation of the Past

xxxili] LITERARY WORK, ETC, 1887-1905 221

Century" (in 1901, in the Morning Leader), and (in 1903) an
article on "Anticipations and Hopes for the Immediate
Future," which was written for a German paper (the Berliner
Local Anzieger), but which was too plain-spoken for the editor
to publish, and which I accordingly sent to the Clarion. As
it gives my latest views, expressed in the plainest words, on
some of the most important problems of the day, I give it
here for the consideration of a wider circle of readers.

ANTICIPATIONS AND HOPES FOR THE IMMEDIATE

FUTURE.

I am looking to the coming year with no expectation of any great
change, political or social, but with a hope and belief that the great
movement among the workers in favour of a more rational and more
equitable system of government, and of social organization, will continue
to grow as it has been growing during the last few years. I trust that,
in the more advanced countries — especially in Germany and France — it
may become sufficiently powerful, even within the coming year, to
exercise a decided control over the reactionary party, and even be able
to initiate, and perhaps to secure, some important legislation for the
extension of individual freedom, and for checking military expenditure.

As to the future (limiting ourselves here to the twentieth century), I look
forward to the same movement as destined to produce great and beneficent
results.

The events of the past few years must have convinced all advanced
thinkers that it is hopeless to expect any real improvement from the
existing governments of the great civilized nations, supported and con-
trolled as they are by the ever-increasing power of vast military and
official organizations.

These organizations are a permanent menace to liberty, to national
morality, and to all real progress towards a rational social evolution. It
is these which have given us during the first years of this new century
examples of national hypocrisy and crimes against liberty and humanity
— to say nothing of Christianity— almost unequalled in the whole course
of modern history.

Scarcely was the ink dry of the signatures of their representatives at
the Hague Conference, where they had expressed the most humane and
elevated ideas as to the necessity for reduction of armaments, for the
amelioration of the horrors of war, and for the principle of arbitration in
the settlement of national difficulties, than we find all the chief signatories
engaged in destroying the liberties of weaker peoples, without any rational
cause, and often in opposition to the principles of their own constitutions,
or to solemn promises by their representatives, or in actual treaties.

England carried fire and sword into South Africa, and has robbed two

222 MY LIFE [Chap.

Republics of the independence guaranteed to them after a former unjust
annexation ; a crime aggravated by hypocrisy in the pretence that British
subjects were treated as " helots ; " whereas their own committee of inquiry
into the war has now demonstrated that it was a pure war of conquest in
order to secure territory and gold-mines, determined on years before, and
only waiting a favourable opportunity to carry into effect.

The United States, against their own " Declaration of Independence "
and the fundamental principles of their constitution, have taken away the
liberties of two communities, the one— Porto Rico — by mere overwhelming
power, the other — the Philippinos — after a bloody war against a people
fighting for their independence, the only excuse being that they had
been purchased— land and people— from their former conquerors and
oppressors.

Russia itself, the originator of the Peace Conference, forthwith per-
secutes Jews and Doukhobors on account of their religion, and takes
away their solemnly guaranteed liberties from the Finns — a people more
really civilized than their persecutors.

All three of these governments, as well as Germany and France,
invaded China, and committed barbarities of slaughter, with reckless
devastation and plunder, which will degrade them for all time in the
pages of history.

Such are the doings of the official and military rulers of nations which
claim to be in the first rank of civilization and religion ! And there is really
no sign of any improvement. But, for the first time in the history of the
world, the workers — the real sources of all wealth and of all civilization —
are becoming educated, are organizing themselves, and are obtaining a
voice in municipal and national governments. So soon as they realize
their power and can agree upon their aims, the dawn of the new era will
have begun.

The first thing for them to do is, to strengthen themselves by unity of
action, and then to weaken and ultimately to abolish militarism. The
second aim should be to limit the bureaucracy, and make it the people's
servant instead of its master. The third, to reorganize and simplify the
entire legal profession, and the whole system of law, criminal and civil ;
to make justice free for all, to abolish all legal recovery of debts, and all
advocacy paid by the parties concerned. The fourth, and greatest of all,
will be to organize labour, to abolish inheritance, and thus give equality
of opportunity to every one alike. This alone will establish, first, true
individualism (which cannot exist under present social conditions), and
this being obtained, will inevitably lead to voluntary association for all
the purposes of life, and bring about a social state adapted to the stage
of development of each nation, and of each successive age.

This, in my opinion, is the ideal which the workers (manual and in-
tellectual workers alike) of every civilized country should keep in view.
For the first time in human history, these workers are throwing aside
international jealousies and hatreds ; the peoples of all nations are be-
coming brothers, and are appreciating the good qualities inherent in each

xxxiil] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1887-1905 223

and all of them. They will therefore be guilty of folly as well as crime if
they much longer permit their rulers to drill them into armies, and force
them to invade, and rob, and kill each other.

The people are always better than their rulers. But the rulers have
power, wealth, tradition, and the insatiable love of conquest and of
governing others against their will. It is, then, in the People alone that I
have any hope for the future of Humanity.

Alfred R. Wallace.

In 1904 I wrote a short letter on the "Inefficiency of
Strikes" for the Labour Annual, and a rather long one to
the Clarion, suggesting a policy for socialists in opposition
to continued military expenditure as advocated by Robert
Blatchford ; but this was, I fear, too much advanced even for
the readers of this very advanced paper, since no one came
forward in my support. I feel sure, however, that there are
many who, when it is clearly put before them, will approve
of the policy I have sketched out, since it is merely one of
justice and consideration for nations as well as for individuals
— of adopting the same rules of right and wrong in the one
case as in the other. The letter may be termed —

A SUBSTITUTE FOR MILITARISM.

I will first say a few words on the, to me, extraordinary statement that,
though fifty years of continuously increasing expenditure on our national
defences has resulted in " an inadequate and imperfect * outcome, and
what a military writer in the July Nineteenth Century called " our pitiable
military situation," yet, only give to our rulers unlimited money and con-
scription, and our defences will instantly become "adequate and efficient."
With all respect, this seems to me nothing less than pure delusion. One
Government after another has had a free hand to reform our military and
naval forces, and all have utterly failed. They have wasted countless
millions with no adequate result. And now we are asked to give them
more millions to waste, and the very same body of official rulers and
organizers and titled officers will suddenly be imbued with wisdom, un-
selfishness, and economy, and all will be well. Our defences, as by a
miracle, will become " adequate and efficient." For what has to be done
must be done at once. Germany, we are told, is ready ; we are not.
Therefore the money and the men must be given to the Government now.
To any such proposal I venture to hope that, by an overwhelming
majority, the Socialist and Labour parties will reply in the now historic
words : u Never again."

But this is only preliminary. We will now come to the real issue.

224 MY LIFE [Chap.

Robert Blatchford proceeds to ask a number of questions, and to offer a
number of alternatives, as if they were exhaustive and there was nothing
more to be said or done. Shall we leave the Empire defenceless ? Shall
we abandon our country and our colonies to the invasion of any power
that cared to take them ? Russia covets India. We must either defend
India or surrender it to Russia. If we made India a self-governing
nation, the result would be civil war and a Russian conquest. More than
one foreign power envies us our possessions. And so on, and so on ; with
the one conclusion : We must increase army, navy, and home defences,
and be prepared to fight all the world. Not one word about there being
any alternative to all this blood-and-iron bluster and defiance ; not one
syllable to show that the writer is a great Socialist teacher, a believer in
the goodness of human nature and the brotherhood of man. " But," he
replies by his heading, " this is very good in theory, and very true, but it
is not practical politics. The danger is urgent. Tell us, ye Labour
leaders, what you propose to do now ? "

I am not a Labour leader, but I hope I am a true friend of Labour
and a true Socialist ; and I will now state the case as it appears to me,
and suggest what, in my opinion, is the only course of action worthy of
Socialism or politic for Labour, and, besides, the only course which has
the slightest chance of succeeding in the long run : in one word, the only
right course.

It is a notorious and undeniable fact that we — that is, our Govern-
ments— are, with few exceptions, hated and feared by almost all other
Governments, especially those of the Great Powers. Is there no cause for
this ? Surely we know there is ample cause. We have either annexed
or conquered a larger portion of the world than any other Power. We
have long claimed the sovereignty of the sea. We hold islands and forts
and small territories offensively near the territories of other Powers. We
still continue grabbing all we can. In disputes with the powerful we
often give way ; with the weak and helpless, or those we think so, we are
— allowing for advance in civilization — bloody, bold, and ruthless as any
conqueror of the Middle Ages. And with it all we are sanctimonious.
We profess religion. We claim to be more moral than other nations,
and to conquer, and govern, and tax, and plunder weaker peoples for
their good ! While robbing them we actually claim to be benefactors !
And then we wonder, or profess to wonder, why other Governments hate
us ! Are they not fully justified in hating us ? Is it surprising that they
seek every means to annoy us, that they struggle to get navies to com-
pete with us, and look forward to a time when some two or three of them
may combine together and thoroughly humble and cripple us ? And who
can deny that any just being, looking at all the nations of the earth with
impartiality and thorough knowledge, would decide that we deserve to be
humbled, and that it might do us good ?

Now the course I recommend as the only true one is, openly and
honestly, without compulsion and without vainglory, to do away with
many of the offences to other peoples, and to treat all subject peoples and

xxxiii] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1887-1905 225

all foreign Powers on exactly the same principles of equity, of morality,
and of sympathy, as we treat our friends, acquaintances, and neighbours
with whom we wish to live on friendly terms.

And, to begin with, and to show that our intentions are genuine, I
would propose to evacuate Gibraltar, dismantle the fortress, and give it
over to Spain ; Crete and Cyprus should be free to join Greece ; Malta,
in like manner, would be given the choice of absolute self-government
under the protection of Britain, or union with Italy. But the effect of
these would be as nothing compared with our giving absolute internal
self-government to Ireland, with protection from attack by any foreign
Power ; and the same to the Transvaal and Orange Free State ; and this
last we should do " in sackcloth and ashes," with full acknowledgment of
our heinous offences against liberty and our plighted word.

Now we come to India, which our friend Blatchford seems to consider
the test case. And so it is ; for if ever there was an example of a just
punishment for evil deeds, it is in the fact that, after a century of absolute
power, we are still no nearer peace and plenty and rational self-govern-
ment in India than we were half a century ago, when we took over the
government from the " Company " with the promise to introduce home-
rule as soon as possible. And now we have a country in which plague
and famine are chronic — a country which we rule and plunder for the
benefit of our aristocracy and wealthy classes, and which we are there-
fore in continual dread of losing to Russia.

If we had honestly kept our word, if we had ruled India with the one
purpose of benefiting its people, had introduced home-rule throughout its
numerous provinces, states, and nations, settling disputes between them,
and guarding them from all foreign attack, we should by now have won
the hearts of its teeming populations, and no foreign Power would have
ventured to invade a group of nations so united and so protected. Such
a position as we might have now held in India — that of the adviser, the
reconciler, and the powerful protector of a federation of self-governing
Native States — would be a position of dignity and true glory very far above
anything we can claim to-day.

But, it will be replied, all this is foolish talk ; it will be a century before
the British people will be persuaded to give up its possessions and its
power ; and, in the mean time, if we do not defend ourselves we shall not
have the opportunity of being so generous, hardly shall we keep our own
liberties. I have not so low an opinion of my countrymen as to believe
that they really wish to keep other peoples subject to them against their
will ; that they are really determined to go on denying that freedom to
others which is so dear a possession to themselves. And if there is not
now a majority who would agree to act at once as I suggest, I am pretty
confident that there is, even now, a majority who would acknowledge
that such action is theoretically just, and that they would be willing to do
it by degrees, and as soon as it is safe, to look forward to it, in fact, as an
ideal to be realized at some future time.

Now, what I wish to urge is, that it is of the most vital importance to
VOL. II. Q

226 MY LIFE [Chap.

us, now, that all who agree with me that there can be no national honour
or glory apart from justice and mercy, and that to take away people's
liberty and force our rule upon them against their will is the greatest of
all national crimes, should take every opportunity of making their voices
heard. If, for instance, every Socialist in our land, and I hope a very
large proportion of workers and advanced thinkers who may not be
Socialists, would agree to maintain this as one of their fundamental
principles, to be continually brought before the people through the Press
and on the platform, to be urged on the Government at every opportunity,
and to be made a condition of our support of every advanced Parlia-
mentary candidate, we should create a body of ethical opinion and feeling
that would not only be of the highest educational value at home, but which
would influence the whole world in their estimate of us. It would show
them that though our Government is bad — as all Governments are — yet
the people at heart are honest and true, and that it will not be very long
before the people will force their Governments to be honest also.

This, I submit, would be really " practical politics." At the present
day we have got so far as this — that none of the Great Powers wages a
war of aggression and conquest against another Power without some
quarrel or some colourable pretence of injury. But surely the fact of
there being such a party as I have outlined, and especially if it would (as
I think it certainly could) compel the next Government to make some of
the smaller concessions here indicated and adopt the general principle of
respecting the liberties of even the smallest nationalities, would so reduce
the amount of envy and hatred with which we are now regarded as to
considerably diminish the danger of combined aggression upon us.

I should have liked to say something about Russia, and the fact that
we are answerable for the present war in the Far East, by so long up-
holding Turkey, and preventing Russia from acquiring free egress into
the Mediterranean, in exchange for which concession she would (after the
Russo-Turkish War) have willingly agreed to the neutralizing of Constanti-
nople as a free port under the guarantee of the Powers. We had at that
time a preponderance of power in Europe, as shown by what occurred at
the Peace Congress ; but Lord Beaconsfield used that power for a bad
purpose, as Lord Salisbury afterwards admitted.

I greatly regret being obliged to differ so radically from a man I
admire and respect so much as I do Robert Blatchford ; but, as I am
known to be a Socialist and a constant reader of the Clarion, it might be
thought that my silence would imply some degree of agreement. The
present letter is merely for the purpose of making my views clear on this
vitally important question, and with the hope that others who agree with
me will not longer keep silence.

Alfred R. Wallace.

About the year 1899 our house at Parkstone became no
longer suitable owing to the fact that building had been
going on all around us and what had been pretty open

xxxili] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1 887-1905 227

country when we came there had become streets of villas,
and in every direction we had to walk a mile or more to get
into any open country. I therefore began to search about
various parts of the southern counties for a suitable house,
and as this was almost impossible to obtain, I endeavoured
to induce a sufficient number of friends to join together to
buy a small estate which we could divide between us, so as
to secure the benefit of pleasant society and picturesque sur-
roundings— to create, in fact, a kind of very limited garden-
city, or rather garden settlement. With one or two friends
interested in the project, I spent a good deal of time examin-
ing estates within thirty or forty miles of London, but though
we found several that were in most ways suitable, it was
found impossible to find any that exactly fulfilled the re-
quirements of the parties most interested or to raise the
necessary funds for the purchase. We then returned to the
search for a house or land for ourselves, and after almost
giving up the attempt in despair, we accidentally found a
spot within four miles of our Parkstone home and about
half a mile from a station, with such a charming distant view
and pleasant surroundings that we determined, if we could
get two or three acres at a moderate price, to build a small
house upon it.

After a rather long negotiation I obtained three acres of
land, partly wood, at the end of the year 1901 ; sold my
cottage at Godalming at a fair price, began at once making
a new garden and shrubbery, decided on plans, and began
building early in the new year. The main charm of the site
was a small neglected orchard with old much-gnarled apple,
pear, and plum trees, in a little grassy hollow sloping to the
south-east, with a view over moors and fields towards Poole
harbour, beyond which were the Purbeck hills to the right,
and a glimpse of the open sea to the left. In the foreground
were clumps of gorse and broom, with some old picturesque
trees, while the orchard was sheltered on both sides by
patches of woodland. The house was nearly finished in
about a year, and we got into it at Christmas, 1902, when we
decided to call it Old Orchard.

228 MY LIFE [Chap.

Being so near to our former house, I was able to bring all
our choicer plants to the new ground, and there was, fortu-
nately, a sale of the whole stock of a small nursery near Poole
in the winter, at which I bought about a thousand shrubs and
trees at very low prices, which enabled us at once to plan£
some shrubberies and flower borders, and thus to secure
something like a well-stocked garden by the time we got
into the house. Since that time it has been an ever-increas-
ing pleasure, and I have been able to satisfy my craving for
enjoying new forms of plant-life every year, partly by raising
numbers of seeds of hardy and greenhouse plants, always
trying some of the latter in sheltered places out-of-doors, and
partly by exchanges or by gifts from friends, so that every
year I have the great pleasure of watching the opening of
some of nature's gems which were altogether new to me, or
of others which increase year by year in beauty. In one
end of my greenhouse I have a large warmed tank in which
I grow blue, pink, and yellow water-lilies, which flower the
greater part of the year, as well as a few other beautiful or
curious aquatic plants, while the back wall of the house is
covered with choice climbers.

In this hasty sketch of my occupations and literary work
during the last nine years, I have purposely omitted the more
important portion of the latter, because the circumstances
that led me on to undertake three separate works, involving
a considerable amount of labour, were very curious, and to
me very suggestive, and I will now give a connected account
of them.

When in 1896 I was invited by Dr. Lunn to give a lecture
to his friends at Davos, I firmly believed that my scientific
and literary work was concluded. I had been for some years
in weak health, and had no expectation of living much longer.
Shortly after returning from America I had another very
severe attack of asthma in 1890, and a year or two after it
recurred and became chronic, together with violent palpita-
tions on the least sudden exertion, and frequent colds almost
invariably followed by bronchitis. Any attempt at continuous

xxxiii] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1 887-1905 229

work was therefore very far from my thoughts, though at
times I was able to do a fair amount of writing. My friend
and neighbour, Professor Allman, had suffered from the same
affliction during a large part of his life, and only found very
partial relief from it by the usual fumigations and cigarettes,
with occasional changes of air, and it was often quite painful
to witness his sufferings, which continued till his death in
1898. As he was himself a medical man, and had had the
best advice attainable, I had little hope of anything but a
continuance and probably an increase of the disease.

But the very next year I obtained relief (and up to the pre-
sent time an almost complete cure) in an altogether accidental
way, if there are any " accidents " in our lives. Mr. A. Bruce-
Joy, the well-known sculptor (a perfect stranger to me), had
called on me to complete the modelling of a medallion which
he had begun from photographs, and I apologized for not
looking well, as I was then suffering from one of my frequent
spells of asthma, which often prevented me from getting any
sleep at night. He thereupon told me that if I would follow
his directions I could soon cure myself. Of course, I was
altogether incredulous ; but when he told me that he had
himself been cured of a complication of allied diseases — gout,
rheumatism, and bronchitis — of many years' standing, which
no English doctors were able to even alleviate, by an American
physician, Dr. Salisbury ; that it was effected solely by a
change of diet, and that it was no theory or empirical treat-
ment, but the result of thirty years' experiment on the effects
of various articles of diet upon men and animals, by the only
scientific method of studying each food separately and ex-
clusively, I determined to try it. The result was, that in a
week I felt much better, in a month I felt quite well, and
during the six years that have elapsed no attack of asthma
or of severe palpitation has recurred, and I have been able to
do my literary work as well as before I became subject to
the malady.

I may say that I have long been, and am still, in principle,
a vegetarian, and believe that, for many reasons, it will
certainly be the diet of the future. But for want of adequate

230 MY LIFE [Chap.

knowledge, and even more from the deficiencies of ordinary
vegetable cookery, it often produces bad effects. Dr. Salis-
bury proved by experiment that it was the consumption of
too much starch foods that produces the set of diseases which
he especially cures ; and when these diseases have become
chronic, the only cure is the almost complete abstention
from starchy substances, especially potatoes, bread, and most
watery vegetables, and, in place of them, to substitute the
most easily digestible well-cooked meat, with fruits and nuts
in moderation, and eggs, milk, etc., whenever they can be
digested. Great sufferers find immediate relief from an ex-
clusive diet of the lean of beef. I myself live upon well-
cooked beef with a fair proportion of fat (which I can digest
easily), a very small proportion of bread or vegetables, fruit,
eggs, and light milk puddings. The curious thing is that
most English doctors declare that a meat diet is to be
avoided in all these diseases, and many order complete
abstinence from meat, but, so far as I can learn, on no really
scientific grounds. Dr. Salisbury, however, has experiment-
ally proved that this class of ailments are all due to mal-
nutrition, and that this malnutrition is most frequently
caused by the consumption of too much of starch foods at
all meals, which overload the stomach and prevent proper
digestion and assimilation. My case and that of Mr. Bruce-
Joy certainly show that Dr. Salisbury has found, for the
first time in the history of medicine, a cure — not merely an
alleviation — for these painful and distressing maladies. This
personal detail as to my health is, I think, of general interest
in view of the large number of sufferers who are pronounced
incurable by English doctors, and it was here an essential
preliminary to the facts I have now to relate, which would
probably not have occurred as they did had my health not
been so strikingly renovated.1

1 In addition to the foregoing, I have suffered at intervals from diseases con-
tracted abroad, which have recurred in acute paroxysms, and sometimes threatened
to become serious. For years together they have given me much anxiety and
required constant care and attention. Since my general health has improved,
however, they have so much diminished as no longer to give me much trouble. I
have also suffered twice from severe eye troubles. My sight has always been

xxxiii] LITERARY WORK, ETC, 1887-1905 231

The lecture which I gave at Davos on the science of the
nineteenth century (a subject suggested by Dr. Lunn) led me
to think that an instructive and popular book might be made
of the subject, as I found there were so many interesting
points I could not treat adequately or even refer to in a
lecture. I therefore devoted most of my spare time during
the next year to getting together materials and writing the
volume, which I finished in the spring of 1898, and it was
published in June. The work had a pretty good sale, and at
the request of my publishers I prepared from it a School
Reader, with a considerable number of illustrations, which
was published in 1901. This suggested the idea of a much
enlarged and illustrated edition of the original work, which
was, as regards 'many of the more important sciences and
arts, a mere outline sketch. Almost all the year 1902 and
part of 1903 was occupied in getting together materials for
this new work, as it really was, and it was not published till
the autumn of the latter year.

But while I was writing three new chapters on the
wonderful astronomical progress of the latter half of the
century, the startling fact was impressed upon me that we
were situated very nearly at the centre of the entire stellar
universe. This fact, though it had been noted by many of
the greatest astronomical writers, together with the indications

myopic, though otherwise strong, but in 1883 I did a great deal of work at night,
requiring a continual reference to several books of different-sized print, and this
brought on rather severe inflammation of the retina, which necessitated a darkened
room for some weeks, and no reading or writing for several months — a tremendous
trial to me, so that I was able to do no literary work in 1884. The occulist I con-
sulted told me that with care in two or three years my eyes would be as strong as
ever ; and they very gradually became so, and I had no further trouble till 1891,
when some irritating substance got into my left eye and could not be got out,
causing severe inflammation for some weeks, which, however, passed away without
immediate bad results. From that time, however, there began a loss of the power
of adjustment of the two eyes, so that I saw distant objects double, and this has
increased so that I now see everything double, even at the other side of a room ;
but this does not much inconvenience me except to produce a general indistinct-
ness of objects. Two persons walking together on the other side of the street
seem to me to be three or four persons, according to the angle of sight, and I often
have to shut one eye in order to be sure how many there are. The divergence
has now, I think, got to the worst, as I perceive no difference during the last
few years.

232 MY LIFE [Chap.

that led to the conclusion that our universe was finite,
and that we could almost, if not quite, see to its very limits,
were seldom commented on as more than isolated phenomena
— curiosities, as it were, of star distribution — but of no special
significance. To me, however, it seemed that they probably
had a meaning ; and when I further came to examine the
numerous facts which led to the conclusion that no other
planet in the solar system than our earth was habitable,
there flashed upon me the idea that it was only near the
centre of this vast material universe that conditions prevailed
rendering the development of life, culminating in man,
possible. I did not, however, dwell upon this idea, but
merely suggested it in a single paragraph on pp. 329-330
of my work, and I might probably never have pursued the
subject further but for another circumstance which kept
my attention fixed upon it.

While I was still hard at work upon the book, the London
agent of the New York Independent wrote to ask me to write
them an article on any scientific subject I chose. I at first
declined, as having no subject which I thought suitable, and
not wishing to interrupt my work. But when he urged me
again, and told me to name my own fee, the idea struck me
that these astronomical facts, with the conclusion to which
they seemed to me to point, might form a very interesting,
and even new and attractive article. As the subject was
fresh in my mind, and I had the authorities at hand, it did
not take me very long to sketch out and write a paper of the
required length, which appeared simultaneously in the Inde-
pendent and in the Fortnightly Review, and, to my great
surprise, created quite a sensation, and, still more to my
surprise, a considerable amount of antagonism and rather
contemptuous criticism by astronomers and physicists, to
which I replied in a subsequent article.

But as soon as my agent, Mr. Curtis Brown, read the MSS.
he suggested that I should write a volume on the subject, which
he was sure would be very attractive and popular, and for
which he undertook to make arrangements both in England
and America, and secure me liberal terms. After a little

xxxiii] LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1 887-1905 233

consideration I thought I could do so, and terms were arranged
for the book before the article itself was published. This
enabled me to get together all the necessary materials and
to begin work at once, and after six months of the stiffest
reading and study I ever undertook, the book was completed
in September, and published in November of the same year.
In November of 1904 a cheaper edition was published, with
an additional chapter in an Appendix. This chapter con-
tained an entirely new argument, founded on the theory of
organic evolution, which I had not time to introduce into the
first edition. This argument is itself so powerful that, when
compounded with the arguments founded on astronomical,
physical, and physiological phenomena, it renders the im-
probability of there having been two independent develop-
ments of organic life culminating in man, so great as to be
absolutely inconceivable.

The success of this volume, and the entirely new circle of
readers it brought me, caused my publishers to urge me to
prepare the present work, which I should otherwise have not
written at all, or only on a very much smaller scale for the
information of my family as to my early life.

Now it seems to me a very suggestive fact that my
literary work during the last ten years should have been so
completely determined by two circumstances which must be
considered, in the ordinary sense of the term, and in relation
to my own volition, matters of chance. If Dr. Lunn had not
invited me to Davos, and if he had suggested " Darwinism "
or any other of my special subjects instead of the " Science
of the Nineteenth Century," I should not have written my
" Wonderful Century ; " I should not have had my attention
so specially directed to great astronomical problems; I
should not, when asked for an article, have chosen the subject
of our sun's central position ; and I should certainly never
have undertaken such a piece of work as my book on " Man's
Place in the Universe," or the present autobiography. And
further, without the accident of a perfect stranger calling
upon me for reasons of his own, and that stranger happening
to be a man who had been so marvellously cured by Dr.

234 MY LIFE [Chap. XXXIII]

Salisbury as to induce me to adopt the same treatment, with
similar results, I should never have had the energy required
to undertake the two later and more important works. Of
course, it may be that these are only examples of those
" happy chances " which are not uncommon in men's lives ;
but, on the other hand, it may be true that, "there's a
divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we will ; "
and those who have reason to know that spiritual beings can
and do influence our thoughts and actions, will see in such
directive incidents as these examples of such influence.

Although I have now brought the narrative of my literary
and home life up to the time of writing this Autobiography,
there are a number of special subjects, which, for the sake of
clearness, I have either wholly omitted, or only just men-
tioned, but which have either formed important episodes in
my life, or have brought me into communication or friendly
intercourse with a number of interesting people, and which
therefore require to be narrated consecutively in separate
chapters. These will now follow, and will, I think, be not
the least interesting or instructive portions of my work.

NOTE.

The Addendum at the end of this volume should have followed here,
and bad better be read before the remaining chapters. — A. R. W.

CHAPTER XXXIV

LAND NATIONALIZATION TO SOCIALISM, AND THE FRIENDS
THEY BROUGHT ME

SOON after I returned from the Amazon (about 1853), I read
Herbert Spencer's " Social Statics," a work for which I had
a great admiration, and which seemed to me so important in
relation to political and social reform, that I thought of
inviting a few friends to read and discuss it at weekly meet-
ings. This fell through for want of support, but the whole .
work, and more especially the chapter on " The Right to ;
the Use of the Earth," made a permanent impression on /
me, and ultimately led to my becoming, almost against my
will, President of the Land Nationalization Society, which
has now been just a quarter of a century in existence. In
connection with this movement, I have made the acquaintance
of a considerable number of persons of more or less eminence,
and my relations with some of these will form the subject of
the present chapter.

The publication of my " Malay Archipelago " in 1869,
procured me the acquaintance of John Stuart Mill, who
on reading the concluding pages, in which I condemn our
" civilization " as but a form of " barbarism," and refer, among
other examples, to our permitting private property in land,
wrote to me from Avignon on May 19, 1870, enclosing the
programme of his proposed Land Tenure Reform Asso-
ciation, and asking me to become a member of the General
Committee. Its object was to claim the future ■ unearned
increment " of land values for the State, to which purpose
it was to be strictly limited. I accepted the offer, but

235

236 MY LIFE [Chap.

proposed a new clause, giving the State power of resuming
possession of any land on payment of its net value at the
time, because, as I pointed out, the greatest evil was the
monopoly of land, not the money lost by the community.
This he himself supported, but suggested giving not the
current value only, but something additional as compensa-
tion ; and I think this was done. Later I proposed another
addition to the programme, which he also agreed to, as shown
by the following extract from a letter I received from him in
July, referring to a general meeting of the Association at the
Freemason's Tavern : —

" I hope that you will be able to attend, and that you will
propose, as an addition to the programme, the important
point which you suggested in your letter to me, viz., the
right of the State to take possession (with a view to their
preservation) of all natural objects or artificial constructions
which are of historical or artistic interest. If you will pro-
pose this I will support it, and I think there will be no
difficulty in getting it put into the programme, where
undoubtedly I think it ought to be."

He then asked me to dine with him at Blackheath Park on
the following Sunday at five o'clock, which I of course
accepted. The only other persons present were his step-
daughter Miss Helen Taylor, Mr. George Grote the historian,
and the Hon. Auberon Herbert. We had a very pleasant
dinner and some very interesting and instructive conversation
afterwards, only one portion of which I recollect, as it referred
to a subject on which I differed from Mill, and thought his
views, for such an undoubtedly great and clear thinker, some-
what hasty and ill-considered. The conversation turned
somehow upon the existence and nature of God. Mr. Grote
seemed inclined to accept the ordinary idea of an eternal
omniscient and benevolent existence, because anything else
was almost unthinkable. To which Mill replied, that who-
ever considered the folly, misery, and badness of the bulk of
mankind, such a belief was unthinkable, because it would
imply that God could have made man good and happy, have
abolished evil, and has not done so. I ventured to suggest

xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 237

that what we call evil may be essential to the ultimate
development of the highest good for all ; but he would not
listen to it or argue the question at all, but repeated, dog-
matically, that an omnipotent God might have made man
wise, good, and happy, and as He had not chosen to do so it
was absurd for us to believe in such a being and call Him
almighty and good. He then turned the conversation as if
he did not wish to discuss the matter further.

There is one point in connection with this problem which
I do not think has ever been much considered or discussed.
It is, the undoubted benefit to all the members of a society
of tlie greatest possible diversity of character, as a means
both towards the greatest enjoyment and interest of associa-
tion, and to the highest ultimate development of the race.
If we are to suppose that man might have been created or
developed with none of those extremes of character which
now often result in what we call wickedness, vice, or crime,
there would certainly have been a greater monotony in human
nature which would, perhaps, have led to less beneficial results
than the variety which actually exists may lead to. We are
more and more getting to see that very much, perhaps all,
the vice, crime, and misery that exists in the world is the
result, not of the wickedness of individuals, but of the entire
absence of sympathetic training from infancy onwards. So
far as I have heard, the only example of the ^effects of such
a training on a large scale, was that initiated by Robert
Owen at New Lanark, which, with most unpromising
materials, produced such marvellous results on the character
and conduct of the children, as to seem almost incredible to
the numerous persons who came to see and often critically
to examine them. There must have been all kinds of
characters in his schools, yet none were found to be in-
corrigible, none beyond control, none who did not respond
to the love and sympathetic instruction of their teachers.
It is therefore quite possible that all the evil in the world
is directly due to man, not to God, and that when we once
realize this to its full extent we shall be able, not only to
eliminate almost completely what we now term evil, but

238 MY LIFE [Chap.

shall then clearly perceive that all those propensities and
passions that under bad conditions of society inevitably led
to it, will under good conditions add to the variety and the
capacities of human nature, the enjoyment of life by all, and
at the same time greatly increase the possibilities of develop-
ment of the whole race. I myself feel confident that this is
really the case, and that such considerations, when followed
out to their ultimate issues, afford a complete solution of the
great problem of the ages — the origin of evil.

The last letter I had from Mill was in April, 1871, when
a great public meeting of the Association was to be held on
May 3, as to which he said, ■ It would be very useful to
the Association, and a great pleasure to myself, if you would
consent to be one of the speakers at the meeting. There is
the more reason why you should do so, as you are the author
of one very valuable article of the programme. Were you
to explain and defend that article, it would be a service
which no one is so well qualified to render as yourself." I
had then recently visited the stone circles and bridges of
Dartmoor, and also Stonehenge, and urged the importance
of preserving them. At that time there would probably
have been no question of paying more than the actual
selling value of the land, and we should have been spared
the disgrace of having our grandest ancient monument, after
centuries of neglect and deterioration, claimed to be private
property, and having an exorbitant price demanded for it.
But Mill's death soon afterwards put an end to the associa-
tion, and we had to wait many years for the present very
imperfect legislation on the subject.

The question of land nationalization continued at in-
tervals to occupy my mind, but having become strongly
impressed by the teachings of Spencer, Mill, and other
writers as to the necessity for restricting rather than extend-
ing State agency, and by their constant reference to the
inevitable jobbery and favouritism that would result from
placing the management of the whole land of the country
in the hands of the executive, that I did not attempt to

xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 239

write further upon the subject. But when the topic of Irish
landlordism became very prominent in the year 1879-80,
an idea occurred to me which seemed to entirely obviate all
the practical difficulties which were constantly adduced as
insuperable, and I at once took the opportunity of the
controversy on the question to set forth my views in some
detail. I did this especially because the Irish Land League
proposed that the Government should buy out the Irish
landlords, and convert their existing tenants into peasant-
proprietors, who were to redeem their holdings by payments
extending over thirty-five years. This seemed to me to be
unsound in principle, and entirely useless except as a tem-
porary expedient, since it would leave the whole land of
Ireland in the possession of a privileged class, and would
thus disinherit all the rest of the population from their
native soil.

In my essay I based my whole argument upon a great
principle of equity as regards the right of succession to
landed property, a principle which I have since further
extended to all property.1 But the suggestion which rendered
land nationalization practicable was, that while, under certain
conditions stated, all land would gradually revert to the
State, what is termed in Ireland the tenant-right, and in
England the improvements, or increased value given to the
land by the owner or his predecessors, such as buildings,
drains, plantations, etc., would remain his property, and be
paid for by the new state-tenants at a fair valuation. The
selling value of land was thus divided into two parts : the
inJierent valtte or ground-rent value, which is quite indepen-
dent of any expenditure by owners, but is due solely to
nature and society ; and the improvements, which are due
solely to expenditure by the owners or occupiers, and which
are essentially temporary in nature. My experience in
surveying and land-valuation assured me that these two
values can be easily separated. It follows that land as
owned by the State would need no " management " whatever,
the rent being merely a ground-rent, which could be collected

1 See my " Studies, Scientific and Social," vol. ii. chap, xxviii.

240 MY LIFE [Chap.

just as the house-tax and the land-tax are collected, the state-
tenant being left as completely free as is the " freeholder "
now (who is in law a state-tenant), or as are the holders of
perpetual feus in Scotland.

This article appeared in the Contemporary Review of
November, 1880, and it immediately attracted the attention
of Mr. A. C. Swinton, Dr. G. B. Clark, Mr. Roland Estcourt,
and a few others, who had long been seeking a mode of
applying Herbert Spencer's great principle of the inequity of
private property in land, and who found it in the suggestions
and principles I had laid down. They accordingly com-
municated with me ; several meetings were held at the
invitation of Mr. Swinton, who was the initiator of the
movement, and after much discussion as to a definite pro-
gramme, the " Land Nationalization Society " was formed,
and, much against my wishes, I was chosen to be president.
Notwithstanding the scanty means of the majority of the
founders and members, the society has struggled on for a
quarter of a century. Its lecturers and its yellow vans have
pervaded the country, and it has effected the great work
of convincing the highest and best-organized among the
manual workers as represented by their Trades Unions, that
the abolition of land-monopoly, which is the necessary result
of its private ownership, is at the very root of all social
reform. Hence the future is with them and us, and though
the capitalists and the official Liberals are still against us, we
wait patiently, and continue to educate the masses in the
certainty of a future and not distant success.

Although Herbert Spencer was the first eminent English-
man of science to establish the doctrine of land nationalization
upon the firm basis of social justice, he had several fore-
runners who saw the principle as clearly as he did, declared
it as boldly, but, being far in advance of their age, were
treated with scorn, persecution, or neglect. The earliest was
Thomas Spence, a poor schoolmaster of Newcastle-on-Tyne,
who in 1775 delivered a lecture before the Philosophical
Society of that town, for which he was immediately expelled

xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 241

from the society, and soon after obliged to leave the town.
This lecture was reprinted by Mr. H. M. Hyndham in 1882,
and a single sentence will indicate its scope and purpose : —

" Hence it is plain that the land or earth, in any country
or neighbourhood, belongs at all times to the living inhabi-
tants of the said country or neighbourhood in an equal
manner. For, as I said before, there is no living but on land
and its productions, consequently what we cannot live
without we have the same property in as our lives."

Spence further opposed centralized government as much
as any individualist of our day, and advocated a system of
free communal home-rule, every parish owning its own land
and managing its own affairs.

A few years later, in 1782, Professor Ogilvie published
anonymously, " An Essay on the Right of Property in Land "
(a volume of 120 pages). He lays down the principle that
no right to property in land can justly arise except through
occupancy and labour upon it, and even this must be limited
by the equal rights of every other individual. And after
discussing the various laws and circumstances of modern
civilized communities, he shows how the laws can be amended
so as to bring about a just distribution of land. This is a
thoughtful, well-reasoned, and clearly written work, yet it
remained almost unknown to successive generations of
reformers.

A few years later than H. Spencer (in 1856), but apparently
quite independently of him, a very remarkable work was
published in London, under the title " On the Evils, Impolicy,
and Anomaly of Individuals being Landlords and Nations
Tenants," by Robert Dick, M.D. This was a very compre-
hensive work, anticipating the main thesis of Henry George,
as shown by the following passage from the introductory
chapter: "My design, in short, is to show that wealth,
accumulated in individuals and classes, necessarily implies
poverty elsewhere, in like manner as exemption from labour
by some men and classes, of necessity implies double, treble,
quadruple labour in others." He then lays down a number
of fundamental propositions, which are so brief, clear, and
VOL. II. r

242 MY LIFE [Chap.

forcible, and go so directly to the root of all those social
problems which demand solution to-day even more peremp-
torily than they did a century ago, that I will give the more
important of them here —

"Prop. I. The use of earth in the form of food is equally
necessary for human life as the use of air — the privation
of one kills in a few minutes, of the other in a few days or
weeks."

"Prop. II. Hence the man who controls land, controls
human life — excluding life that might be, holding at his
mercy life that is."

" Prop. III. As God made a free gift to each man of life,
He equally intended for a free gift the necessary condition
of life — a portion of the soil."

"Prop. V. Hence a portion of the soil is each man's
congenital and inalienable patrimony."

" Prop. VII. The nationalizing of the soil should have been
the primary, the fundamental step in human association."

" Prop. X. The culture of a portion of the soil (as a man's
own) has this advantage over all other labour, that it gives
him directly, and at first cost, those very necessaries which
he is obliged, indirectly, to seek, in manufactures, trade, and
commerce, namely, home, food, fuel, etc., all which must
otherwise be purchased at more than natural cost in labour
or money."

" Prop. XIII. It is out of the pauper and floating masses
who have been separated from the land, and have consequently
no option between starvation and selling their labour un-
conditionally, that capital is originally formed, and is, there-
after, enabled absolutely to dictate to the very labour that
creates it, and to defraud that labour of those surplusses
which ought to remain wholly with the latter."

In these two last propositions is comprised the whole
philosophy of social reform, the last anticipating the main
thesis of Marx. And to show how well this fine writer and
thinker appreciated the more human, esthetic, and ennobling
aspects of the question, I will give one more short quotation,
on the overcrowding and housing questions, still talked about

xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 243

as if they could be remedied piecemeal while the funda-
mental cause of these and a thousand other evils remains
untouched —

" Is it to be credited that this crowding together of men
in houses dovetailed into each other, with everything of
nature — winds, flowers, verdure, the healthy smell of earth —
shut out and replaced by a thousand miasmas — is it, I say,
to be credited that this is the normal condition of beings
born with natural cravings for activity and pure air, with an
intelligent eye for nature's manifold beauties, with bodies
requiring to be exercised no less than heads ? The very
necessity for drains tells against us. All manure was meant
directly to nourish the land it accumulates on — not to pollute
our streams and rivers. Cities as they now are, are the
abscesses of nature. The soil and terrestrial space are not
meant for the rearing of food only, but to be dwelt and
moved about on — to be daily enjoyed in all the variety of
agreeable sights, sounds, and odours they afford us."

This important, thoughtful, and suggestive work, published
in our own time, and dealing most thoroughly with the ever-
growing evils of our social economy, has remained almost
absolutely unknown. With the exception of the works of
one or two land-nationalizers, I have never seen it even
referred to by the host of political writers, who weakly and
ignorantly dabble in the great questions affecting the real
well-being of our whole population.

Our Society being established, it seemed necessary to
prepare something in the form of a handbook or introduction
to the great problem of the land ; and I accordingly devoted
my attention to the subject, studying voluminous reports on
agriculture, on Irish famines, on Highland Crofters, and
numbers of special treatises dealing with the various aspects
of this vast and far-reaching question. My book was
published in March, 1882, under the title "Land Nationaliza-
tion : its Necessity and its Aims," and gave, in a compact
form, the only general account of the evils of our land system
as it exists in England, Ireland, and Scotland ; a comparison

244 MY LIFE [Chap.

with other countries or places in which a better system
prevails, together with a solution of the problem of how to
replace it by the only just system, without any confiscation
of property or injury to any living individual. The book has
had a large circulation, and, in a revised edition, is still on
sale ; and, together with numerous tracts issued by the Society,
has done much to educate public opinion on this most vital
of all political or social questions.

As, however, it was quite certain that it would take a
very long time before even the first steps towards land
nationalization would be taken, I took every opportunity of
advocating such other fundamental reforms as seemed to me
demanded by equity and to be essential to social well-being.
One of the earliest was on the subject of interest, about
which there was much difference of opinion among advanced
thinkers. A discussion having arisen in The Christian
Socialist, I developed my views at some length in an article
which appeared in the issue of March, 1884. As it still
appears to me to be logically unassailable, and is upon a
subject of the very highest social importance, I give it here —

THE MORALITY OF INTEREST— THE TYRANNY OF
CAPITAL.

By Alfred Russel Wallace.

Having read Professor Newman's defence of interest and your remarks
thereon, I wish to make a few observations on the general question.

Your position, and also that of Mr. Ruskin, appears to be that money
should be lent only as an act of benevolence or charity, and that lending
it in any other way is not only, in most cases, economically and socially,
injurious, but is also morally wrong. With the first part of this proposi-
tion I am very much inclined to agree, but not with the second. Looked
at broadly, I believe that the power of obtaining interest on capital,
however great, with the corresponding desire of the owner of capital to
obtain interest on it, is, next to the private monopoly of land, the great
cause of the poverty and famine that prevail in all the most advanced
and most wealthy communities. To prove this would occupy too much
space j but I may just notice that bankruptcies, with the widespread
misery they inflict ; the speculations of promoters and financiers often
bringing ruin on hundreds or thousands of deluded investors ; and the

xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 245

vast loans to foreign despots, which can only be paid by the sweat and
blood of their unfortunate subjects, are the direct, and in the present
state of society, the necessary results of the interest-system. Professor
Newman says that if it were to cease, business would be lessened by
one-third. But only rotten and speculative business would be stopped ;
commercial men would then be what they only now appear to be, and no
really necessary business would cease to be carried on. The late William
Chambers has stated (in his " Life of Robert Chambers ") that their vast
bookselling, printing, and publishing business was established and carried
on from first to last without one penny of borrowed capital ; and that, as
a result, panics and financial crises which brought ruin to some of their
competitors, only caused them a little temporary inconvenience. I
believe, therefore, that it would be for the benefit of the community if
loans of money, or advances of goods on credit, were not recognized by
the law, but were made wholly at the risk of the lender ; but I do not
see that it follows that he who lends, even under these circumstances,
and takes interest for his loan, is doing what is wrong. For I cannot
perceive any essential difference in principle between lending on interest,
and selling at a profit. If I buy a shipload of drugs or any other goods
at wholesale price, warehouse them, and sell them in the course of a
year at the current market rate, making a profit of, say, 15 per cent, on
my money, am I doing that which is morally wrong ? Of the amount
gained by me, we may put perhaps 1 or 2 per cent, for my personal
trouble in the matter, 2 or 3 per cent, for risk of loss, 5 per cent, for
interest on capital, and the other 5 per cent, for surplus profit. Is this
10 per cent, illegitimate gain ? and am I morally bound to sell my goods
at so much below the market rate as to leave me only fair payment for
my time and risk ? If it is wrong to take interest for the money which,
when lent to another man enables him to do this, surely it is wrong to
take a larger share in the shape of profit ; and this really means that all
trade is immoral which returns more than payment for personal labour,
and insurance of the capital employed. But if so, it should be so stated,
and the question should not be confined to interest on money loans only,
and, in fact, Mr. Ruskin does not so confine it. The quotation you make
from Mr. Ruskin does not, however, seem to me at all to the point. You
freely lend your friend an umbrella in his need, and you would even do
the same to the merest acquaintance or neighbour, but if your neighbour
called every day for your umbrella on his way to the city, and other
neighbours followed his example, so that you ceased to have the use of
your own umbrellas, you would soon have either to refuse to lend, or to
charge a rent for the use of them, and if this were convenient to your
neighbours, and they were willing to pay you sufficient to cover the wear
and tear of umbrellas, your time and trouble in looking after them, and
interest on your capital invested in them, it will require arguments very
different from any yet advanced to satisfy me that you would be morally
wrong in doing so. In like manner, though you lend your friend or
neighbour cab-money, or give him a bed for a night on rare occasions

246 MY LIFE [Chap.

when he urgently requires such aid, you would give none of these things
repeatedly to a mere acquaintance. Yet, if circumstances rendered such
accommodation very useful to a considerable number of persons, and you
or some one else found it profitable to supply such accommodation, you
would charge rent for your beds, and interest for your loans, and the
transaction would differ nothing in principle from that of every tradesman
who sells goods at a profit, of the innkeeper who charges beds in his bill,
or of the jobmaster who charges for the use of his horses or his carriages.
Nothing deserving the name of proof has yet been given that either of
these things are immoral. Whether it is a good and healthy state of
society in which large numbers of persons get their living by such means,
is another matter altogether.

The difference of opinion on this question of usury arises mainly from
the different standpoints of the disputants. Seeing that it is bound up
with many of the evils of modern society, and believing that it should
have no place in a system of true Socialism, you and Mr. Ruskin denounce
it as immoral. Professor Newman, on the other hand, looks at it as a
question of modern society, and finds nothing in its essential nature
contrary to justice, and here he seems to me to have the best of the
argument. No doubt, in a more perfect state of society, in which private
accumulations of capital were comparatively small, and the land and its
products were freely open to the use of all, usury would have little place,
because loans of money would rarely be needed ; but when they were
needed, I cannot see any grounds for maintaining that it would be
morally wrong to lend money on interest. On the contrary, such loans
would then retain their use without the evils their wide extension now
brings. There would be no great capitalists, and if one man lent to
another it would be a convenience to the borrower, and certainly some
loss to the lender, because, as Professor Newman well puts it, ,£100 paid
one year or ten years hence is not as valuable as £ 100 paid to-day. To
say that it is so is really to say that it has no value to-day, for if its
payment can be delayed one year without loss it can two, or three, or
ten, or a hundred, or a thousand 1 Where are we to stop ? If we suppose
a perfect social state, we suppose all men to be producers, and as capital
is an aid to production, no man can give up the use of his capital to
another without loss. The true solution of the problem is, I believe, to
be found in the proposition that all loans should be personal, and, there-
fore, temporary; and that, as a corollary, the repayment of the capital
should be provided for in the annual payments agreed to be made by
the borrower, either for a fixed period (if he live so long), or for the term
of his life. This would abolish the idea of perpetual interest, which is as
impossible in fact as it is wrong in principle, while it would avoid the
injustice of compelling one man, or set of men, to pay the debts of a
preceding generation from which they may have received no real
benefit.

This question of interest thus becomes involved in the wider question
of the tyranny of capital over labour, and its remedy. At present,

xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 247

civilized Governments act on the presumption that great accumulations
of capital are beneficial, and even necessary, to the well-being of the
community, and all legislation favours such accumulations. When the
people are once convinced that the reverse is the case, and legislation is
directed to favour small holders of capital, and to check its inordinate
accumulation, most of the evils complained of will cease. To this end
the first step would be to get rid of all Government funds, guaranteed
loans, railway stocks, etc., which are the main agents and tools by which
capital is accumulated and money is made to breed money. This could
be done in every case by making such stocks non-transferable after
a certain date, and then declaring the payments to be terminable at the
death of the holders and their living heirs, just as I propose to do in the
case of landlords. The railways should be taken by the State, existing
shareholders receiving annuities of the amount of their average dividends,
payable in like manner to themselves and their living heirs. The Limited
Liability Act should be repealed, because it has served only to foster the
worst and most iniquitous speculations, and has deluded the public into
the idea that they could safely share in the profits of commercial enter-
prises of the nature and management of which they are profoundly
ignorant. There would remain no safe investments for money, except
in some branch of agriculture, manufactures, or commerce in which
either the investor or some relation or friend was personally interested,
and thus would be brought about the diminution and practical abolition
of usury as a system, and of whole classes living idle lives on the interest
of money derived from the accumulations of previous generations.

Of course, it will be said that the plan here proposed is wholesale
confiscation and repudiation ; but a little consideration will show that
it is nothing of the kind, and that it is really the best thing that can
happen even to the individual holders of the stocks dealt with. In the
case of the National Debt, for example, fundholders are now threatened
with a reduction of interest of a quarter per cent., and later on of a half
per cent. ; and they will be forced to accept it, because the interest on the
public debt regulates that of all other good investments, which will
inevitably rise in price enormously if any considerable portion of the
amount now invested in the funds seeks other investments. The offer
to pay off fundholders at par, will, therefore, be illusory, and the vast
class who live upon their dividends will inevitably have their incomes
reduced one-twelfth or one-sixth, while the cost of living goes on
continually increasing. Would they not be far better off to have their
present incomes secured to themselves and their living heirs? And
when they fully realize their position, will they not choose the latter
alternative if offered them ? If the series of changes here sketched out
were effected, the reign of capital as the tyrant and enemy of labour
would be at an end. When the tools with which the financier and the
speculator work no longer exist, the piling up of great fortunes will be
impossible, and much personal care and attention will be required in
order to make capital produce a steady return. Industry and commerce

248 MY LIFE [Chap.

will be the sole means of acquiring wealth, and by these means alone —
under the new conditions of society — very great wealth can never be
accumulated by one man. For the land being nationalized, and the
use of some portion of it obtainable by all, the minimum of wages will
rise far above the starvation point which now prevails, and every village
or other community, however small, will consist of small capitalists, who
will be ever ready to unite for the safe employment of their capital.
Then will arise a variety of industries on a scale adapted to the size and
wealth of the district, and calculated to utilize the surplus labour and
spare time of the surrounding population ; and these small industries
will compete successfully with the establishments of individual capitalists,
because they will have an ample and cheap supply of labour, and because
most of the labourers, or their relations, will be shareholders, and will
be thus working for themselves. The individual capitalist will then find
himself paralyzed for want of labour, unless he offers great temptations
in the form of high wages and participation in the profits. For when
a large proportion of the population are settled upon the land, and are
able to devote their savings and their spare time to local industries, they
will not, as now, be forced to become parts of a huge manufacturing
machine in the success of which they have little personal interest.

By the methods here sketched out the labourer will receive, as Karl
Marx and other social reformers maintain that he should do, the whole
produce of his labour, and he will obtain this general result without any
aid from Government, except what consists in remedying injustice, and
removing the restrictions on freedom which now hamper him. Without
any laws against usury, usury will practically cease to exist. Without
any direct restrictions on wealth, those vast and injurious accumulations
of wealth which now prevail will be impossible. The " stealers " and the
" beggars " who now, as Mr. Girdlestone has shown, are so numerous
among us, will steadily give place to "workers," and just in proportion
as that happens, poverty will diminish, and will ultimately disappear.
Now, a large portion of the working population are employed in the
production of useless and often tasteless luxuries and trifles, the direct
consequence of the large number of persons who have surplus money to
spend after all their reasonable wants and comforts are fully satisfied.
It is this, much more than the mere number of idle people, that is the
dead weight which keeps thousands starving in the midst of so much
wealth. When mere extravagant luxuries are less in demand great
masses of labourers will be set free to produce the necessaries and
comforts of life ; and these will be more abundant and cheaper (what-
ever their money price may be), and if all those who are now idle aid in
the production of these necessaries and comforts, it is evident that, with
free exchange, none can want.

I would particularly call attention to the fact that the results here
indicated would be all brought about by carrying out the true system of
laissez-faire now so much abused as if it had failed, when really it has
never been tried. Labour, the sole source of all wealth and well-being,

xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 249

has been fettered in all her limbs, and harassed in all her actions, and
then because she often stumbles or faints by the way, they cry, " See,
she cannot do without help ! " But first unloose your bonds, and cease
to hamper her with your legal meshes, and then see if she will not
achieve a glorious success. Let Government do its duty, and no more.
Let it secure peace from external foes, and safety from internal violence ;
let it give free and speedy justice between man and man ; let it secure
to all alike free access to the land and all natural powers ; let it abolish
every monopoly of individuals and classes — either the local or central
authority having the management of all institutions or industries which
are essential to the public welfare, but which in private hands tend to
become monopolies ; and let it enact that all debts contracted by
individuals shall be payable by those individuals only, and those con-
tracted by the municipality or State be payable by the generation which
contracts them, so that they may never remain a burden on the succeed-
ing generation. When it has done all this, then alone will labour be
really free, and, being free, it will work out the well-being of the whole
community without any Government interference whatever. This is the
true laissez-faire j and this, I believe, will enable us to realize the best
social state which, in its present phase of development, humanity is
capable of. The distant future will take care of itself; let us try to
improve the future that is immediately before us. I have here very
briefly and imperfectly sketched out a series of measures which I believe
are best calculated to promote this object, and they have the great and
inestimable advantage that they all tend to the diminution of govern-
mental interference with labour and industry, instead of that indefinite
increase of it which the German Socialists advocate, and which, as the
greatest political thinkers maintain, and as all experience shows, must
inevitably fail, while in the present condition of civilization it will probably
lead to evils not less grave than those it attempts to cure.

At this time I was in correspondence with Mr. Robert
Miller, a wealthy gentleman of Edinburgh, who had read my
book and had given a donation to our society, but who
wished to give or bequeath a large part of his fortune for the
benefit of the community at large. He was, however, much
disturbed by the conflicting views of writers on the subject,
and though he was much inclined to land nationalization, he
found it to be so strongly opposed by all the recognized
authorities in political economy, as well as by most public
writers and politicians, that he could not make up his mind
what to do. In this uncertain frame of mind he was persuaded
by some of his friends that the best thing he could do would

250 MY LIFE [Chap.

be to have a conference of all the leading politicians and
advanced thinkers to discuss the question, "What are the
best means, consistent with justice and equity, for bringing
about a more equal division of the accumulated wealth of the
country, and a more equal division of the daily products of
industry between Capital and Labour, so that it may become
possible for all to enjoy a fair share of material comfort
and intellectual culture, possible for all to lead a dignified
life, and less difficult for all to lead a good life ? "

He proposed to devote £1000 for the expenses of the
conference, and the following gentlemen agreed to act as
trustees : Sir Thomas Brassey, Mr. John Burnett, Mr. Thomas
Burt, the Earl of Dalhousie, Professor Foxwell, Mr. Robert
Gififen, and Mr. Frederic Harrison.

But these gentlemen did not adopt the very clear state-
ment of the problem Mr. Miller wished to be enlightened
upon, nor the highly humane and moral object he had in
view, as shown by his own words given above. Instead of
it they adopted a comparatively hard and colourless state-
ment in the following terms: — "Is the present system or
manner whereby the products of industry are distributed
between the various persons and classes of the community
satisfactory? Or, if not, are there any means by which that
system could be improved?" And this was again rendered
still more bald and systematic by being stated under five
heads and ten subdivisions, in the approved manner of the
political economists, so as to limit the questions discussed
to utilities, while excluding as much as possible all questions
of justice or equity, of moral or intellectual advancement

The conference lasted three days, with morning and after-
noon sittings ; about one hundred and fifty delegates repre-
senting the chief labour associations of the kingdom attended ;
and twenty representatives of political and social science,
including myself, were invited to read papers. These papers,
with some valuable statistics in appendices, and a report of
the discussions on the chief papers, were published by Cassell
and Co. in a thick 8vo volume of over 500 pages, entitled
" Industrial Remuneration Conference Report." In the

xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 251

paper which I prepared, I endeavoured to go to the very
heart of the question propounded by Mr. Miller, ■ How to
cause Wealth to be more equably distributed." It occupies
twenty-four pages of the Report, but I give here an abstract
of it prepared for the newspapers.

HOW TO CAUSE WEALTH TO BE MORE EQUABLY
DISTRIBUTED.

(Abstract.)

As the bulk of the community live on wages, the only means by which
they can obtain a larger proportion of the wealth they produce is by
wages becoming generally higher, and by work being more constant ;
and in order that this change may be permanent, and be commensurate
with the evil to be remedied, it must be brought about, not by any form
of charity, or of local or individual action, but by social rearrangements
which will be self-acting and self-sufficing. The fundamental objection
often made that a general rise of wages would interfere with our foreign
commerce was shown to be unsound, and it has been refuted by Mill,
Fawcett, and other political economists.

The cause of low wages was next discussed, and was shown to be due,
not to a superabundance of labourers, but to the fact that the majority
of labourers have nothing but daily wages between themselves and
starvation, under which conditions wages are necessarily driven down to
the minimum on which life can be supported. This absolute dependence
of labourers on daily earnings is at a maximum in great cities where
access to land and to natural products is completely cut off, and it is here
that these earnings sink to their minimum, and at the same time that the
wages of highly skilled labour is at a maximum, the latter phenomenon
being that which is chiefly dwelt on by economists. Illustrative cases
of these low wages were given, and they were shown to be intimately
connected with the existence and continued growth of our great cities.

The diminution of the population of the purely agricultural districts
was next dwelt upon, and it was traced back to the circumstance that the
natural growth and extension of village communities is checked by the
direct action of landlords. Evidence of this fact was adduced from
the writings of Sir George Grey, Mr. Francis Heath, John Bright, Mr.
Thomas Hardy, and the Rev. Stopford Brooke, and its deplorable results
were shown to be a great diminution of food produced in the country,
overcrowding, and intense competition, with incalculable vice and misery
in towns.

The beneficial results of allowing labourers to have land were next
detailed. Evidence was adduced showing the great amount of produce
which is obtained by labourers from allotments, although these are,

252 MY LIFE [Chap.

comparatively, disadvantageous both to the labourers themselves and to
society ; and they are altogether condemned by John Stuart Mill as
being bad in principle. But in every case in which labourers have been
allowed a few acres of land at a fair rent, and attached to their cottages,
the effects have been most beneficial. Not only have they obtained a
large increase to their means by utilizing labour before wasted, but they
and their families have acquired habits of temperance, industry, and
thrift, so that pauperism and drunkenness have been greatly diminished,
and the population has been elevated, both socially and morally.

In order to extend these beneficial results to the whole community,
the labourer asks for neither charity nor loans, but fair opportunity and
equal justice. It was urged that the necessary capital will be saved by
the more industrious and thrifty labourers when they have before them
the certainty of procuring that dream of their lives, " a homestead of their
very own;" while nothing would so certainly lead to failure as any
extensive system of loans to enable those who have not these essential
virtues to obtain the needful land, stock, and houses without them.

The scheme suggested as most beneficial to labourers and to the
community at large is as follows : —

(i) In each rural parish four land-assessors to be chosen by the
ratepayers, two to be farmers and two labourers.

(2) Any labourer or mechanic wanting a plot of land shall have it
allotted to him by two of the assessors, one named by himself and one by
the existing occupier of the land, after the parties have met together on
the ground and stated their wishes and objections.

(3) The rent of the land thus allotted to be fairly valued by the
assessors, who will also determine the sum to be paid for improvements,
unexhausted manures, etc., on the land, which last sum must be paid
before obtaining possession.

(4) The rents of the plots thus allotted to be collected by the local
rate- collector, and the amounts, less a percentage for collection, to be
paid to the landlord.

(5) The tenure of the plots to be secure so long as they are personally
occupied, and to be saleable or transferable ; while the rents are to be
fixed for long periods, and only raised by a new general valuation in case
the value of the land itself has risen irrespective of all improvements,
which last remain the absolute property of the tenant.

By the method thus sketched out no attack is made on private pro-
perty, and no new principle in dealing with land is introduced, since
many industrial enterprises calculated chiefly to benefit individuals often
obtain from Parliament the right to take land. It is now only asked that
the same power may be given to the people at large, under strict limita-
tions, and in order to benefit the whole community by bringing about a
more natural distribution of population, and a greater and more varied
production of food and other useful products.

Various popular objections to labourers having land were then
answered, and it was shown that none of them has any force as applied

xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 253

to the proposed scheme, the claims and merits of which were summed up
as follows : —

(1) That it goes to the very root of the matter, since, by rendering a
large number of labourers less dependent on daily wages as their only
means of obtaining food, it would immediately and necessarily raise
the standard of wages ; and this is absolutely the only means by which
the labouring classes may at once be enabled more fully to share in the
products of industry.

(2) It does this in the simplest conceivable way, by throwing down
the barriers which now prevent labour from spreading over the land.

(3) It would enable every labourer, by industry and thrift, to realize
his highest aspiration — " a homestead of his own."

(4) It would largely increase the food-supply of the country, especi-
ally in dairy produce, poultry, fruit, and vegetables, now to the amount of
thirty-eight millions annually imported from abroad.

(5) It would, by a self-acting, gradual process, withdrawing the con-
gested population of the towns back to the rural districts from which
they have so largely come in recent times, and would at the same time
benefit all who remained by both raising their wages and lowering their
rents.

(6) It would completely settle both the Irish and the Highland land
questions by satisfying the just claims of the labourers and cottiers in
one country, and the crofters in the other, and would open up to human
industry extensive areas of both countries, once cultivated, but now
devoted exclusively to cattle, sheep, or game.

(7) It would also bring about a great moral reform, since all experi-
ence proves that the possession of land on a secure tenure is the best
incentive to sobriety, industry, and thrift.

(8) And, lastly, all this can be effected without any financial opera-
tion or increased taxation, and with no greater interference with landed
property than is allowed to many of the speculations of capitalists of far
less general utility, and often of none whatever.

Whether the originator of the conference obtained any-
thing worth the thousand pounds expended is doubtful.
There was no independent and judicial summing-up of the
evidence adduced, and the opinions expressed, and the great
variety and contradictory nature of these opinions, often
quite unsupported by any facts, must have left his mind in a
state of greater confusion and uncertainty than before. At
all events, I believe he did not leave any large sum to be
devoted to helping on the cause he had so much at heart.
At the meeting devoted to the land question, at which my
paper and one by Professor Francis W. Newman were read,

254 MY LIFE [Chap.

the discussion, instead of being kept to the subject of the two
papers, consisted mainly of a declamatory battle between
the socialists and individualists, both declaring that our
proposals were useless, because they were not in accordance
with those of either party. Mr. A. J. Balfour, however, did
criticize my proposals, declaring, without adducing any evi-
dence, that if labourers all had from one to five acres of land
on a secure tenure, they could not live on it, and would there-
fore be quite as much dependent on the farmers and obtain
as low wages as when they were quite landless. This amazing
statement was made in the face of the almost life-long experi-
ence of Lords Tollemache and Carrington, in four counties,
and of facts adduced in the reports of the latest Royal
Commission on Agriculture, which an M.P. and prospective
Prime Minister ought to have known something about.
Professor J. Shield Nicolson also sent a "Note on Dr.
Wallace's Paper," the chief points being that five-acre lots
would not alleviate agrarian distress in the Highlands — which
I knew quite as well as he did — and more especially that my
simple method of valuation would utterly break down and
satisfy no one, and contending that " nothing but an eloborate
system of law and judicial machinery could make such a plan
tolerable " ! He had himself read a paper, with suggestions
for a number of mild ameliorations of the present system,
which, in its essentials, was to remain untouched.

The result was, I think, to show that a conference of op-
posing parties, each looking at the question from an absolutely
different standpoint, and with no possibility of agreement as
to fundamental principles, cannot lead to any definite con-
clusion. The method adopted by the Land Nationalization
Society was the only one calculated to produce any definite
results, viz. to lay down certain fundamental principles, capable
of logical demonstration, and by means of an association for
the purpose to educate the public on the subject, both by
argument and by a constant appeal to all facts or experi-
ments which serve to illustrate the evils of the present system
and the benefits of that which we propose to substitute for it.
This has been done both by land nationalizes and socialists

xxxtv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 255

with, on the whole, most satisfactory results. On the one hand,
the socialists are agreed that, as a first step, free access to land,
with a view to its future nationalization, is vitally important ;
while on the other hand, the workers no longer say, as they
did at the congress, " Land nationalization will be of no use
to us." This is an important advance in the short space of
twenty years.

Among the few eminent men who joined our movement
was Professor F. W. Newman, and I had the pleasure of
meeting him several times at the house of my friend Mr.
A. C. Swinton, and I also had some correspondence with him ;
but there is little in the few letters I have worth quoting.
The following is the concluding paragraph of a letter dated
June 6, 1882 : " Our duty is to do what we can, in detail ; but
the longer I live the less hope I have of justice, without
changes so great in the persons who hold power that it will
be called a revolution. I mean justice, not as to land tenure
only, but as to many other things equally sacred, perhaps
more vital. Until popular indignation rises, I expect no
result ; and when it rises it may seem easier to make a clean
sweep than carry a quarter measure.

" Be assured that I look up to you with gratitude.

"F. W. Newman."

Soon after our society was started, Henry George, author
of that remarkable work, " Progress and Poverty," came to
England, and I had the pleasure of making his acquaintance.
He spoke at several of our meetings and elsewhere in London,
as well as in various parts of England and Ireland. He was
a very impressive speaker, and always held his audience.
His delivery was slow and deliberate ; so much so as to
appear sometimes as if he had broken down, but he was
always cool and collected, and when the next sentence
came one saw that the pause was made either for the
purpose of choosing the right phrase or of producing a
greater effect. The following passages, in a letter written
from Dublin in November, 1881, soon after his arrival, show

256 MY LIFE [Chap.

how a well-educated and thoughtful American was impressed
by the English rule of Ireland —

" I had not intended to speak in public before coming to
England ; but I feel so much sympathy with the Irish people
in their resistance to the degrading tyranny now rampant
here, that it seems to me cowardly to refuse any little assist-
ance I might give, and I have told some gentlemen who have
been urging me that I will lecture this week for the benefit of
the Political Prisoners' Aid Society, of which Miss Helen
Taylor is President.

" I had the pleasure of meeting that lady here, and the
pleasure of listening to her address to the ladies of the Land
League — a speech that I wished could have rung through the
length and breadth of England. When will the great English
party to whom the future will be given raise its head ? I long
for its advent. If this is Liberalism which I see here, what
Toryism may be I can with difficulty imagine.

" I have had the pleasure, too, of meeting an Irish Catholic
bishop who is with us entirely — Bishop Nulty, of Meath — a
prelate who does not hesitate to declare that private property
in land is an injurious blasphemy. He is fettered to some
extent, of course, but he wields great influence, and we shall
hear from him before this thing is over."

The lady above referred to, step-daughter of John Stuart
Mill, was an earnest land-nationalizer and a valued supporter
of our society. She was always ready to speak at our meet-
ings ; she supported us liberally by donations and subscrip-
tions, and she gave to our public proceedings that tone of
sympathy, humanity, and idealistic enthusiasm which was
of great importance to us.

Among my early correspondents on the land question
were Mr. Jesse Collings and Mr. J. Boyd-Kinnear, both after-
wards M.P.'s. The latter gentleman was so much interested
in my writings on this and allied questions, that he invited
me and my wife to visit him at Guernsey, where he was then
living. We spent a delightful week on that beautiful island,
either driving or walking over it. Mr. Boyd-Kinnear was a
practical farmer and agricultural chemist, and had a small

xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 257

farm close to the town of St Pierre, with the usual large
vinery under glass. While here, we thoroughly discussed the
land and other questions, and though I could not quite convert
him, we agreed generally in our political and social heresies.

Among the most esteemed of the friends I owed to " Land
Nationalization," were two eminent Scotchmen, both poets,
and both ardent lovers of justice and humanity — Professor J.
Stuart Blackie and Charles Mackay. The former wrote to
me in July, 1882, saying that he had just finished the
" careful study " of my " Land Nationalization," and that he
was " happy to find it so much in accordance with my oldest
and most mature speculations, and — what is of more impor-
tance— observations on the subject." He sent me a copy of
his small volume, " Alteriora," with a chapter on the " Suther-
land Clearances," and he concluded, "As to your remedy for
the gigantic evils which our present system of land laws
entail, they recommend themselves strongly to every con-
sistent thinker."

Both he and I suffered some inconvenience from having
mentioned the name of the agent who carried out the terrible
Sutherland evictions in the first two decades of the nineteenth
century, as it is given in all the early narratives, as well as in
the report of the trial of the agent for arson and murder,
when, of course, he was acquitted. His sons were at that
time alive, and protested against the publication. Both our
publishers were frightened. Professor Blackie withdrew his
book, and published a second edition much cut down. I
placed mine in the hands of a new publisher, and I promised
that in a new edition I would omit the name of the agent, but
refused to make any alterations in the statements of facts.

Three years later (in December, 1885), when I was lectur-
ing in Edinburgh, I had the great pleasure of meeting Pro-
fessor Blackie. I was staying with the late Mr. Robert Cox,
at whose house the professor was an intimate. He called
soon after I arrived, and on hearing my name, he cordially
embraced me (in the continental fashion) as one with whom
he was in complete sympathy, and then threw himself upon

VOL. 11. s

258 MY LIFE [Chap.

the rug to talk to Mrs. Cox. Afterwards I had a long con-
versation with him on all the subjects that interested us most,
and was delighted with his geniality no less than with his
intense human sympathy, especially in the case of the cruelly
disinherited Highlanders.

Although I had for many years been a great admirer of
Charles Mackay's Songs and Poems, and that I was quite
near him while we lived at Dorking, from August, 1876, to
March, 1878, I did not make his acquaintance till some years
afterwards, as, owing to my constitutional shyness, I do not
think I ever made the first overtures to any man, or even
called upon any one without some previous correspondence
or introduction. But several years later I sent him a copy
of my " Land Nationalization " (I think probably on the
suggestion of some one who knew him), with a letter begging
his acceptance of it. This brought me three letters in rapid
succession — one acknowledging it, saying he had been very
ill for six months, but adding that he had been an adherent
of our cause for forty years, and referring me to his poem,
" Lament of Cona for the Unpeopling of the Highlands."
Five days later he wrote again, saying —

" I have read every line of your admirable volume on
* Land Nationalization ' with the greatest interest and profit.
I agree with every one of your arguments, which are all
incontrovertible, and not only lucidly, but triumphantly
placed before the reader. They must convince and make
converts of every unprejudiced person who will attentively
study them with the sole view of arriving at the truth." He
then refers to his own writings in the same direction of forty
years before, naming " The Cry of the People " — and there
are many others — concluding, " I am afraid that age and ill-
health will not allow me to labour much further in the cause ;
but what I can do, I will do. If my name is of any use to
your society, you are free to it.

" Believe me, with the highest esteem and regard,
" Yours most cordially,

"Charles Mackay."

xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 259

The next day he wrote me again, and as this contains
matter of wide public interest, and points to a legal public
right which has been, and may still be enforced, I here
give it —

" I omitted in my letter of yesterday to mention a fact,
which, if you are unaware of it, may possibly be of interest
to you. It is recalled to my mind by the remarks in your
book (pages 128, 129) on the closing of large tracts of
country, by selfish and tyrannical Highland proprietors, for
the purpose of creating solitudes for the cultivation and pre-
servation of deer. The practice is clearly illegal, in contra-
vention of an old, and unrepealed Scottish law, entitled
1 Free Foot in the Wilderness.' Many years ago, when I
was editor of the Glasgow Argus, I fought the Duke of Athol
in its columns, and appealed to the law, not without success,
in the famous Glen Tilt case. I wrote some stinging verses
about his grace on the occasion, entitled ' Baron Braemar,'
which had a considerable spurt of popularity — which the
Queen read, and of which she expressed her approval (and
agreement) to her physician, Sir James Clark, an old friend
of mine, who told me about it. The Glen was thrown open
for a time, but, I believe, has been closed up again with as
much rigour as ever."

In the following year he removed to London for good
medical attendance, and wrote me a very flattering letter
after reading my " Malay Archipelago." The next year
(1886) I was able to call on him when in London for a day,
at his apartments in Longridge Road, South Kensington,
when we had a long talk, and he afterwards wrote to me as
■ My dear friend and philosopher." On the occasion of this
visit he introduced me to his step-daughter, Miss Marie
Corelli, a very pleasant young lady, whose future eminence
as a writer I did not divine.

Charles Mackay is, apparently, hardly classed as a poet,
since in Chambers's " Biographical Dictionary " he is spoken
of as a song-writer; and a modern poet to whom I once
mentioned him was ignorant of his existence. Some know
him only by his " Emigrant " songs, which were set to music

260 MY LIFE [Chap.

by Henry Russell, and are often thought to have been
composed by him. These songs have a charm and a music
in the sentiments and the rhythm, which owe nothing to the
music. What can be more inspiring than the last lines of
u Cheer, Boys ! Cheer ! "—

u Here we had toil and little to reward it,
But there shall plenty smile upon our pain,
And ours shall be the mountain and the forest,
And boundless prairies ripe with golden grain."

Or the first verse of " To the West "—

" To the West ! to the West ! to the land of the free,
Where mighty Missouri rolls down to the sea,
Where a man is a man if he's willing to toil,
And the humblest may gather the fruits of the soil.
Where children are blessings, and he who hath most,
Hath aid for his fortune and riches to boast ;
Where the young may exult, and the aged may rest,
Away, far away, to the Land of the West ! "

Every fact, every hope in these songs were literally true
when they were written, as contemporary American literature
clearly shows, but the growth of capitalism and land
monopoly during the last thirty years has rendered them
almost a mockery.

Mackay had not the magic of words and phrases, or the
deep idealism which characterize the highest poetry, and
could not therefore rank with Tennyson, William Watson,
Lowell, or Edwin Markham ; but he was the equal of Long-
fellow or Scott, and perhaps superior to both in the infinitely
varied matter of his verse. His ballads and stories were
unsurpassed for vigour and originality of treatment — such as
his " Invasion of Scotland by the Northmen," his " Thor's
Hammer," and his " Lament of Cona for the Unpeopling of
the Highlands ; " while ■ The Man in the Dead Sea," " The
Interview," " The Building of the House," " We are Wiser
than we Know," and ■ Eternal Justice " deal with some of
those grand problems in the elucidation of which the poet
is so often the seer. At my request he wrote for us some

xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 261

verses on the land question, which, as they are not included
in any edition of his poems, I give here.

Free Land for a Free People.

" Thank God for the Sunshine, the Air, and the Sea,
For the Rain and the Dew, ever free to the free !
No landlords can parcel them out, or conspire
To sell them, or tax them, or let them on hire ;
And close up with barriers what Nature design'd,
In mercy and love for the needs of Mankind !

" There's a break in the clouds — there's a gleam in the sky,
There's a beautiful star shining brightly on high,
That heralds the dawn of the long-promised day,
When Right shall be Might, and shall flourish for aye ;
When Man in the strength of his manhood shall stand,
To enjoy, and possess, and replenish the land.

" With our faces to heaven and our feet on the sod,
We swear by the faith that we cherish in God —
By the breeze of the sky, by the light of the sun,
That the Land shall be ours, and that Right shall be done.
Hear it, ye Tyrants, that hold us in thrall !
God the great Giver gives freely to All ! "

Charles Mackay.

Yet another of our true poets, but also one who is
comparatively unappreciated, Gerald Massey, is also one
of our friends and supporters ; and he, too, has been so kind
as to embody his thoughts in the following energetic verses
for our benefit : —

The Earth for All.

■ Thus saith the Lord — You weary me

With prayers, and waste your own short years :
Eternal truth you cannot see

Who weep, and shed your sight in tears.
In vain you wait and watch the skies,

No better fortune thus will fall ;
Up from your knees I bid you rise,

And claim the Earth for all.

■ They eat up Earth, and promise you

The Heaven of an empty shell.
'Tis theirs to say : 'tis yours to do,
On pain of everlasting hell.

262 MY LIFE [Chap.

They rob and leave you helplessly,
For help of Heaven to cry and call :

Heaven did not make your misery,
When Earth was given for all !

" Behold in bonds your Mother Earth !
The rich man's prostitute and slave !
Your Mother Earth that gave you birth,

You only own her for a grave.
And will you die like slaves, and see
Your Mother left a bounden thrall ;
Or live like men to set her free
As Heritage for all?"

Gerald Massey.

Here we have the same idea expressed in different forms
by two of our sweetest singers ; and it is to be specially-
noted that they are both much more than poets ; while
Gerald Massey has mastered one of the most difficult of
modern studies — Egyptology — on which he has published
two very bulky works ; and even the specialists, who reject
some of his conclusions, admit that his presentation of the
facts shows an enormous amount of research.

Another of our supporters from an early date was Grant
Allen, a man of the very highest talents, who, had he not
been compelled by circumstances to write novels, reviews,
and magazine articles for a living, would probably have
become one of our greatest philosophical naturalists and
expounders of evolution. But, like myself, he was more than
a land nationalizer, and my first knowledge of his political
and social views was derived from an article he wrote on the
condition of India somewhere about 1880. Through my
friend, the late Sir David Wedderburn, I had become aware
of the terrible defects of our government of that country
owing to the ever-increasing influence of European planters,
manufacturers, and capitalists ; and I was also a reader of
The Statesman, a paper brought out by a gentleman who had
been for many years editor of one of the most advanced
Calcutta newspapers, and who established it for the purpose of
letting Englishman know the real facts as to the government

xxxiv] LAND NATIONALIZATION 263

of India. All the statements in this paper were founded
upon Government Reports or other official documents, referred
to in detail. I knew, therefore, that Grant Allen's views as
stated in this paper were correct, and therefore wrote to tell
him how pleased I was to find that he was not only interested
in physical science, as was so often the case with my scientific
friends. His reply is so interesting that I will here give the
more important parts of it : —

" As to your remarks about the wrong actually perpetrated
by us in India, I know only too much about that question.
For three years I was employed by W. W. Hunter, Director-
General of Statistics for India, in collecting and working up
the district accounts and other materials in his possession.
Not to put too fine a point upon it, Dr. Hunter is tlie literary
whitewaslur of tlie Indian Government. In working up the
abundant reports and other documents submitted to me, I
had plenty of opportunities for realizing what English rule
really meant In the ruin wrought by our land settlements
especially, I collected a large number of facts and statistics ;
and I offered John Morley to work them into a paper on
'The Indian Cultivator and his Wrongs;' but Morley did
not care for the subject The fact is, nobody in England
wishes to move in the matter. I sent Knowles a paper two
years ago about the same subject, dealing especially with the
Ganges Canal — a vast blunder, bolstered up by cunningly
contrived balance-sheets, in which deficits are concealed as
fresh investments ; but he would not take it I only got
this article into the Contemporary by leaving out India, and
looking at the question from a purely English point of view.
I'm afraid the fact can't be blinked that most Englishmen
don't mind oppression as long as the oppressed people are
only blacks. A startling outrage, like the Zulu War, wakes
them up for a moment ; but chronic and old-standing sores,
like India or Barbadoes, do not affect them."

Neither do "chronic and old-standing sores" at home
affect them. The slums, slow starvation, murder and suicide
from want, one-third of our population living without a
sufficiency of the bare necessaries for a healthy life — food

264 MY LIFE [Chap.

clothing, warmth, and rest ; while another third, comprising
together those who create the wealth of the nation, have not
the amount of relaxation or the certainty of a comfortable
old age which, in a country deserving to be called civilized,
every human being should enjoy. This, however, is a step
or two beyond land nationalization, before leaving which I
must refer to one application of its principles which any
Government declaring itself to be " Liberal " ought at once
to make law. I call it —

SECURITY OF THE HOME.

It is an old boast that an Englishman's house is his castle, but never
was a boast less justified by facts. In a large number of cases a working
man's house might be better described as an instrument of torture, by
means of which he can be forced to comply with his landlord's demands,
and both in politics and religion submit himself entirely to the landlord's
will. So long as the agricultural labourer, the village mechanic, and the
village shopkeeper are the yearly or weekly tenants of the great land-
owner, the squire, the parson, or the farmer, religious freedom or political
independence is impossible. And when those employed in factories or
workshops are obliged to live, as they so often are, in houses which are
the property of their employers, that employer can force his will upon
them by the double threat of loss of employment and loss of a home.
Under such conditions a man possesses neither freedom nor safety, nor
the possibility of happiness, except so far as his landlord and employer
thinks proper. A secure home is the very first essential of political
security and of social well-being.

Now, all this has been said many times before, and we may go on
saying it, and yet be no nearer to a remedy for the evil. But now that
every worker, even to the hitherto despised and down-trodden agricultural
labourer, has been given the right of some fragment of local self-govern-
ment, it is time that, so far as affects the inviolability of the home, the
landlord's power should at once be taken away from him. This is the
logical sequence of the creation of Parish Councils. For to declare that
it is for the public benefit that every inhabitant of a parish shall be free
to vote for and to be chosen as a representative of his fellow-parishioners,
and at the same time to leave him at the mercy of the individual who
owns his house to punish him in a most cruel manner for using the
privileges thus granted him, is surely the height of unreason and injustice.
It is giving a stone in place of bread ; the shadow rather than the substance
of political enfranchisement.

Now, it seems to me that there is one very simple and veiy effectual
way of rendering tenants secure, and that is by a short Act of Parliament
declaring all evictions, other than for non-payment of rent, to be illegal.

xxxiV] LAND NATIONALIZATION 265

And to prevent the landlord from driving away a tenant by raising his rent
to an exorbitant amount, all alterations of rent must be approved of as
reasonable by a committee of the Parish or District Councils, and be
determined on the application of either the tenant or the landlord. Of
course, at the first letting of a house or small holding, the landlord could
ask what rent he pleased, and if it was exorbitant he would get no tenant.
But having once let it, the tenant should be secure as long as he wished
to occupy it, and the rent should not be raised, except as allowed by
some competent tribunal. No doubt a claim will be made on behalf of
the landlords for a compulsory tenancy on the part of the occupier ; that
is, that if the tenant has security of occupation, the landlord should have
equally security of having a tenant. But the two cases are totally different.
Eviction from his home may be, and often is, ruinous loss and misery to
the tenant, who is therefore, to avoid such loss, often compelled to submit
to the landlord's will. But who ever heard of a tenant, by the threat of
giving notice to quit, compelling his landlord to vote against his conscience,
or to go to chapel instead of to church ! The tenant needs protection,
the landlord does not.1

The same results might also be gained (and perhaps more surely) by
giving the Parish and District Councils power to take over all houses
whose tenants are threatened with eviction, or with an unfair increase of
rent ; and that will come some day. But the plan of giving a legal
permanent tenure to every tenant is so simple, so obviously reasonable
and so free from all interference with the fair money-value of the land-
lord's property, that, with a little energy and persistent agitation, it might
possibly be carried in a few years. Such an Act might be more or less
in the following form : — " Whereas the security and inviolability of the
Home is an essential condition of political freedom and social well-being,
it is hereby enacted, that no tenant shall hereafter be evicted from his
house or homestead for any other cause than non-payment of rent, and
every heir or successor of such tenant shall be equally secure so long as
the rent is paid." A second clause would provide for a permanently fair
rent.

This formed part of my address to the Land Nationaliza-
tion Society at its annual meeting in 1895, and one would
have thought that some Liberal or Radical or Labour Member
would have made an effort to get so small yet so far-reaching
and beneficial a measure discussed in the House of Commons.
But no notice whatever was taken of the suggestion, and we
have had for the succeeding ten years, and have to-day, cases
of punishment by eviction for political or religious opinions.
It is true that it is but a small and isolated portion of the

1 The late Lord Tollemache voluntarily recognized this, and gave his tenant-
farmers leases for twenty-one years, determinable at their pleasure, but not at his.

266 MY LIFE [Chap.

much greater reform that we advocate, but, unlike most small
measures, it goes directly to the root of a shameful oppression,
and would do more to elevate the very poor and prepare the
way for real reform than many whole sessions of even "liberal"
legislation.

For about ten years after I first publicly advocated land
nationalization I was inclined to think that no further funda-
mental reforms were possible or necessary. Although I had,
since my earliest youth, looked to some form of socialistic
organization of society, especially in the form advocated by
Robert Owen as the ideal of the future, I was yet so much
influenced by the individualistic teachings of Mill and
Spencer, and the loudly proclaimed dogma, that without the
constant spur of individual competition men would inevitably
become idle and fall back into universal poverty, that I did
not bestow much attention upon the subject, having, in fact,
as much literary work on hand as I could manage. But at
length, in 1889, my views were changed once for all, and I
have ever since been absolutely convinced, not only that
socialism is thoroughly practicable, but that it is the only
form of society worthy of civilized beings, and that it
alone can secure for mankind continuous mental and moral
advancement, together with that true happiness which
arises from the full exercise of all their faculties for the
purpose of satisfying all their rational needs, desires, and
aspirations.

The book that thus changed my outlook on this question
was Bellamy's "Looking Backward," a work that in a few
years had gone through seventeen editions in America, but
had only just been republished in England. On a first read-
ing I was captivated by the wonderfully realistic style of the
work, the extreme ingenuity of the conception, the absorbing
interest of the story, and the logical power with which the
possibility of such a state of society as that depicted was
argued and its desirability enforced. Every sneer, every
objection, every argument I had ever read against socialism
was here met and shown to be absolutely trivial or altogether

xxxiv] SOCIALISM 267

baseless, while the inevitable results of such a social state in
giving to every human being the necessaries, the comforts, the
harmless luxuries, and the highest refinements and social
enjoyments of life were made equally clear. As the mere
story had engrossed much of my attention, I read the whole
book through again to satisfy myself that I had not over-
looked any flaw in the reasoning, and that the conclusion was
as clearly demonstrated as it at first sight appeared to be.
Even as a story I found it bore a second almost immediate
perusal, a thing I never felt inclined to give any book before
(except, I think, in the case of Herbert Spencer's "Social
Statics " ), and during the succeeding year I read it a third
time, in order to refresh my memory on certain suggestions
which seemed to me especially admirable.

From this time I declared myself a socialist, and I made
the first scientific application of my conviction in an article on
" Human Selection " in the Fortnightly Review (September,
1890), in which I showed how such a state as socialism
postulates would result in the solution of two great problems,
(1) that of gradually reducing the rate of increase of the
population through a later period of marriage, and (2) by
setting up a process of sexual selection which would steadily
eliminate the physically imperfect and the socially and
morally unfit. This article called forth several expressions
of approval, which I highly value. It forms the last chapter
of vol. i. of my " Studies, Scientific and Social."

I now read several other books on socialism, such as
Mr. Kirkup's " Enquiry into Socialism," an admirable resume',
generally favourable; William Morris's "News from Nowhere,"
a charming poetical dream, but as a picture of society almost
absurd, since nobody seems to work except at odd times
when they feel the inclination, and no indication is given of
any organization of labour. Gronlund's " Our Destiny " is a
beautiful and well-reasoned essay on the influence of socialism
on morals and religion, and his " Co-operative Common-
wealth," an exposition of constructive socialism, which has
given us in its title the shortest and most accurate definition
of what socialism really is. "A Cityless and Countryless

268 MY LIFE [Chap.

World," by Henry Olerich, an American writer, is an
excellent exposition of an extreme form of what he calls
co-operative individualism, which is really voluntary socialism ;
and I may here state for the benefit of those ignorant writers
who believe that socialism must be compulsory, and speak of
it as a " form of slavery," that my own definition of socialism
is "the voluntary organization of labour for the good of
all." All the best and most thoughtful writers on socialism
agree in this ; and for my own part I cannot conceive it
coming about in any other way. Compulsory socialism is
to me a contradiction in terms — as much so as would be com-
pulsory friendship. The only modern work I have met with
that advocates compulsion in initiating socialism is Mr. F. W.
Hayes's "Great Revolution of 1905," a very clever book,
but hopelessly out of tune with the socialist ideal by the
ruthless compulsion and punishment of the opponents of the
supposed social revolution.

Among books which deal rather with the evils of the
present system than with constructive socialism, but which
nevertheless give eloquent expression to its fundamental
ideas and aspirations, I may mention " Darkness and Dawn,
the Peaceful Birth of a New Age" — an anonymous work
which, in its terrible description of the horrors of the
factory system in all its forms and ramifications, is unsur-
passed in our language ; and Robert Blatchford's " Merrie
England," issued first at a shilling, then at fourpence, then at
a penny, and of which three quarters of a million copies were
sold in about a year.

But the most complete and thoroughly reasoned exposi-
tion, both of the philosophy and the constructive methods of
socialism, is to be found in Bellamy's later work, " Equality,"
which comparatively few, even of English socialists, are
acquainted with. The book is a sequel to " Looking Back-
ward," and contains more than twice the matter. It shows,
systematically, how our existing system of competition and
individual profit — capitalism and enormous private wealth —
directly lead to overwork, poverty, starvation, and crime ;
that it is necessarily wasteful in production and cruelly

xxxiv] SOCIALISM 269

unjust in distribution ; that it fosters every kind of adulteration
in manufacture, and almost necessitates lying in trade ;
that it involves the virtual slavery of the bulk of the
population, and checks or destroys any real progress of the
race. It also shows how, even the wealthy few, and also
the members of each successive grade of comparative well-
being, suffer from it socially, by the extreme restriction in
each locality of possible intimate associates and friends ; it
shows how we can never attain to the maximum benefits
and enjoyment of social intercourse without that absolute
equality of economic condition, educational opportunities,
and social conventions, which alone put us at ease with our
fellow-men ; while the enormous loss to all of us of the
infinite varieties of character, ability, and even genius, now
forbidden any adequate development by the cruel struggle
for existence and the shortened lives, are clearly set forth.
And as every one of the wasteful and cruel and debasing
influences of our competitive system will cease to exist under
a rational socialism, labour will be diminished to an almost
inconceivable extent, while every possible enjoyment of
nature, of art, and of congenial friendship will be indefinitely
increased. Until these two works of Bellamy have been
carefully read and thoroughly appreciated, no one can
properly realize what such a state of society means ; while
to any one who has done so, the stock objections to socialism
will be seen to be utterly trivial and absurd.

One of the most striking and convincing chapters in
" Equality " is that which describes the means by which,
after a majority were in favour of it, and a Socialist Govern-
ment had been elected, the great change was brought about,
and, without any compulsion whatever, was soon welcomed
and accepted by the adverse minority. This method is so
simple, and so little known, that it may be well to give a
brief outline of it here.

It is assumed that, before this period, there had already
been a great extension of governmental and municipal
industry, all the railways and mines, telegrams and tele-
phones being worked by the former ; all water, gas, electric

270 MY LIFE [Chap.

light and power, trams, etc., by the latter. The employees
in these, together with all persons connected with the courts,
the police, the revenue, and other Government offices, with
their families, would comprise a population of several million
persons paid by and dependent on general or local govern-
ments. The first important step taken is the opening of
Government stores to supply all these persons with food,
clothing, and other necessaries of life at cost price, and of
the best quality, absolutely free from adulteration, just as
Robert Owen did for his people at New Lanark. As the
numbers to be supplied would be exactly known, as no
advertisements would be needed beyond simple price-lists,
and as there need be no attractive shops in great thorough-
fares at high rents, these necessaries could always be supplied
at 25 per cent, and often at 50 per cent, below actual retail
prices of the time. Robert Owen at New Lanark, with the
comparatively small population of 2500 people, was able to
supply goods of similar character at about 30 per cent, below
shop prices. As this would be equivalent to an increase of
earnings by all these employees, all other socialists, whose
votes had brought the Government into power, asked for
similar benefits, which were, of course, given them. Then an
extension was made to the manufacture of the most important
articles, such as metal goods of all kinds, china and glass, all
the commoner textile fabrics, furniture, house-building, etc.,
so that in the course of a few years every necessary and
comfort of life would be obtainable by all socialists at the
Government stores, at low prices and of the very best quality.
At the same time, the health of all these employees would be
safeguarded by every available sanitary appliance and rule ;
hours of work would be shortened in proportion to the
fatigue or the monotony of the labour, and everything possible
would be done to make the worker's life a healthy and
enjoyable one. And as all these things would be done at
their own expense, since all the products of labour would be
sold at the price they cost to make and distribute, the non-
socialists could not possibly complain, as they would not be
called upon to bear any of the expense, but would have to

xxxtv] SOCIALISM 271

go on purchasing the adulterated and costly products of
private competition and capitalism as before.

Is it not a fair supposition which Bellamy makes, that at
this stage of progress all the workers, all the wage-earners
and employees of the private capitalists would beg to be taken
into Government employment so as to share in the well-being
of their socialist fellow-workmen ? The result would be
that, gradually and successively, all industry would become
organized under the local authorities in co-operation with the
various central stores and manufactories. During this pro-
cess of extension private capitalists would find it more and
more difficult to obtain skilled labour of any kind. They
would then find that their former boasted " capital " was
not the chief factor in the production of wealth ; that though
they might have money, they would not possess wealth. The
Government stores would, of course, be used by socialists only,
by means of a system of tickets or paper money, as described
by Bellamy ; capitalists and their managers would gradually
have to join the socialist ranks as organizers or superinten-
dents if they had the capacity, or if they preferred to live
idle lives they might go to other countries where the com-
petitive regime still prevailed. It may, of course, be said
that this would not succeed ; that the Government could not
compete with private capitalists, manufacturers, and shop-
keepers. But few people who really think of the matter will
believe this. The American Trusts do succeed in competition
with the whole world, because they possess some of the
advantages a Government would possess in a still greater
degree. But tJiey result in small traders beggared and
workers no longer wanted, and in the production of a hun-
dred or more of multi-millionaires. If a socialist regime
cannot, in the nature of things, succeed, why are all the great
capitalists so dreadfully afraid of allowing any approach to
a fair trial of it by municipalities or other local authorities ?

After much consideration, however, I have come to the
conclusion that this will not (probably) be the way in which
socialism will come about in England, and that it would not
be the easiest or the best way. I think it more likely that

272 MY LIFE [Chap.

we shall pass through a stage of true "individualism," in
which complete " equality of opportunity " will be established.
I have sufficiently explained this in my " Studies," vol. ii.
chap, xxviii. ; and if to this we add the broad scheme of
general education outlined by Mr. John Richardson in his
admirable little book, ".How it can be done," we shall have
prepared the way for the rational society of the future.
Equality of opportunity is, as Herbert Spencer has shown
in his " Justice," the correlative of natural selection in human
society, and has thus a broad foundation in the laws of
nature. But Spencer himself did not follow out his principles
to their logical conclusion as I have done.

Many good people to-day who are almost horror-struck
at hearing that any one they know is a socialist, would be
still more amazed if they knew how many of the very salt of
the earth belong (or did belong) to this despised and much
dreaded body of thinkers. Grant Allen, one of the most
intellectual and many-sided men of our time, was one of us ;
so is Sir Oliver Lodge, one of our foremost students of
physical science ; and Professor Karl Pearson, a great mathe-
matical evolutionist. Among the clergy we have the Revs.
John Clifford, R. C. Fillingham, and many others among the
Christian socialists, who are as much socialists as any of us.
Among men of university training or of high literary ability
we have H. M. Hyndman, Edward Carpenter, J. A. Hobson,
Sydney Webb, Hubert Bland, H. S. Salt, J. C. Kenworthy,
Morrison-Davidson, and many others. Of poets there are
Gerald Massey and Sir Lewis Morris. The labour members
of Parliament are almost all socialists ; while Margaret
Macmillan, the Countess of Warwick, and many less known
women are earnest workers for the cause.

I should almost think that Mrs. Humphry Ward was a
socialist at heart or as an ideal, or she could not have set
forth its principles and the arguments for it so well as she
has done in " Marcella." But the weak and illogical con-
clusion of that and some other books caused me to write to
Grant Allen, urging him to write a thorough socialistic story,

xxxiv] SOCIALISM 273

which I felt sure he could do better than any one I knew.
His reply was so interesting from a literary point of view
that I give it here. It is the last letter I received from him.

" Hotel Royal, Varenna, Italy, April 24.

■ I despair of giving you in writing all the reasons why
your suggestion is for me an impossible one. There are
eleven thousand ; I will content myself with two. The first
is practical. I have to write stories which editors will accept
and the public will buy. Now, no editor will take a socialistic
story — I have tried, and failed ; and the public will not buy
such stories to a sufficient extent to pay for the trouble. As
a general rule, the more in earnest I am about a subject, the
less I get for it. The second reason is artistic. A story grows
out of a plot or situation, and cannot be forced in the way
you describe, as I at least do not know how to force it.
Plots come. I could not invent a plot in order to sustain a
particular thesis. Thank you so much for the many kind
expressions in your letter. Come and see us some day on
Hind Head, when you are passing up or down, and we will
thrash this matter out more fully.

" With very kind regards,

" Cordially yours,

"Grant Allen."

I do not know to what he alludes when he says he " has
tried and failed." " The Woman who Did " was not social-
istic, and I can only suppose he refers to a short story of life
in a phalanstery, where all children in the least deformed are
killed at one year old, for the improvement of the race ; and
the feelings of the mother for her first-born are vividly
described, though, as the law was absolute and known from
childhood, it was submitted to uncomplainingly ! But
neither of these stories had any necessary connection with
socialism, and were especially repugnant to our customs
and ideals. But there is nothing whatever repugnant in
socialism itself, and I cannot believe that a story by a
well-known and talented writer would be unsaleable merely

VOL. II. T

274 MY LIFE [Chap. XXXIV]

because its field of action was a successful socialistic
community.

I may conclude this chapter with the answer I recently
gave to the question, " Why I am a Socialist ? " I am a
socialist because I believe that the highest law for mankind
is justice. I therefore take for my motto, " Fiat Justicia
Ruat Caelum ; " and my definition of socialism is, ■ The use
by every one of his faculties for the common good, and the
voluntary organization of labour for the equal benefit of all."
That is absolute social justice ; that is ideal socialism. It
is, therefore, the guiding star for all true social reform.

CHAPTER XXXV

MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM— CORRESPONDENCE WITH
SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY MEN

I HAVE already described my first introduction to mesmerism
at Leicester, how I found that I had considerable mesmeric
power myself, and could produce all the chief phenomena on
some of my patients ; while I also satisfied myself that almost
universal opposition and misrepresentations of the medical
profession were founded upon a combination of ignorance and
prejudice. I will here only add that my brother Herbert
also possessed the power, and that when we were residing
together at Manaos, he used to call up little Indian boys out
of the street, give them a copper, and by a little gazing and
a few passes send them into the trance state, and then pro-
duce all the curious phenomena of catalepsy, loss of sensation,
etc, which I have already described. This was interesting
because it showed that the effects could be produced without
any expectation on the part of the patients, and, further, that
similar phenomena followed as in Europe, although these
boys had certainly no knowledge of such phenomena. One
day, I remember, when we were going out collecting, we
entered an Indian's hut, where we had often been before,
and my brother quietly began mesmerizing a young man
nearly his own age. He did not entrance him, but obtained
enough influence to render his arm rigid. This he instantly
relaxed, and asked the Indian to lie down on the floor, which
he did. My brother then made a pass along his body, and
said, " Lie there till we return." The man tried to rise but
could not, though several of his relatives were present. We

275

276 MY LIFE [Chap.

then walked out, he crying and begging to be loosed.
Thinking he would certainly overcome the influence we went
on, and coming back about two hours later we found the
man still on the ground, declaring he could not get up. On
a pass from my brother and his saying, " Now get up," he
rose easily. We gave him a small present, but he did not
seem much surprised or disturbed, evidently thinking we
were white medicine-men. Here, again, it seemed to me
pretty certain that the induced temporary paralysis was a
reality, and by no means due to the imagination of the
usually stolid Indian.

During my eight years' travels in the East I heard occa-
sionally, through the newspapers, of the strange doings of the
spiritualists in America and England, some of which seemed
to me too wild and outre to be anything but the ravings of
madmen. Others, however, appeared to be so well authenti-
cated that I could not at all understand them, but concluded,
as most people do at first, that such things must be either
imposture or delusion. How I became first acquainted with
the phenomena and the effect they produced upon me are fully
described in the " Notes of Personal Evidence," in my book
on " Miracles and Modern Spiritualism," to which I refer my
readers. I will only state here that I was so fortunate as to
be able to see the simpler phenomena, such as rapping and
tapping sounds and slight movements of a table in a friend's
house, with no one present but his family and myself, and
that we were able to test the facts so thoroughly as to
demonstrate that they were not produced by the physical
action of any one of us. Afterwards, in my own house,
similar phenomena were obtained scores of times, and I was
able to apply tests which showed that they were not caused
by any one present. A few years later I formed one of the
committee of the Dialectical Society, and again witnessed,
under test conditions, similar phenomena in great variety,
and in these three cases, it must be remembered, no paid
mediums were present, and every means that could be sug-
gested of excluding trickery or the direct actions of any one
present were resorted to.

XXX*] MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 277

At a later period I paid frequent visits, always with some
one or more of my friends as sceptical and as earnest inquirers
after fact as myself, to one of the best public mediums for
physical phenomena I have ever met with — Mrs. Marshall
and her daughter-in-law. We here made whatever investiga-
tions we pleased, and tried all kinds of tests. We always sat
in full daylight in a well-lighted room, and obtained a variety
of phenomena of a very startling kind, as narrated in the
book referred to. During the latter part of my residence in
London (1865-70) I had numerous opportunities of seeing
phenomena with other mediums in various private houses in
London. These were sometimes with private, sometimes with
paid mediums, but always under such conditions as to render
any kind of collusion or imposture altogether out of the
question. During this time I was in frequent communication
with Sir William Crookes, Mr. Cromwell Varley, Serjeant
Cox, Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood, Mr. E. T. Bennett, Mr. S. C.
Hall, Professor and Mrs. de Morgan, Mr. W. Volckman, Rev.
C. Maurice Davies, Dr. and Mrs. Edmunds, William Howitt,
Mrs. Catherine Berry, and many other friends, who were
either interested in or were actively investigating the subject ;
and through the kindness of several of them I had many
opportunities of witnessing some of the more extraordinary
of the phenomena under the most favourable conditions. At
a much later period, when I visited America on a lecturing
tour, I made the acquaintance of some of the most eminent
spiritualists in Boston and Washington, and had many oppor-
tunities of seeing phenomena and obtaining tests of a different
kind from any that I had seen in England ; and some of these
I may refer to later on. What I propose to do now is to
give a consecutive outline of my correspondence with some
of my scientific and literary friends on this subject, which
will, I think, have some historical interest now that investiga-
tions into physical phenomena are not treated in the same
utterly contemptuous way they were in the early period of
my inquiries.

When I had obtained in my own house the phenomena

278 MY LIFE [Chap.

described in my " Notes of Personal Evidence," I felt sure
that if any of my scientific friends could witness them they
would be satisfied that they were not due to trickery, and
were worthy of a careful examination. I therefore first
invited Dr. W. B. Carpenter to attend some of our sittings,
telling him that I could not guarantee anything without a
series of, say, half a dozen visits. He came one evening, the
only other persons present being the medium — Miss Nichol —
my sister, and myself. After a short time a few raps were
heard on the table, and these were repeated, sometimes in
different tones, and sounding, at request, in any part of the
table. They were not, however, strong, and soon came to
an end. Dr. Carpenter sat quite still, and made hardly any
remark. He knew from my statements that this was a mere
nothing to what often occurred, and though I strongly urged
him to come at least two or three times more, I never could
prevail upon him to come again.

I then tried to get Professor Tyndall to take up the
subject seriously, giving him an account of the results I had
obtained, the tests I had applied, and the general conditions
that seemed favourable or unfavourable. He replied in a
letter which I now have before me, and as it shows how
difficult it then was to get any man of eminence to keep an
open mind on this subject, I think it worth reproducing.

'My dear Wallace,

" Your sincerity and desire for the pure truth are
perfectly manifest. If I know myself, I am in the same vein.
I would ask one question.

" Supposing I join you, will you undertake to make the
effects evident to my senses ? Will you allow me to reject
all testimony, no matter how solemn or respectable? Will
you allow me to touch the effects with my own hands, see
them with my own eyes, and hear them with my own ears ?
Will you, in short, permit me to act towards your phenomena
as I act, and successfully act, in other departments of
nature ?

" I really wish to see the things able to produce this

xxxvj MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 279

conviction in a mind like yours, which I have always con-
sidered to be of so superior a quality.

" I am, very faithfully,

"John Tyndall."

I replied to this extraordinary letter by telling him that
/ could ■ undertake " nothing, but that the phenomena had
occurred at various times when many different persons had
been present ; that, of course, he could examine and test them
as he pleased, but that if he really wished to witness the
phenomena in all their variety, I strongly advised him to
be a passive spectator on the first two or three visits, and
only apply tests and impose conditions at a later period. I
asked him to name a day, and he came.

At the very beginning he forgot or purposely acted
contrary to my advice. On being asked to sit at the table
with my sister, Miss Nichol, and myself, he declined, saying,
■ I never form part of my experiments. I will sit here and
look on " — drawing his chair about a yard away. So we
three sat without him, with our hands on the table ; and
rather to my surprise the rapping sounds began, and were
much stronger and more varied in character than when Dr.
Carpenter had heard them. They were, in fact, very varied
in tone — some mere ticks, others loud slaps or thumps. But
to all this he paid no attention. He joked with Miss Nichol,
who was always ready for fun, and, after the raps had gone
on some time, he remarked, " We know all about these raps.
Show us something else. I thought I should see something
remarkable." But nothing else came. Then, after a little
talk and more chaff with Miss Nichol, he said " Good night ; "
and though I begged him to appoint a day for the next
sitting, he never came again.

I next tried Mr. G. H. Lewes (whose acquaintance I had
made at Huxley's), but he was too much occupied and too
incredulous to give any time to the inquiry. During this
time I was reading almost everything I could obtain upon
the phenomena, and found that there was such a mass of
testimony by men of the highest character and ability in

280 MY LIFE [Chap.

every department of human learning, that I thought it would
be useful to bring these together in a connected sketch of
the whole subject. This I did, and sent it to a secularist
magazine, in which it appeared in 1866, and I also had a
hundred copies printed separately, which I distributed among
my friends. It was called " The Scientific Aspect of the
Supernatural," a somewhat misleading title, as in the in-
troductory chapter I argued for all the phenomena, however
extraordinary, being really " natural " and involving no altera-
tion whatever in the ordinary laws of nature. Some years
later (1874) this was included in my volume on " Miracles
and Modern Spiritualism," with an additional chapter, " Notes
of Personal Evidence."

The letters I received from those to whom I sent copies
of this little pamphlet were interesting though not instructive.
Huxley wrote : " I am neither shocked nor disposed to issue
a Commission of Lunacy against you. It may be all true,
for anything I know to the contrary, but really I cannot get
up any interest in the subject. I never cared for gossip in
my life, and disembodied gossip, such as these worthy ghosts
supply their friends with, is not more interesting to me than
any other. As for investigating the matter — I have half a
dozen investigations of infinitely greater interest to me — to
which any spare time I may have will be devoted. I give
it up for the same reason I abstain from chess — it's too
amusing'to be fair work, and too hard work to be amusing."

To the latter part of this letter no objection can be
made, but the objection as to " gossip " was quite irrelevant
as regards a book which had not one line of "gossip" in
it, but was wholly devoted to a summary of the evidence
for facts — physical and mental — of a most extraordinary
character, given on the testimony of twenty-two well-known
men, mathematicians, astronomers, chemists, physiologists,
lawyers, clergymen, and authors, many of world-wide
reputation.

Tyndall read the book "with deep disappointment,"
because it contained no record of my own experiments.
He knew Baron Reichenbach, and had visited him, and had

xxxv] MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 281

seen all his apparatus and his methods. It was lie who had
reproached Thackeray for allowing the article about " Home "
to appear in the Cornhill Magazine, and he added —

"Poor Thackeray was staggered and abashed by the
earnestness of my remonstrance regarding the lending the
authority of his name to ' Stranger than Fiction,' my great
respect for Thackeray rendering my remonstrance earnest"
Then he concludes with a gentle admonition to myself —
" I see the usual keen powers of your mind displayed
in the treatment of this question. But mental power may
show itself, whether its material be facts or fictions. It is
not lack of logic that I see in your book, but a willingness
that I deplore to accept data which are unworthy of your
attention. This is frank — is it not ?

" Yours very faithfully,

"John Tyndall."

G. H. Lewes, to whom I had sent the little book with
an invitation to investigate at my house the phenomena
which occurred with my friend Miss Nichol, replied much
in the same way as Tyndall — that he was quite ready to
examine any serious claim to spiritual power, but that he
had " thoroughly examined " the phenomena, " had forced
Mrs. Hayden to avow herself an impostor," while all other
mediums he had tested " were either impostors or dupes."
Still, he would come to me if he could have "all the
conditions of testing the phenomena freely accorded." He
" would not permit a medium to determine the conditions
or to open the usual loopholes of escape." He would also
wish to bring Mr. Herbert Spencer, or some other scientific
friend with him ; and he concluded, " I pledge you my word
that I will publicly state, with all the accuracy I can, what-
ever phenomena I may witness."

I gladly accepted his offer, only stipulating as before that
he should not impose conditions on the first occasion, and
that he should devote at least six sittings (I think) of an
hour each to the investigation before coming to any con-
clusion. But he never came at all.

282 MY LIFE [Chap.

Several of my friends about this time urged me strongly
to make a personal investigation of the subject. Among
these were my old companion, H. W. Bates, and Professor
E. B. Tylor. I was doing so at the time, but when I
published the results a few years later, and about the same
time Sir William Crookes published his much more remark-
able investigations, both alike were received with silence,
incredulity, or contempt.

Notwithstanding this refusal to accept my offer of a full
examination of phenomena which had repeatedly occurred
in my presence and had been submitted to varied tests, a year
afterwards two of these men of science wrote to the Pall Mall
Gazette (May 19, 1868), making various accusations against
mediums and spiritualists. Mr. Lewes declared that scientific
men are never allowed to investigate, but are put off by an
evasion of some kind ; and many other things equally untrue.
He then suggested that the whole thing could be tested
by allowing Professor Tyndall to have one sitting with any
medium, and to propose three questions for the spirits to
answer correctly. I thereupon wrote to the editor with a full
reply, pointing out that Mr. Cromwell Varley, the eminent
electrician, had recently published the statement that he had
been permitted to investigate fully by Mr. Home, with satis-
factory results. I then related a series of test experiments
in my own house, and asked Mr. Lewes how his statement
that others have discovered how the tables are turned (and
can turn them), how the raps are produced (and can produce
them), how the ropes are untied (and can untie them), can
apply to such phenomena as I relate, and to such tests and
conditions as I gave, or what bearing Professor Tyndall's
proposed " three questions " could have upon them.

This reply was, however, refused publication by the
editor, and I wrote to Mr. Lewes suggesting that, for the
sake of his own reputation, he should in future, if he wrote
publicly on this subject, do so only in such journals as
would admit a reply.

As an example of the strange methods of our opponents
at this time, I may refer to Mr. Lewes's statement to me

xxxv] MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 283

that "he had forced Mrs. Hayden to avow herself an
impostor." As this was important if true, because this lady
was the medium whose phenomena had convinced Professor
de Morgan, I inquired further about it, and found from
Mr. Lewes's own statement of his experiment that he had
asked a series of written questions which were answered
through the alphabet by raps in the usual way, most of the
answers being either vague or altogether wrong, and the
last question was, " Is Mrs. Hayden an impostor ? " to which
the answer was " Yes." And this ingenious trick he after-
wards termed "forcing Mrs. Hayden to avow herself an
impostor ! "

As it is always of interest to have at first-hand an
expression of the frame of mind of eminent men upon this
subject, I here give a letter from John Stuart Mill to a
gentleman who sent him a tract in which it was stated that
he, along with Ruskin, Tennyson, and Longfellow, had
become believers in spiritualism, and asking if it were true.
This gentleman, Mr. N. Kilburn, of Bishop Auckland, sent
me a copy of Mill's reply, which was as follows : —

" It is the first time I ever heard that I was a believer
in spiritualism, and I am not sorry to be able to suppose
that some of the other names I have seen mentioned as
believers in it are no more so than myself.

"For my own part I not only have never seen any
evidence that I think of the slightest weight in favour of
spiritualism, but I should also find it very difficult to believe
any of it on any evidence whatever, and I am in the habit
of expressing my opinion to that effect very freely when-
ever the subject is mentioned in my presence. You are at
liberty to make any use you please of this letter."

This was dated "March 18, 1868," but I did not know
of it till 1874, or I might have mentioned the subject when
I dined with him in 1870. If by "any evidence whatever"
Mr. Mill meant testimony of others, I myself, and most
spiritualists, were in the same frame of mind when we began
our inquiries ; but as he used the word " evidence," he no
doubt included personal evidence, and to decide beforehand

284 MY LIFE [Chap.

that he would not believe it is very unphilosophical. Still,
he only says difficulty not impossible, and here, again, I quite
agree with him.

At this same period I had letters from other men of
various degrees of eminence of a much more satisfactory
nature. On receipt of a copy of my pamphlet, Professor
de Morgan wrote me as follows : —

" I am much obliged to you for your little work, which
is well adapted to excite inquiry. But I doubt whether
inquiry by men of science would lead to any result. There
is much reason to think that the state of mind of the inquirer
has something — be it internal or external — to do with the
power of the phenomena to manifest themselves. This I
take to be one of the phenomena — to be associated with the
rest in inquiry into cause. It may be a consequence of action
of incredulous feeling on the nervous system of the recipient ;
or it may be that the volition — say the spirit, if you like —
finds difficulty in communicating with a repellent organization ;
or, maybe, is offended. Be it which it may, there is the fact.

" Now the man of science comes to the subject in utter
incredulity of the phenomena, and a wish to justify it.
I think it very possible that the phenomena may be with-
held. In some cases this has happened, as I have heard
from good sources.

" I have had students x — a couple of dozen in my life —
whose effort always was not to see it. As I, their informing
spirit, was under contract to make them see it if I could —
which the spirits we are speaking of are not — I generally
succeeded in convincing them. In their minds I have
studied — with power of experiment arranged by myself — the
character of the man of science.

* D'Alembert said, speaking of mathematics — of all things
— • En avant et la foi viendra' But I doubt if the man of
science of our day can persuade himself of a possibility
of his fifth attempt destroying the effect of the failure of the
first four.

1 De Morgan was one of the greatest mathematicians of his time, and
Professor of Mathematics at University College.

xxxv] MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 285

"Your book will set many rational persons suspecting
they ought to inquire.

■ Yours faithfully,

"A. de Morgan."

This seems to me to exhibit the scientific frame of mind,
as manifested by Tyndall, Lewes, and W. B. Carpenter, with
great perspicuity.

I had some correspondence at this time with William
Howitt, and he and Mrs. Howitt came one evening for a
stance with Miss Nichol, and were much pleased with the
curious musical and other phenomena ; and I also made
the acquaintance of Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, and visited
them to attend a stance with Home, which, although all
present were friends and spiritualists, turned out a failure,
owing to the circle being broken by Mr. Hall being called
out on urgent business.

But perhaps the most interesting response to a copy of
my pamphlet was that from Robert Chambers, which I here
give—

"St. Andrews, February io, 1867.

"Dear Sir,

" I have received your letter of the 6th inst, and
your little volume. It gratifies me much to receive a friendly
communication from the Mr. Wallace of my friend Darwin's
' Origin of Species,' and my gratification is greatly heightened
on finding that he is one of the few men of science who
admit the verity of the phenomena of spiritualism. I have
for many years known that these phenomena are real, as
distinguished from impostures ; and it is not of yesterday
that I concluded they were calculated to explain much that
has been doubtful in the past, and when fully accepted,
revolutionize the whole frame of human opinion on many
important matters.

******

"How provoking it has often appeared to me that it

286 MY LIFE Chap.

seems so impossible, with such a man, for instance, as Huxley,
to obtain a moment's patience for this subject — so infinitely
transcending all those of physical science in the potential
results !

" My idea is that the term ' supernatural ' is a gross
mistake. We have only to enlarge our conceptions of the
natural, and all will be right.

" I am, dear sir,

" Yours very sincerely,

"Robert Chambers."

In the latter part of the year, while attending the meeting
of the British Association at Dundee, I visited St. Andrews,
and after a geological excursion under the guidance of Sir
A. Geikie, and a collation with the university authorities, at
which Robert Chambers was present, I had the great pleasure
of an hour's conversation with him in his own house. The
Spiritual Magazine, founded by William Howitt and some
friends, was at that time admirably edited by Mr. Thomas
Shorter, and my host told me that he always read it through
from cover to cover, and that few of the magazines of the
day contained so much valuable information and so much
good writing as this depised periodical, in which I fully agreed
with him.

Two years later (in 1869) I received a letter from him
to introduce me to Miss Douglas, a lady much interested
in spiritualism, who lived in South Audley Street. Here I
attended many stances — on one occasion when Home was
the medium and Mr. (now Sir William) Crookes was present.
As I was the only one of the company who had not witnessed
any of the remarkable phenomena that occurred in his pre-
sence, I was invited to go under the table while an accordion
was playing, held in Home's hand, his other hand being on
the table. The room was well lighted, and I distinctly saw
Home's hand holding the instrument, which moved up and
down and played a tune without any visible cause. On
stating this, he said, " Now I will take away my hand " —
which he did ; but the instrument went on playing, and I

xxxv] MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 287

saw a detached hand holding it while Home's two hands
were seen above the table by all present. This was one
of the ordinary phenomena, and thousands of persons have
witnessed it ; and when we consider that Home's stances
almost always took place in private houses at which he was
a guest, and with people absolutely above suspicion of collusion
with an impostor, and also either in the daytime or in a fully
illuminated room, it will be admitted that no form of legerde-
main will explain what occurred.

In view of the extraordinary misstatements that were
continually made by scientific men, who had influence with
the public (and are still made both on this and on other
subjects), it will be well to give a short account of one of
these, which caused much discussion at the time.

Mr. Home first came to England (since his childhood)
early in 1855, and lived for some months with Mr. Cox, of
Cox's Hotel in Jermyn Street Here, among numerous other
eminent men, he gave a sitting to Lord Brougham accom-
panied by Sir David Brewster, " in order to assist in finding
out the trick," as Sir David himself stated. About six
months afterwards a not quite correct account of this stance
was given in the Morning Advertiser, copied from an American
paper, whereupon Sir David wrote to the editor to give his
own account, in which he said, " It is quite true that I saw
at Cox's Hotel, in company with Lord Brougham, and at
Ealing, in company with Mrs. Trollope, several mechanical
effects which I was unable to explain. But although I could
not account for all these effects, I never thought of ascribing
them to spirits stalking beneath the drapery of the table ;
and / saw enough to satisfy myself tJiat tJiey could all be
produced by human Jiands and feet, and to prove to others
that some of them, at least, had such an origin.

" Were Mr. Home to assume the character of the Wizard
of the West, I should enjoy his exhibition as much as that of
other conjurors ; but when he pretends to possess the power
of introducing among the feet of his audience the spirits of
the dead, of bringing them into physical communication with
their dearest relatives, and of revealing the secrets of the

288 MY LIFE [Chap.

grave, he insults religion and common sense, and tampers
with the most sacred feelings of his victims.

" I am, sir,

"Yours, etc.,

"D. Brewster."

Here Sir David appeals to religious prejudice, as he had
just done in his very weak book in reply to Whewell's
" Plurality of Worlds." But his account of the stance and
the imputations it cast on both Home and his host, Mr. Cox,
were at once answered by that gentleman, who declared that,
immediately after the seance, both Lord Brougham and Sir
David had expressed their great astonishment, and that the
latter had exclaimed, " Sir, this upsets the philosophy of fifty
years." A friend of Mr. Cox and of Home — Mr. Coleman —
also wrote, reminding Sir David that very shortly afterwards
he and Mr. Cox had called upon him to talk over the subject,
and that Sir David declared that what he had seen was " quite
unaccountable." Mr. Coleman continues thus : —

" I then asked him, ' Do you, Sir David, think these
things were produced by trick ? '

" ■ No, certainly not,' was his reply.

* ' Is it a delusion, think you ? '

" ' No ; that is out of the question.'

" " Then what is it ? '

" To which he replied, ' I don't know ; but spirit is the
last thing I give in to.' "

To this Sir David replied by a very long letter, denying
some things and explaining others. The most important
passages are the following : —

" Mr. Home invited us to examine if there was any
machinery about his person, an examination, however, which we
declined to make. When all our hands were upon the table
noises were heard — rappings in abundance ; and, finally,
when we rose up, the table actually rose, as appeared to
me, from the ground. This result I do not pretend to
explain. . . .

" A small hand-bell, to be rung by the spirits, was placed

xxxv] MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 289

on the ground near my feet. I placed my feet round it in
the form of an angle, to catch any intrusive apparatus. The
bell did not ring; but when taken across to a place near
Mr. Home's feet, it speedily came across, and placed its
handle in my hand. This was amusing."

There is also a long account of the phenomena he saw
at Ealing in a still more jocular vein, which called forth a
very scathing letter from Mr. T. Adolphus Trollope, who had
been present. These letters and some others can all be
read in full in an appendix to Home's " Incidents in my
Life," and as this appendix was drawn up by Dr. Robert
Chambers (as I know from private information), the reader
may feel satisfied that these letters are given as they were
written.

But the chief reason why I have introduced the matter
here is, that we possess, fortunately, another account of Sir
David Brewster's seance at Cox's Hotel, written by himself
very shortly afterwards, while the facts were fresh in his
memory, in a letter to some member of his own family, and
published in the " Home Life of Sir David Brewster " by his
daughter, in 1869. At my request my friend Mr. Benjamin
Coleman sent me a copy of this contemporary account, dated
London, June, 1855. It is as follows : —

" Last of all, I went with Lord Brougham to a seance of
the new spirit-rapper, Mr. Home, a lad of twenty, the son of a
brother of the late Earl of Home. He went to America at the
age of seven, and, though a naturalized American, is actually
a Scotchman. Mr. Home lives in Cox's Hotel, in Jermyn
Street, and Mr. Cox, who knows Lord Brougham, wished
him to have a stance, and his lordship invited me to accom-
pany him, in order to assist in finding out the trick. We
four sat down at a moderately sized table, tJie structure of
which we were invited to examine. In a short time the table
shuddered, and a tremulous motion ran up all our arms ; at our
bidding t/iese motions ceased and returned.

"The most unaccountable rappings were produced in various
parts of the table, and the table actually rose from tJie ground
when no hand was upon it A larger table was produced,

VOL. II. U

290 MY LIFE [Chap.

and exhibited similar movements. An accordion was held
in Lord Brougham's hand and gave out a single note, but the
experiment was a failure; it would not play either in his
hand or mine.

"A small hand-bell was then laid down with its mouth
on the carpet, and after lying for some time it actually rang
when nothing could have touched it. The bell was then placed
on the other side, still upon the carpet, and it came over to me
and placed itself in my hand. It did the same to Lord Brougham.

" These were the principal experiments ; we could give no
explanation of them, and could not conjecture how they could be
produced by any kind of mechanism. Hands are sometimes
seen and felt, the hand often grasps another, and melts away
as it were under the grasp.

u The object of asking Lord Brougham and me seems to
have been to get our favourable opinion of the exhibition,
but though neither of us can explain what we saw, we do not
believe that it was the work of idle spirits."

I have italicized certain passages in this early letter to
compare with the corresponding parts of the letters Sir
David wrote to the Morning Advertiser about half a year
later, and it will be seen that the discrepancies are very
serious. He told the public that he had satisfied himself
that all could have been done by human hands and feet ;
whereas in his earlier private letter he terms them unaccount-
able, and says that he could not conjecture how they were done.
Neither did he tell the public of the tremulous motion up his
arms, while he denied that the bell rang at all, though he had
before said that it actually rang where nothing could have
touched it.

If this case stood alone it would not, perhaps, be worth
mentioning, but a similar tendency has prevailed in all the
scientific opponents of spiritualism, one example of which I
have given in the case of Mr. Lewes's declaration that he had
forced Mrs. Hayden to avow herself an impostor, whereas
what happened really proved that Mrs. Hayden herself did
not consciously give the answers to his questions.

One of the eminent men with whom I became acquainted

xxxv] MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 291

through spiritualism was Mr. Cromwell F. Varley, the
electrician. Any one who will read his evidence, printed in
the Report of the Dialectical Society (1871), will see that he
was at first as sceptical as any other scientific man usually is,
and ought to be, but, having married a lady who was a
medium, phenomena of such a marvellous nature were pre-
sented to him in his own home, that he could not help
becoming an ardent believer. But he was always a critic
and an experimenter, and he assisted Sir William Crookes
in applying some of the electrical tests to Mrs. Fay, as
described by that gentleman in The Spiritualist newspaper
of March 12, 1875.

I became acquainted with him in 1868 through a letter
from Professor Tyndall referring, I think, to the single test at
one stance as proposed by G. H. Lewes in the Pall Mall
Gazette shortly afterwards, and suggesting that Mr. Varley,
who had published some of his investigations, might be able
to supply such a test. To this letter I replied as follows : —

■ May 8, 1868.

"Dear Mr. Tyndall,

" I do not know Mr. Varley, but I will forward him
your note, and he can reply if he thinks proper. I rather
doubt if any single case would be conclusive to you. Hume's
argument is overwhelming against any single case, considered
alone, however well authenticated. He himself admits that
no facts could possibly be better authenticated than the
(so-called) miracles which occurred at the tomb of the
Abbe Paris. But when you look at a series of such cases,
amounting to thousands in our own day, and a corresponding
series extending back through all history, Hume's argument
entirely fails, because his major proposition — that such facts
are contrary to the universal experience of mankind — ceases to
be true.

"During the last two years I have witnessed a great
variety of phenomena, under such varied conditions that
each objection as it arose was answered by other phenomena.
The further I inquire, and the more I see, the more impossible

292 MY LIFE [Chap.

becomes the theory of imposture or delusion. I know that
the facts are real natural phenomena, just as certainly as I
know any other curious facts in nature.

" Allow me to narrate one of the scores of equally remark-
able things I have witnessed, and this one, though it certainly
happened in the dark, is thereby only rendered more difficult
to explain as a trick.

" The place was the drawing-room of a friend of mine, a
brother of one of our best artists. The witnesses were his
own and his brother's family, one or two of their friends,
myself, and Mr. John Smith, banker, of Malton, Yorkshire,
introduced by me. The medium was Miss Nichol. We sat
round a pillar-table in the middle of the room, exactly under
a glass chandelier. Miss Nichol sat opposite me, and my
friend, Mr. Smith, sat next her. We all held our neighbour's
hands, and Miss Nichol's hands were both held by Mr. Smith,
a stranger to all but myself, and who had never met Miss N.
before. When comfortably arranged in this manner the
lights were put out, one of the party holding a box of
matches ready to strike a light when asked.

"After a few minutes' conversation, during a period of
silence, I heard the following sounds in rapid succession :
a slight rustle, as of a lady's dress ; a little tap, such as
might be made by setting down a wineglass on the table ;
and a very slight jingling of the drops of the glass chandelier.
An instant after Mr. Smith said, • Miss Nichol is gone.' The
match-holder struck a light, and on the table (which had
no cloth) was Miss Nichol seated in Iter chair, her head just
touching the chandelier.

" I had witnessed a similar phenomenon before, and was
able to observe coolly ; and the facts were noted down soon
afterwards. Mr. Smith assured me that Miss Nichol simply
glided out of his hands. No one else moved or quitted hold
of their neighbour's hands. There was not more noise than
I have described, and no motion or even tremor of the table,
although our hands were upon it.

" You know Miss N.'s size and probable weight, and can
judge of the force and exertion required to lift her and her

xxxvj MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 293

chair on to the exact centre of a large pillar-table, as well
as the great surplus of force required to do it almost
instantaneously and noiselessly, in the dark, and without
pressure on the side of the table which would have tilted it
up. Will any of the known laws of nature account for this ?

" Yours very faithfully,

"Alfred R. Wallace."

Of course I did not expect Professor Tyndall to accept
such a fact on my testimony ; on the contrary, I described
it for the very purpose of arguing that, if he himself had
been present, he would probably not have been satisfied that
it was not a trick, unless he could have it repeated under
varied conditions. Yet he was so illogical as to think that a
test phenomenon occurring once only under his or Mr. G. H.
Lewes's conditions would settle the whole question — that is,
would satisfy the scientific world and the general public that
the spiritualistic phenomena were genuine, and that what
used to be called " miracles " did happen in our midst
to-day. Sir William Crookes's experience, a few years later,
proves how totally wrong Tyndall was in this opinion, since
his careful experiments, continued for several years, are to
this day ignored or rejected by the bulk of scientific and
public opinion as if they had never been made !

In order to show Mr. Varley's liberal spirit towards
opponents, and also for suggestions of great value, I give
here some extracts from a letter I received from him in
January, 1869 —

" We spiritualists should remember that the way in which
science has reached its present brilliant position has been
through our philosophers doubting, disbelieving, and testing
everything until further disbelief was impossible.

"We privileged ones owe it to the world to present
spiritualism to them in a manner so clearly defined and
demonstrated, that those who follow us shall be able to
make themselves as much masters of the subject as we
are.

"What is wanted is to bring together a large number

294 MY LIFE [Chap.

of harmonious mediums, to form of these several circles of
different characters, and to secure the assistance of several
clairvoyants.

" Each circle should be under the management of a
clever man and each should carry on a continuous and
exhaustive examination of the groundwork of the subject.
Once establish a clue to the relations existing between the
physical forces known to us and those forces by which the
spirits are sometimes able to call into play the power by
which they produce physical phenomena — once establish this
clue there will be no lack of investigators, and the whole
subject will assume a rational and intelligible shape to the
outside world."

This was written thirty-five years ago, but, though the
Society for Psychical Research has done a good deal, the
first step has not been taken in the direction here indicated.
Now, however, that a research fund is being formed there are
better prospects. Much will depend, however, on choosing
investigators who will be content for some time to observe
the phenomena as they occur under those conditions which
have been found most successful by other inquirers. Above
all things, it is essential to make friends of the mediums
employed, to treat them with the greatest consideration, and
strictly to follow the advice of the intelligence that works
through them. It was in this way that Sir William Crookes
and other successful observers have obtained such striking
results, under the most stringent conditions and subject to
the most varied tests ; whereas those who begin by treating
the mediums as if they were on their trial, and insist upon
applying their own conditions at the very outset, usually
obtain nothing but the conviction that all spiritualists are
fools and all mediums impostors.

In 1872 I reviewed Robert Dale Owen's work, "The
Debatable Land between this World and the Next," a sequel
to his " Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World," the
two forming the best-reasoned and the most logically arranged
body of evidence for psychical phenomena in existence. Every

xxxv] MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 295

example is quoted from the original authority wherever
possible, confirmatory testimony has been collected with the
greatest care, and the bearing of each upon the general
argument is discussed or clearly pointed out. This review
brought me a very interesting letter from the author, and
later on a communication from Dr. Eugene Crowell, M.D.
of New York, with a copy of his exceedingly valuable work,
" Primitive Christianity and Modern Spiritualism " (2 vols.),
in which almost every miraculous occurrence narrated in the
Old or New Testaments is paralleled by well-authenticated
phenomena from the records of modern spiritualism, many of
them having been witnessed and carefully examined by Dr.
Crowell himself.

During the years 1870-80 I had many opportunities of
witnessing interesting phenomena in the houses of various
friends, some of which I have not made public Early in
1874 I was invited by John Morley, then editor of the
Fortnightly Review, to write an article on ■ Spiritualism " for
that periodical. Much public interest had been excited by
the publication of the Report of the Committee of the
Dialectical Society, and especially by Mr. Crookes's experi-
ments with Mr. Home, and the refusal of the Royal Society
to see these experiments repeated. I therefore accepted the
task, and my article appeared in May and June under the
title " A Defence of Modern Spiritualism." At the end of
the same year I included this article, together with my former
small book, " The Scientific Aspects of the Supernatural,"
and a paper I had read before the Dialectical Society in
1 87 1 answering the arguments of Hume, Lecky, and other
writers against miracles, in a volume which has had a very
considerable sale, and has led many persons to investigate
the subject and to become convinced of the reality of the
phenomena. In the preface I showed the inaccuracy of
Anton Dohrn's supposition that religious prejudices had led
me to believe in spiritualism. A third edition of the book,
in 1895, contained two new chapters on the nature and
purport of apparitions, and also, in a new preface, a brief
outline of the remarkable progress of the subject ; so that at

296 MY LIFE [Chap.

the present day a large number of its phenomena, at first
denied, and afterwards sneered at or ignored, have now
become recognized and included among the undoubted facts
of physiological or psychical science.

Among the friends with whom I investigated the subject
was Mr. Marshman, at that time Agent-General for New
Zealand, and Miss Buckley. Both were friends of Samuel
Butler, the author of those remarkable works, " Erewhon "
and "Life and Habit." Mr. Marshman invited him to a
stance at his house, with myself and several other friends ;
but he thought it all trickery. I sent him a copy of my book,
and he wrote me three letters in a week, chiefly to explain
that the whole subject bored him. In his first letter he says
that Mr. Marshman and Miss Buckley are two of the clearest-
headed people he knows, and therefore he cannot help be-
lieving there must be something in it. " But," he says, " what
I saw at the Marshmans' was impudent humbug." In the
second he gives a curious revelation of the state of his mind
in a personal anecdote. He writes : " Granted that wonder-
ful spirit-forms have been seen and touched and then disap-
peared, and that there has been no delusion, no trickery.
Well ; / don't care. I get along quite nicely as I am. I
don't want them to meddle with me. I had a very dear
friend once, whom I believed to be dying, and so did she.
We discussed the question whether she could communicate
with me after death. ' Promise,' I said, and very solemnly,
' that if you find there are means of visiting me here on earth
— that if you can send a message to me— you will never avail
yourself of the means, nor let me hear from you when you
are once departed' Unfortunately she recovered, and never
forgave me. If she had died, she would have come back if
she could ; of that I am certai i by her subsequent behaviour
to me. I believe my instinct was perfectly right ; and I will
go farther : if ever a spirit-form takes to coming near me, I
shall not be content with trying to grasp it, but, in the
interest of science, / will shoot it."

The third is a very nice letter, and is a kind of apology
for what he thought I might consider rather unreasonable in

xxxv] MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 297

the others, and I will therefore give it, in order that my
readers may not, through me, get a wrong idea of this
remarkably gifted though eccentric writer.

■ 15, Clifford's Inn, E.C, May 27, 1859.

"Dear Sir,

■ Pray forgive me. I am sure I must have said
rather more than I ought. A friend was with me when your
letter came ; I read it to him, and he said, ' If you grant Mr.
Wallace's facts — and you do not deny them — he is perfectly
right, and your answer does not meet him at all. He tells
you that you are engaged on certain investigations in which
your opinions must be entirely altered if you accept his facts.
You admit this yourself — you do not deny his facts — and say
that you do not care, — that is childish.'

" I admitted the truth of what he said ; and I feel
therefore that an apology is due to you, which pray under-
stand me as making without reserve. I have read the greater
part of the book you so kindly gave me, and shall read
every word of it. I admire the force and clearness with
which it is written, every word of it impressing me that it is
written by one who understands his own meaning, and wishes
others to understand it; but I cannot pretend that it has
kindled in me that inward motion to see and hear more,
without which you and I both know no good can come of
any investigation.

"If there is that spiritual world independent of matter,
which you believe in, a day may come when something will
happen to me which will kindle in a moment the right
spirit of inquiry ; no one will follow it up more promptly
or persistently when it is aroused. If that time never comes,
it must be taken as a sign that I am not one of those from
whom that cause would gain.

" Hoping you will forgive me for any rudeness that I fear
I have been guilty of,

"Believe me,

" Yours very truly,

"S. Butler."

298 MY LIFE [Chap.

That seems to me a very pleasant letter, expressing his
position very clearly. Of course, he had no rudeness to
apologize for, as I told him, and though I do not think we
met very often afterwards, we continued very good friends.

While residing at Godalming, I made the acquaintance
of William Allingham and his wife — the poet and the artist —
who then lived at Witley — I think it was about the years
1886 or 1887. Mr. Allingham told me that Tennyson
wished to see me, and would be glad if I would come some
day and lunch with him. A day was fixed, and I accom-
panied Mr. Allingham to the beautifully situated house on
Blackdown, near Haslemere, where the poet lived during the
summer. Lord Tennyson did not appear till luncheon was
on the table, but in the mean time we had seen Lady Tenny-
son and her son and daughter-in-law, and been shown round
the grounds. After luncheon we four men retired to the
study, with its three great windows looking south-east over
the grand expanse of the finely wooded Weald of Kent.
Here Tennyson lit his pipe, and we sat round the fire and
soon got on the subject of spiritualism, which was evidently
what he had wished to talk to me about. I told him some
of my experiences, and replied to some of his difficulties — the
usual difficulties of those who, though inclined to believe,
have seen nothing, and find the phenomena as described so
different from what they think they ought to be. He was
evidently greatly impressed by the evidence, and wished to
see something. I gave him the names of one or two
mediums whom I believed to be quite trustworthy, but
whether he ever had any sittings with them I did not hear.

Then we talked a little about the tropics and of the
scenery of the Eastern islands; and, taking down a volume
he read, in his fine, deep, chanting voice, his description of
Enoch Arden's island —

" The mountain wooded to the peak, the lawns
And winding glades high up like ways to heaven,
The slender coco's drooping crown of plumes,
The lightning flash of insect or of bird,

xxxvj MESMERISM TO SPIRITUALISM 299

The lustre of the long convolvuluses

That coiled around the stately stems, and ran

E^n to the limit of the land, the glows

And glories of the broad belt of the world, —

All these he saw; but what he fain had seen

He could not see, the kindly human face,

Nor ever hear a kindly voice, but heard

The myriad shriek of wheeling ocean fowl,

The league-long roller thundering on the beach,

The moving whisper of huge trees that branch'd

And blossom'd to the zenith, or the sweep

Of some precipitous rivulet to the wave,

As down the shore he ranged, or all day long

Sat often in the seaward-gazing gorge,

A shipwreck'd sailor waiting for a sail :

No sail from day to day, but every day

The sunrise broken into scarlet shafts

Among the palms and ferns and precipices ;

The blaze upon the waters to the east ;

The blaze upon his island overhead ;

The blaze upon the waters to the west ;

Then the great stars that globed themselves in heaven,

The hollower-bellowing ocean, and again

The scarlet shafts of sunrise — but no sail."

Then he closed the book and asked me if that description
was in any way untrue to nature. I told him that so far as
I knew from the islands I had seen on the western borders
of the Pacific, it gave a strikingly true general description of
the vegetation and the aspects of nature among those islands,
at which he seemed pleased. Of course, it avoids much
detail, but the amount of detail it gives is correct, and it is
just about as much as a rather superior sailor would observe
and remember.

We then bade him good-bye, went downstairs and had
tea with the ladies, and walked back to Haslemere station.
I was much pleased to have met and had friendly converse
with the most thoughtful, refined, broad-minded, and
harmonious of our poets of the nineteenth century.

CHAPTER XXXVI

TWO BIOLOGICAL INQUIRERS: AN EPISODE IN THE
HISTORY OF SPIRITUALISM

AMONG my scientific friends there are two with whom I had
some relations in regard to spiritualism of a specially interest-
ing character — St. George Mivart and George J. Romanes —
and to each of these I must devote a few pages.

It was, I think, through my conversation and my first
small book that Mivart became satisfied that the phenomena
were at least partly genuine, and although a Roman Catholic,
he was not afraid to pursue the inquiry. On going to Naples
in the winter of 1870, he wrote me for an introduction to my
friends, Mr. and Mrs. Guppy, who were then staying there.
On the eve of his departure, he wrote telling me what had
happened —

" Nothing could have exceeded the kindness which your
good friends, Mr. and Mrs. Guppy, have shown to me, and I
have felt quite ashamed of the quantity of their time I have
taken up. Besides morning calls and a walk, they have
given me three stances (all to myself) and have most kindly
promised to give me a fourth and last this evening, as to-
morrow morning I start on my road northwards.

" At the first seance there was nothing but raps — questions
were replied to ; two of which much surprised me, as they
were only asked mentally. A remedy was indicated for an
affection of the teeth, which I have tried and believe will
prove efficacious.

* At the second seance (the first dark one I ever attended)
flowers were produced. The door was locked, the room

300

[Chap, xxxvij INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 301

searched, and all requisite precautions taken. I was not
surprised, because of all I had heard from you and others ;
but the phenomenon was to me convincing. One such fact
is as good as a hundred.

"At the third seance (last night) I preferred to ask
questions to having a repetition of the flowers. The value
of the answers received time may show. I have received a
wrong answer (as to a person being tall), also as to there
being a letter awaiting me at my hotel. Altogether the
conclusions I have arrived at are as follows : —

"I. I have encountered a power capable of removing
sensible objects in a way altogether new to me.

■ II. I have encountered an intelligence other than that
of the visible assistants.

" III. In my seances this intelligence has shown itself
capable of reading my thought, but yet either liable to fall
into error or else not strictly truthful.

"IV. It has been sometimes capricious, saying it will
not do what it has afterwards done, and that it will do what,
nevertheless, it has failed to perform.

******

"I am precluded from saying how much I like your
friends, because I think this letter is to be read by them ;
but I am not precluded from thanking you, my dear Wallace,
for the introduction, which I do very heartily, remaining
always,

" Yours very truly,

"St. George Mivart."

I was somewhat surprised at Mivart's appreciation of the
Guppys, because of the great contrast between them : he
extremely refined in speech and manners, and somewhat
fastidious in his acquaintances ; they both rather brusque and
utterly unconventional ; yet he evidently recognized in them
a straightforwardness of character, kindness of heart, love of
truth, and earnestness of purpose, which are vastly more
important than any amount of superficial polish. I may here
note that he would probably have had more satisfactory

302 MY LIFE [CHAr.

results if he had allowed the powers at work to take their
own course, instead of attempting to limit the phenomena to
answering questions — a form of mediumship which, so far as I
remember, was never very prominent or successful with Mrs.
Guppy. This is the great fault of all beginners. Instead of
being content for a time to observe only what happens, they
almost always want certain phenomena which alone will
satisfy them ; acting on the tacit assumption that all mediums
and all preterhuman intelligences are able to produce at will
all the various classes of phenomena. Those who follow the
more scientific method of beginning with observation only —
which, strange to say, the scientific men are hardly ever
willing to do — almost always find that their early doubts and
suspicions are, one by one, shown to be unfounded, through
the occurrence of phenomena which seem specially adapted
to answer them.

A few years later my friend visited Lourdes, in order to
inquire on the spot as to the marvellous cures said to be
effected there, and, if possible, to see some of them himself.
While there he wrote me a very interesting letter, giving
some account of his inquiries, which, being a Catholic, a well-
known writer, and a good French scholar, he had facilities for
pursuing which the ordinary English tourist or reporter does
not possess. I give here the more important parts of this
letter, dated April 5, 1874.

After referring to my Fortnightly Review article which I
had told him I was writing, he continues, " We are here in a
charming country and quiet, pleasant old town, at this season
almost empty of visitors. We are here also, as you are, no
doubt, fully aware, at the headquarters of a whole series of
alleged modern miracles performed, as asserted, through the
water which suddenly began to flow while Bernadette Sou-
birons was in an ecstatic state in the presence, as she affirms,
of an apparition of the B.V.M. [Blessed Virgin Mary].

" I have made such inquiries as I have been able, and
find that here, on the spot, the miracles are fully believed in.
The clergy were for a long time opposed to the whole thing,
and the bishop had to be morally forced to institute an

xxxvi] TWO INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 303

inquiry, he was so little disposed to accept such phenomena
as facts. He ended, however, by being fully convinced, as
also the cure (a fine, soldier-like man of about sixty-five, some-
what brusque in his manners), who is quite certain as to the
marvellous nature of many cures. I have had a long talk
with the doctor here (Dr. Dozens) and with two others at
Toulouse (Dr; Rogues, No. 8, Rue d'Aussargues, and Dr.
Nogues, Rue St. Anne). I will just mention one or two cases,
as to the facts of which I have had face-to-face testimony
from one or other of these doctors.

"A woman named Blaisette Soupevue of this place, about
fifty, had had an affection (blepharite) of the eyes for several
years. Both eyelids were partially everted, lashless, and the
lower lids had numerous fleshy excrescences. Dr. Dozens
attended this case himself, as also a Dr. Vergez. It was
pronounced chronic, and all idea of cure abandoned. She
washed her eyes with the water on two successive days ;
on the second her sight was completely restored, her eye-
lids righted themselves, and the excrescences vanished. Dr.
Dozens assures me he examined this carefully himself. From
that day her eyelashes began to grow, and she has never
been so afflicted since.

"Justin Bontisharts, also of this place, had a rickety child
ten years old, which had much atrophied limbs, and had never
been able to walk. It got worse, and was thought to be near
its death. Dr. Dozens tells me he attended it, and was
present when the mother placed it under the stream of the
Lourdes water. It was motionless while so held, and the
bystanders therefore fancied it was dead already. The
mother took it home, placed it in its bed, and noticed that
it seemed to be in a tranquil sleep. Next day it woke with
a quite different expression of face, craved for food, ate freely,
and wanted to get up, but its parents were afraid to let it.
The following morning, while they were out to work, it got
up, and when they returned was walking about the room,
walking quite well, and has done so ever since.

"Louis Bourriettes, a stone quarry man, had his face severely
wounded, and his eyes injured by an explosion. One eye

304 MY LIFE [Chap.

got pretty well ; the other remained so imperfect that with it
alone he could not distinguish a man from any other similar-
sized object at a few paces distance, and he was incapable of
doing his former work as a stone mason. This continued for
twenty years. At the time of his cure he was under Dr.
Dozens' care, as his eyes were then getting worse. He
washed, and was completely cured in the course of one day
Dr. Dozens met him in the street and would not believe he
was cured, and tested him by writing with a pencil on a piece
of paper that he had an incurable amaurosis of the right eye,
and when he read these words to the doctor, the latter was
dumfoundered, for Dr. Dozens was a materialist, and dis-
believed in all things preternatural at that time. This case
is also vouched for by Dr. Vergez, of Bareges.

"M. Lacassogne, now of 6, Rue du Chai des Varine,
Bordeaux, formerly of Toulouse, had a son who had for three
years been unable to swallow a morsel of solid food. Both
the doctors of Toulouse told me of this case, but Dr. Nogues
was his principal medical attendant. Dr. Nogues is still an
unbeliever, but he told me he felt bound in justice to declare
that his patient was a good obedient child of a sanguine tem-
perament, and not at all nervous or hysterical. When wasting
to the extreme from imperfect nutrition, he was instantaneously
cured in the fountain, and has eaten freely solid food ever since.
His father was a Voltairean, and was converted by this fact
in his family.

" Finally, Dr. Rogues, of Toulouse, told me that his own
daughter had recently had a most remarkable cure, and this
was also told me by Dr. Dozens, of Lourdes. Dr. Rogues
is short-sighted, his sons are short-sighted, and his father is
short-sighted. No wonder, then, that his daughter was also
short-sighted. It was a case of heredity — congenital short-
sightedness. The mother was exceedingly desirous as her
daughter grew up that she might be able to see like ordinary
people, and took her to Lourdes, when, in an instant, she
became ordinarily long-sighted. On her return her father
would not believe till he had tested her himself by making
her read to him at distances which would have been quite

xxxvi] TWO INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 305

impossible at any previous period of her life. The next
morning he told me that being very anxious on the subject,
he called her as soon as possible to his window, and pointing
out a distant inscription told her to read it to him. She said,
' I can't, papa ; it's Latin.' He told her then to read him the
letters, which, to his delight, she did. This change had
continued permanent up to my visit to him last Tuesday."

To appreciate fully the weight of this evidence, received
at first hand from the best of witnesses — the medical men
who had attended the patients cured, and who were all more
or less strongly prejudiced against the whole thing — the
reader should make himself acquainted with some portion of
the mass of equally good evidence to be found in various
French works, or in the Rev. R. F. Clarke's " Lourdes and
its Miracles " (1887). The detailed history of the origin of
the spring at Lourdes, and of all the succeeding events, by
M. Henri Lasserre, is both interesting and instructive to the
spiritualist. His book, " Notre Dame de Lourdes," had gone
through one hundred and twenty -six editions in 1892, and
had been translated into eleven European languages. It is
written from the point of view of an enthusiastic Roman
Catholic, and exhibits Bernadotte Soubirons as a modern
representative in character and in psychical faculties of Joan
of Arc The second volume, published fourteen years later,
under the title " Les Episodes Miraculeux de Lourdes," con-
tains a detailed record with confirmatory documents of five
cases of remarkable cures at Lourdes.

In 1 862, M. Lasserre himself was cured of an affection of
the eyes which rendered him unable to read or write, and
which the best specialists in Paris declared to be incurable.
Any attempt to read even the largest print, and however
shaded from bright light, produced intense pain. He was
persuaded to send for some Lourdes water, and received a
small bottle. He washed his eyes for a few minutes, drank
the remainder, and was instantaneously cured. He declares
that he at once read a hundred pages of a book of which, an
hour before, he could not have read three lines. This won-
derful cure caused him to become the historian of Lourdes,

VOL. II. X

306 MY LIFE [Chap,

and he devoted several years to collecting materials direct
from every person on the spot who could give him informa-
tion, as well as from all contemporary records and official
documents bearing on the question. The book was published
in 1869, and the second volume of "Episodes" in 1883.

The most remarkable feature of these cures is their rapidity,
often amounting to instantaneousness, which broadly marks
them off from all ordinary remedial agencies. One of the
most prominent of these, related by M. Lasserre, is that of
Francois Macary, a carpenter of Lavaur. He had had vari-
cose veins for thirty years ; they were as thick as one's finger,
with enormous nodosities and frequent bleedings, producing
numerous ulcers, so that it had been for many years impos-
sible for him to walk or stand. Three physicians had declared
him to be absolutely incurable. At sixty years of age he
heard of the cures at Lourdes, and determined to try the
waters. A bottle was sent him. Compresses with this were
applied in the evening to his two legs. He slept well all
night, and early next morning was quite well ; his legs were
smooth, and there was hardly a trace of the swollen veins,
nodosities, and ulcers. The three doctors who had attended
him certify to these facts.

Other cases are of long-continued paralysis, declared
hopeless by the physicians ; one of serious internal injuries
due to an accident, and declared incurable. The lady had
suffered extreme pain for seven years, had been unable to
walk, and every remedy tried had been useless. She had
at various times consulted five doctors, in vain. Two of
these signed statements that she had been cured instan-
taneously, and could now walk and perform all the ordinary
actions of a healthy person without suffering the slightest
pain. One of them says, " This cure, so sudden, so unpre-
cedented, so unexpected, is for me a fact positively marvellous.
There is in it something of the divine — an intervention beyond
the natural, visible, incontestible, of a nature to baffle the
reason. For nature does not usually proceed thus,; and
when she operates she acts always with a wise deliberation.
— A. Maugni " (" Les Episodes Miraculeaux," p. 486).

xxxvi] TWO INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 307

In an introductory note to "A Lourdes avec Zola," by Felix
Lacaze, Dr. Bemheim states that, "We cure at Nancy the
same morbid manifestations that Lourdes cures; medical
faith acts like religious faith ; that is what I know ! " And
M. Lacaze, throughout his book, imputes all the cures to
belief, expectation, faith. But the student of psychical re-
search and of spiritualism, if he examines the records
carefully, will see reason to doubt these general statements.
He will meet with cases which are so closely parallel with
what every experienced inquirer meets with as to indicate a
similarity of cause. I allude to the very common occurrence
at seances, when messages are being given, to so word them
as to contradict the expectation of every one present. I
have often seen this myself. At other times the inquirer
expects a message from a particular person, has gone to the
seance with the express purpose of obtaining it, but instead
gets a message from some one else. All this is clearly for
the purpose of answering the common objection — your "ex-
pectation" was read by the medium, and produced the
wished-for word or message. Now, among the five cases
given by M. Lasserre, one of the most striking serves to
illustrate this special feature. A paralyzed Abbe of good family,
and of the most firm and genuine religious faith, is yet so
humble that he does not expect a miracle to be performed
in his favour. More to please his family and friends than
himself, he goes to Lourdes, and it is so arranged that he
shall attend the grand service of the Assumption, when all
his clerical friends are convinced he will be cured, and they
excite in him the same belief. But though all the ceremonies
have been fulfilled, nothing happens, and he resigns himself to
the conviction that it is not the will of God that he should
be cured. But when attending another service the next day,
and not expecting anything, he suddenly feels a conviction
that he is well, rises from his couch, kneels down, and prays.
From that moment he is perfectly cured. Here we seem to
see the time of the cure arranged for the very purpose of
demonstrating that it is not expectation or faith that causes
the cure, although it may sometimes be a helping condition.

308 MY LIFE [Chap.

It is clear from these accounts by fervent Catholics that they
see in all these cures, not any special effect of the water — that
is only an outward sign — but a real spiritual agency, which
they believe to be that of the Virgin Mary. They also clearly
recognize that either the power or the will to cure is limited,
that only the few are cured, and that those few are not those
who are the best, or the most religious, or the most de-
serving, but are, so far as can be seen, chosen at random.
This, again, exactly corresponds with modern spiritualistic
phenomena, which evidently depend upon special conditions
in the individuals termed mediums, which conditions do not
seem to consist in any superiority of mind or character.

There is another point which seems indicated by the
detailed narratives of these remarkable cures. This is, that
not only are they rare cases, but that they have been, as it
were, selected and induced to try the Lourdes water often by
a very unusual combination of circumstances. If we look
upon these cures as analogous to those of the many " healers "
in the modern spiritualistic world — Dr. Newton, the Zouave
Jacob, Mr. Spriggs, and many others, and performed probably
by a band of spirit-healers of exceptional power, and who
wish to produce that effect upon character which such ap-
parently miraculous cures by the supposed direct agency of
the Virgin are calculated to produce — it is not improbable
that they should be always searching for cases of ordinarily
incurable disease, which are yet amenable to their powers.
Having found any such, and having satisfied themselves
that a cure is possible, and having perhaps already begun to
effect such a cure in a way not perceptible to the patient, it
then becomes necessary to induce him to make use of the
means which will have the desired effect on his own mind
and of those who hear of it. Hence the often curious com-
bination of circumstances which first induce the patient to
go to Lourdes (or use the water), and then to go at a
particular time, even on a particular day. This may be
necessary, both because at a particular stage only can the
cure be instantaneously or rapidly effected, also because, if
delayed, the patient might feel himself getting better, and

xxxvi] TWO INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 3C9

the moral effects of a cure, supposed to be by the Virgin
(or any other saint), be lost. The detailed narratives cer-
tainly show that in several cases a moral and religious, as
well as a physical, renovation has been effected.

We have here an explanation of these events which is, I
submit, much more complete than that which declares them
all to be of the same nature as cures occurring through
hypnotic suggestion, because in these cases there is no
hypnotizer, and often no suggestion or expectation. And
when we consider that the cures at the tomb of the Abbe
Paris in the early part of the eighteenth century, some of
which were even more wonderful than any which have
occurred at Lourdes, were equally well attested, and com-
pelled even David Hume to say — referring to one of these —
" Had it been a cheat, it would certainly have been detected
by such sagacious and powerful antagonists,"1 we see that
we have to do with a phenomenon which is one of the myriad
forms of spirit agency.

Romanes and Darwin

I first made the acquaintance of Romanes in a rather
curious way. A letter appeared in Nature (February 5, 1880)
headed "A Speculation regarding the Senses," beginning
with this suggestive passage : " On examining the modes
of action of the senses, we find a series of advances in
refinement. Beginning with touch, we find it has primarily
to do with solids which come into direct contact with the
organ. In taste a liquid medium is necessary. In smell we
have minute particles carried by a gas. In Iiearing we have
vibrations (longitudinal) in a gas. In sight, finally, we find
transverse vibrations transmitted by a finer medium, the
ether." The writer then goes on to suggest that thought, or
brain-vibrations, may also be carried by the ether to other

1 A very full account of these cures is given in Howitt's "History of
the Supernatural," and an abstract in my " Miracles and Modern Spiritualism "
(pp. 9-12).

310 MY LIFE [Chap.

brains, and thus produce thought-transference, which, he
suggests, might be termed a kind of "induction of thought,"
and he thinks this is supported by the experiences of most
people, and especially " by the ascertained facts of clairvoyance
and mesmerism? This letter was signed " M."

In the next issue of Nature was a letter signed " F. R. S.,"
objecting to " M." for speaking, in a scientific journal, of the
facts of mesmerism and clairvoyance as being " ascertained,"
adding, however, that they ought to be thoroughly investigated,
that he is prepared to do so if he can find suitable material,
and that he will give wide publicly to his results. He then
says, " If the phenomena should admit of repetition I should
have them witnessed and attested to by a selected number
of the leading scientific men of the day." He therefore
begs for assistance in carrying out his experiments, letters
to be addressed c/o the Editor of Nature.

To this request I replied, pointing out to him that many
scientific men, such as Dr. Elliotson, Dr. Gregory, and Dr.
Haddock had thoroughly examined and tested mesmerism
and clairvoyance, getting only abuse or ridicule, and that he
was rather sanguine in thinking that any experiments of his
would convince the scientific world, or that they would even
condescend to witness and test them, and referred to my
own experience with Tyndall and Carpenter, and those of
Crookes with the Royal Society. This brought me the fol-
lowing letter from Romanes, and I have now little doubt
that "M." of the first communication to Nature ws my friend
Mivart, as I do not know any other man likely to have
written on such a subject, and to have spoken in such an
assured way of clairvoyance, which was, of course, a com-
paratively small matter after his experiences above related.
It is rather curious that these two men should have been
thus brought together without knowing it, and in relation
to a subject as to which neither of them made any public
acknowledgment of what he believed. The majority of
their readers, I have no doubt, look upon them as biologists,
and have no idea that they were also inquirers into
spiritualism.

xxxvi] TWO INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 311

" 18, Cornwall Terrace, Regent's Park,
"February 17, 1880.

"Dear Sir,

" I am very glad that you have been so kind as to
answer my letter In Nature, for the fact of your having done
so supplies me with an opportunity, which I have long desired
to bring about, of obtaining the benefit of your advice
upon the methods of conducting an inquiry into the facts
of ' spiritualism.' You will not wonder that I should have
desired this opportunity when I tell you that one or two facts,
which you might consider almost commonplace, have pro-
foundly staggered me, and led me to feel it a moral duty no
less than a matter of unequalled interest, to prove the subject
further. As a biologist I knew the quality of your scientific
work, and the general character of your mind, and knowing
also your intellectual attitude towards the subject in which
my interest was awakened, I greatly desired to meet you.
But by some fate you always seemed to be the only scientific
man of the day whom I never did meet, and I felt it would be
imprudent to force any questions upon you unsolicited, as I
knew Mr. Crookes to be very reticent, and feared you might
be the same.

" Now for what you very truly say about the uselessness of
any one man, ' however eminent,' trying to prove the truth
of the phenomena to the world. This I think is only as it
ought to be. The phenomena are of an order so astounding
that proof of their reality must rest upon the authority of
more than one observer if the proof is to be commensurate
with its own requirements. What the precise number of
witnesses and what amount of accumulated authority ought
to be, or would be, held sufficient to justify a man of the
world in accepting the alleged facts as real facts, this is a
question I need not consider, for there can be no doubt that
some such number of witnesses and amount of competent
testimony would be sufficient for the purpose. But, looking
to the astounding nature of the alleged facts, I do not think
that this number and amount have yet been attained. An
exceedingly strong case, however, has been made out to

312 MY LIFE [Chap.

justify full and patient inquiry by at least several authorita-
tive persons, and this is what I desire to get done. The
leading men of science have neither time nor inclination to
sift the grain from the chaff of these subjects, but if once
the grain were placed before them we should soon have the
bread. I think you are too despairing on the subject of
prejudice. That prejudice should exist in the matter is only
what common sense would expect, but I am convinced that
it would quickly yield to adequate proof. There is already
more than enough proof were the facts to be proved of any
ordinary kind ; but as they are nothing less than miracles, a
further weight of proof is, I think, required to justify any one
who has not himself witnessed the facts, accepting the latter
on testimony. Therefore it is that in Nature I implied that
in my judgment the facts were not yet proven. But pray do
not suppose that I am blind to the importance of the testi-
mony already accumulated. I should rather infer it is you
who are blind to that importance ; I think you underrate the
impression which your own publications and that of your
few scientific co-operators have produced. I know that this
impression is in many minds profound, and has already
prepared the way to a full acceptance by the scientific world
of the facts ; but before this can be, the latter must and ought
to be attested to by some important body of well-known
men.

"You will see, then, that far from imagining that the
world will take my authority on the subject as final, I do not
think that, looking to the nature of the facts, the world ought
to do so; and I similarly think that the world is not altogether
wrong in having weighed the amount of proof required to
substantiate a miracle against the weight of authoritative
testimony hitherto forthcoming, and in deciding to await
further testimony.

" I am myself in the position of the world ; I want more
evidence to make me believe. If once I do believe and can
get any repeatable results to show, I shall insist upon the
best men in science and literature coming to see and telling
what they see.

xxxvi] TWO INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 313

" I am greatly obliged to you for your advice, but some
time I should like to have a talk with you to benefit by your
large experience of a subject with which I have hitherto had
but small acquaintance. Could you fix any date towards
the latter end of next month ?

■ I am, yours truly,

"Geo. J. Romanes."

After receiving my reply I had another short letter, as
follows : —

■ I am exceedingly pleased to hear that you are so dis-
posed to assist me with your advice. Time, money, tolerance,
and patience I have in abundance, but I lack experience in
a subject which, till recently, I rejected as beneath considera-
tion. Therefore, under various circumstances that may
arise, I doubt not that your advice may be of much service
to me. Thus already you have presented a point of no
small importance to me, viz. that I must not count too
confidently on being always able to repeat results, even
supposing them to be genuine. But, after all, my principal
object is to satisfy my own mind upon the subject. If I
could obtain any definite evidence of mind unassociated
with any observable organization, the fact would be to me
nothing less than a revelation — ' life and immortality
brought to light ' — and although I might say to others,
'Come and see,' my chief end would have been attained
if I could say, ' I have found that of which the prophets (to
wit, Crookes, Wallace, Varley, and the rest) have spoken.'

" I will therefore be most happy to accept your invitation
to go to Croydon some day to gain some preliminary ideas
on the subject. I shall write again to fix a day."

These two letters express very clearly the writer's position
and general ideas, with which I myself was completely in
accord. They also are very characteristic of his somewhat
wordy and involved style of writing, and of some peculiarities
of character. But the first was specially interesting to my-
self by showing me that my book, which had been published
six years before, had really produced some effect among men

314 MY LIFE [Chap.

of science as well as among the general public, many of
whom, I knew, it had induced to investigate and, as a
consequence of their investigation, to become complete
converts. I will here mention a little incident that shows
how people were accustomed to speak on the subject in the
popular tone of contemptuous incredulity, even when they
had reason to accept some of the facts. One evening, while
having tea after a Royal Institution lecture, I heard the late
Professor Ansted and a friend (not knowing I was just
behind them) mention spiritualism, and the professor
remarked, " What a strange thing it is such men as Crookes
and Wallace should both believe in it ! " To which the other
replied, with a laugh, " Oh, they are mad on that one subject."
As soon as the friend had turned away I addressed Ansted,
telling him I had heard what he and his friend had been
saying, and asked him if he had any knowledge whatever of
the subject. To which he replied, " Well, not much ; but a
neighbour and friend of mine at Great Bealings has had the
most wonderful things happen in his house, which no one has
ever been able to find a cause for. He has often told me
about the bells ringing when no one was in the house. He
was a very clever man, and I am sure what he says is true,
and many people in the neighbourhood were witnesses of it."
This case I had referred to in my book, and it brought it
home to me more vividly to speak with a scientific man who
was a friend of the owner of the house where it occurred, and
had heard it from his own lips. This was shortly before
Professor Ansted's death from an accident, or he might
have become one of the band of " persecuted lunatics " — the
term by which my friend Mr. Guppy used to describe the
despised spiritualists.

To return now to Romanes. He called upon me at
Croydon, and I think I paid him a visit in town, and he then
told me how he had come to take so deep an interest in
spiritualism. Some time previously a member of his own
family — I think either a sister or a cousin — had been found to
have considerable mediumistic power. Through her he had
witnessed a good many of the usual phenomena — movements

xxxvi]TWO INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 315

and raps by which messages had been spelt out — together
with the usual perplexities which beset the beginner ; the
messages being sometimes true and sometimes false, some-
times totally unexpected by any one present, at other times
seeming to be the reflex of their own thoughts. Yet he was
already absolutely convinced that the sounds and motions
— the physical part of the phenomena — were not caused in
any normal way by any of the persons present, and almost
equally convinced that the intelligence manifested was not
that of any of the circle. In some cases even his mental
questions were replied to. I gave him the best advice I
could, and for some years, being fully occupied with my
own domestic affairs and literary work, I saw or heard
nothing more of the subject he had been so intent upon. At
this I was not surprised, as he himself was writing a series of
works which gave him his scientific reputation, and I thought
it probable that, not getting the evidence he wanted, he had
given up the inquiry.

But seven years later, when I was in Canada, I obtained
a knowledge of the correspondence between Romanes and
Darwin before my interview with the former, as already
narrated in Chapter XXX. This was, to me, of extreme
interest because it showed how reticent Romanes was,
and how little he told me of the evidence he had really
obtained some years before, and of the profound impres-
sion it had made upon him. The letters then shown me
were very long and full of curious details of evidence,
the more important of which I took notes of. Darwin's
reply was of the usual kind — suggestion of clever trickery ;
more investigation required ; had no time to go into it
himself, etc. Of course I had no intention of referring
to these letters in any way without Romanes' permission,
but I thought I might some day ask him why he had not
mentioned having written to Darwin when corresponding
with me and discussing this very subject. But a year or two
later I was surprised by something he wrote as to one of the
" thought readers " then exhibiting in London, in a way
which implied that all such phenomena were clever trickery

316 MY LIFE [CHAr.

by means of muscle-reading, although in his letter to Darwin
he had declared that his mental questions had been
answered.

But a cause of difference on a scientific question had since
arisen between Romanes and myself which led to complica-
cation. In 1886 he read a paper to the Linnean Society,
which was printed in their Journal, entitled "Physiological
Selection : an additional suggestion on the Origin of Species."
This paper put forth what was really a new theory of the
origin of infertile races, which was supposed to account
for the infertility that so generally occurs between allied
species. It was very complex, and led to much discussion,
and before leaving for America I had criticized it in the
September issue of the Fortnightly Review. Later, I gave
what I considered a proof of its entire fallacy in my " Dar-
winism" (published in 1889), and many other writers had
also given reasons for rejecting it. This rejection of a theory
which he evidently thought very highly of seems to have
been very unexpected and to have somewhat ruffled his
temper, as was very natural, or he would not, I think, have
written of me as he did, especially if we consider the letters
he had sent me four years previously. In an article in the
Nineteenth Century, of May, 1890, he repeats a statement
which he had made before in other periodicals in the follow-
ing words : — " He presents an alternative theory to explain
the same class of facts. Yet this theory is purely and simply,
without any modification whatsoever, a restatement of the
first principles of physiological selection, as these were origi-
nally stated by myself." To this and to a repetition of it in
the American magazine, The Monist, of October, I replied in
Nature, and I need only say here that the essential parts of
my theory were founded partly on facts established by
Darwin, and partly on a mathematical demonstration that
sterility could be increased by natural selection. This last
argument was stated by me in nearly the same form in
letters to Darwin in 1868, eighteen years before Romanes
set forth his theory of physiological selection (see " More
Letters of Charles Darwin," vol. i. pp. 288-297). Further,

xxxvi] TWO INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 317

while this last theory has now, I believe, no supporters
my own view, so far as I know, has not been shown to be
unsound ; and I do not think that the accusation of direct
and barefaced plagiarism is now aceepted by any naturalist
who has taken the trouble to follow the whole discussion.

But much worse than this was the following passage
referring to my " Darwinism," where he says it is in the con-
cluding chapter of my book " that we encounter the Wallace
of spiritualism and astrology, the Wallace of vaccination and
the land question, the Wallace of incapacity and absurdity "
{Nineteenth Century, May, 1890, p. 831).

To this I made no public reply, since I was sure that all
whose opinion I valued would condemn this mode of dis-
cussing the problems of science. But I thought it afforded
an excellent opportunity to let my critic know what I
thought of his behaviour, and perhaps puzzle and frighten
him a little by exhibiting an acquaintance with facts which
he evidently wished to conceal. I accordingly wrote him the
following letter : —

" Parkstone, July 18, 1890.

"Dear Mr. Romanes,

" Some time back I read your article in the Nine-
teenth Century for May, but I have been so much occupied
that I have, till now, had no time to write about it. Whether
or no it was good taste for you to appeal to the political
and medical prejudices of your readers in a matter purely
scientific — by referring to my advocacy of land nationaliza-
tion and opposition to vaccination — I leave others to judge.
I am quite satisfied myself that, in a not distant future, I
shall have ample credit given me on both these points. But
as to your appeal to popular scientific prejudice by referring
to my belief in spiritualism and astrology (which latter I
have never professed my belief in), I have something to say.

"In the year 1876 you wrote two letters to Darwin, detail-
ing your experiences of spiritual phenomena. You told him
that you had had mental questions answered with no paid
medium present. You told him you had had a message

318 MY LIFE [Chap.

from Mr. J. Bellew, which message was worded in a manner
so unexpected that it was, till completed, thought to be
erroneous. And you declared your belief that some non-
human intelligence was then communicating with you. You
also described many physical phenomena occurring in your
own house with the medium Williams. You saw ' hands,'
apparently human, yet not those of any one present. You
saw hand-bells, etc., carried about ; you saw a human head
and face above the table, the face with mobile features and
eyes. Williams was held all the time, and your brother
walked round the table to prove that there was no wire or
other machinery (in your own room !), yet a bell, placed on a
piano some distance away, was taken up by a luminous hand
and rung, and carried about the room !

" Can you have forgotten all this ?

" In your second letter to Darwin you expressed your con-
viction of the truth of these facts, and of the existence of
spiritual intelligences, of mind without brain. You said that
these phenomena had altered your whole conceptions. For-
merly you had thought there were two mental natures in
Crookes and Wallace — one sane, the other lunatic! Now
(you said) you belonged to the same class as they did.

" Tell it not in Gath ! There are, then, two Romanes as
well as two Wallaces. There is a Romanes ' of incapacity and
absicrdity !! ' But he keeps it secret. He thinks no one knows
it. He is ashamed to confess it to his fellow-naturalists ; but
he is not ashamed to make use of the ignorant prejudice
against belief in such phenomena, in a scientific discussion
with one who has the courage of his opinions, which he

himself has not.

" Yours truly,

"Alfred R. Wallace."

His answer, written from Scotland on July 21, was as
follows : —

"Dear Mr. Wallace,

" I am truly sorry to observe the tone of injury
which pervades your letter of the 18th inst., just received. It

xxxvi] TWO INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 319

certainly did not occur to me that I was hitting below the
belt in alluding to matters so notorious ; but after receiving
this expression of your own opinion upon the matter, I shall
assuredly never do so again. Unfortunately what has been
done cannot be undone ; but perhaps you will allow me to
say that, rather than have offended you in this way, I would
have suppressed the article altogether. Perhaps, also, I may
add that in giving public expression to my opinion on the
relative nature of your different lines of publication it seemed
to me that I was only making 'fair comment.' If you were
to say that you thought my writings on Darwinism betokened
1 incapacity and absurdity,' but my experiments in physiology
the reverse, I do not think I should at all object. This,
however, is a matter of feeling about which it would be
fruitless to argue. So all that I can now do is to express my
sorrow, and promise never to allude to this subject again.

■ ' Astrology ' I alluded to, because you once told me that
you were investigating it. You refused to hear argument
against it, and left me with the impression that you believed
in it.

" Touching my correspondence with Mr. Darwin, fourteen
years is a long time to remember details, and I kept no
copies. But I do clearly remember two points. The first is
that the letters were to be strictly private, and the next is
that they were to be regarded as provisional. Now, after
these letters were written, further work with Williams showed
him to be an impostor. I spent an immense deal of time and
trouble over the matter, and in the end withdrew the opinions
expressed in these letters.

" If you have gained your knowledge of their contents by
any occult process, I hope you will publish them as evidence,
which in that case I would not be wanting in courage to back.
But otherwise, in the event of your publishing them, I should
require to know the source from which they were obtained.
That it was not from Mr. Darwin himself, I am already
satisfied ; if it was from any member of his family, the condi-
tions under which they were written, and some time afterwards,
with my permission, submitted to their perusal, must have

320 MY LIFE [Chap,

been forgotten. In any case, I do not know that you ought
to have read them — but am not sorry that you did, if only to
show you that, although too credulous in the first instance, I
was at any rate not unopen to an honest conviction.

" Yours truly,

"Geo. J. Romanes."

" Parkstone, July 27, 1890.

"Dear Mr. Romanes,

"You are mistaken in thinking I wrote under a
sense of injury, and I do not think my letter showed it. I
merely pointed out that to assume, without any attempt at
proof, that my writings on vaccination and land nationaliza-
tion showed incompetence and absurdity was appealing to
ignorant prejudice, and was therefore both unscientific and in
bad taste. My writings on these subjects are public property.
Pray, therefore, refer to them as much as you like, when you
have read them and can refer to them and criticize them
with knowledge of their facts and arguments. But this is a
comparatively small matter. The important part of my letter
and your reply refers to the spiritualistic phenomena.

" You now say you have found Williams to be an impostor.
But I presume you did not write to Darwin, trusting to
Williams' honesty, or to any statements that lie made. You
set forth your own observations and precautions in proof of
the facts. Have you found out how the things you saw in
your own room and in the presence of your own friends were
done ? Can you tell me how the bust and face, c with move-
able features and eyes/ appeared above your own table while
Williams was sitting beside you and firmly held ? Can you
tell me how the 'luminous hand' was formed and worked,
which lifted a bell from a distant piano, rang it, and carried
it about, your brother walking round the table to see that no
wires had mysteriously fixed themselves in the room ? You
knew then, as well as you know now, that almost all mediums
are accused of imposture ; but you gave your experience as
evidence which did not admit of being explained by imposture.
How is this altered now, if you can no more explain this to

xxxvi] TWO INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 321

me than you could to Darwin ? And were your own rela-
tives impostors when you obtained answers to your mental
questions ? Do not those experiments prove a non-human
intelligence now as they did when you wrote to Darwin ? If
you cannot now explain these things, your change of opinion
has no logical justification. If you can explain them, I call
upon you to do so — if not to the scientific world, yet to
me, whom you have publicly accused of incompetence and
absurdity because I believe that phenomena of exactly the
same character as yours are realities and cannot be proved
to be impostures. As to your letters, copies of them were
handed to me to read by a person to whom (I was told) they
had been given without restrictions, and who was thus quite
justified in showing them to me. Of course I have treated
them, and shall treat them, as private letters ; but they
interested me so much that I made full notes immediately
after carefully reading them, so that I possess their substance
and many of their very expressions. After the way you have
referred in print to my belief in such phenomena most persons
would think I was quite justified in making known the fact
of the existence of these letters and their general tenor. I
hope, however, you will not render any such course necessary.
/ think your proper course would be to publish the letters
together with the full details of your discovery of the im-
posture, a discovery so complete as to induce you to change
those convictions you so earnestly and solemnly expressed to
Darwin.

" Hoping you will do so,

" I remain, yours faithfully,

"Alfred R. Wallace."

The next letter I will give the substance of. He stated
that soon after having written to Darwin he detected Williams
cheating. He then had a cage made of perforated zinc, and
when Williams sat in it nothing happened. This fact, he says,
logically justified his change of opinion. It could not be a
supernatural power, or why should the interposition of a per-
forated zinc cage have suspended the power? There was

vol. 11. Y

322 MY LIFE [Chap.

therefore nothing to publish. As to the answers to mental
questions, he only got them when his own hands were on the
table. He therefore concluded and still believes that he him-
self gave the initiatory impulse to move the table, which the
other sitters involuntarily intensified and carried out.

I will give my reply because it points out some of the
common fallacies of beginners in coming to hasty conclusions
from a few isolated facts.

"Dear Mr. Romanes,

" As I do not wish to continue this correspondence,
I will confine myself to pointing out why I consider your
present position to be logically untenable and unscientific.
You admit you cannot explain what took place in your own
house, but you say, ' not being able to explain ' is very far
from admitting it to have been done by supernatural means
(I would say ' supernormal ' or ' preterhuman ' rather than
supernatural ; but that is a detail). You then describe the
' cage ' you had made, with the result that nothing happened
when the medium sat within it ; and you imply that if
phenomena had occurred when Williams was within it you
would have admitted something ' supernatural.' But why ?
Simply because, in your own words, you could not explain
'how the trick was done.' To me, and I think to most
persons, what did occur — the ' luminous hand,' lifting a bell
at a distance, etc., etc. — was just as inexplicable, and just as
much a proof of something beyond 'trick,' as would have
been some physical effect produced outside the cage while
Williams was in it.

" Again, it is not ' scientific ' to treat your own limited
experience as if it stood alone, and to refuse to admit all
evidence from other inquirers in corroboration. Although
your cage-test did not succeed, it did succeed with others.
Mr. Adshead, a gentleman of Belper, had a wire cage made,
and Miss Wood sat in it in his own house, many times, and
under these conditions many forms of men, women, and
children, appeared in the room. A similar cage was after-
wards used by the Newcastle Spiritual Evidence Society, for

xxxvi] TWO INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 323

a year or more, and Miss Wood sat in it weekly. It was
screwed up from the outside, yet all the usual phenomena of
materialization occurred just the same as when no cage was
used. At other times Miss Wood sat in the circle visible to
all, yet other figures of various apparent ages came out of the
cabinet. Then again Mr. Varley, the electrician, applied the
electrical test, to Miss Cook, she forming part of the circuit,
yet all the usual phenomena occurred. Crookes again used
the same test, with the same result ; and he also saw Miss
Cook and the materialized form ' Katie ' at the same time,
in his own house, and he photographed the latter. All these
facts and many others of like nature have been published,
and are known to all inquirers, and every investigator knows
that your failure to obtain phenomena under the test, was no
proof of any dishonesty in the medium, or of impossibility
of obtaining the phenomena under such conditions. Such
tests often require to be tried many times before success is
attained. To me, and I believe to most inquirers, it will
appear in the highest degree unscientific to reject phenomena
that could not possibly be due to imposture, and to ignore the
hundreds of corroborative tests by other equally competent
observers, and then, after this, to call all such observers (by
implication) fools or lunatics !

" Yet, again, your attempted explanation of the • mental
question ' test does not apply to the Bellew case, where you
expressly state that some of the words while being spelled
out were challenged by all present as being wrong, and were
yet insisted on by the unknown intelligence, and resulted,
contrary to the expectation of all, in — ' I, John Bellew, fear
no being'

" Yours truly,

"Alfred R. Wallace."

In reply to this, I received another long and very argu-
mentative letter, admitting that from my point of view and
greater experience, my arguments were very strong, but that
from his point of view, with his "bias against the preter-
human," his refusal to accept any evidence, unless it could be

324 MY LIFE [Chap.

repeated under " several reasonable alterations of conditions,
designed to exclude merely human powers of trickery," his
objections and his incredulity were quite logical and scientific.
He also urged that the mental tests and that of the un-
expected answer about Bellew did not require any other
intelligence, because equally unexpected things and sayings
occurred in dreams, in which we ourselves supply the whole
of the matter dreamt of. He therefore thought " that a man
may, unconsciously, or subconsciously, supply the other side
of a dialogue when he is wideawake, just as well as he can
when he is fast asleep." This shows how ingenious was
my correspondent as a dialectician, and rendered me disin-
clined to carry on a further correspondence which seemed
likely to be a long one. He quite overlooked, however,
the circumstance that our correspondence began, not on
account of his being unconvinced by what he witnessed,
but by using the fact that I, after much longer experience
and a much wider acquaintance with the subject, had
been convinced, as a weapon against me in a scientific
argument.

However, on the whole, he took my criticism, and even
my ridicule, in very good part — better, in fact, than I expected
— and he was completely mystified when I told him that my
knowledge of his letters did not come directly or indirectly
through any of Darwin's family. In order to relieve their
minds of such a supposition, I told them how I got to see
copies of the letters.

In this letter, however, he gave me an account of a "sack
trick " he had seen, which he thought as wonderful as anything
he saw with Williams, but which he persuaded the performer
to show him the secret of. As I think this may interest my
readers, I will give it in his own words.

" But for the fact that he is now dead, I could have
introduced you to an American medium who would have
gone to your own house, and allowed you to furnish your
own cabinet, handcuffs, canvass sack, twine, sealing-wax, and
seal. Having fastened his hands together behind his back by
means of handcuffs as tightly as possible, you might have

xxxvi] TWO INQUIRERS INTO SPIRITUALISM 325

taken him to the cabinet, placed him inside the sack, tied the
mouth of the sack as tightly with the string as you could, and
sealed the knots and likewise the two ends of the string to
the outside of the sack. Lastly, you might have shut and
locked the cabinet door. Then after a period varying from
one to two minutes, you would have heard the medium
knock, and on opening the door would have found him
outside the sack with his hands handcuffed behind his back
as before — the mouth of the sack being wide open, and all
the knots and seals intact. This performance the medium
would repeat any number of times. Having seen him do
this I was completely baffled (as I was with Williams), and
so would you have been unless you can suggest ' how it was
done,' and unless I add, what I do now, that I persuaded this
man to explain the trick."

In reply to this I pointed out that the " sack " and hand-
cuff trick involved only one essential operation, that of quickly
slipping his hands in and out of the handcuffs, and that this
was probably done partly by a natural mobility of the bones
of the wrists and hand, partly by induced suppleness by long
practice. That being done while being put into the sack
inside the cabinet when the movement of his arms would
not be noticed, he had only to insert one or two fingers in the
neck of the sack while it was being tied, and all the rest was
easy. Nothing was needed or done but to slip out of the
handcuffs and slip off the string tied round the neck of the
sack.

In the case of Williams, solid objects were moved which
were a long way from the medium, and two self-moving
objects — a luminous hand, and a head and face with mov-
able features, were produced and seen by all while the medium
was held and one of the party looked on outside the circle.
And I asked him what became of these solid objects after-
wards ?

In his reply he said I was substantially right about the
way the " sack " trick was done. Also, that several years
afterwards Darwin wrote to him that Williams had been
detected by some one striking a light ! He therefore felt

326 MY LIFE [Chap. XXXVI]

quite justified in disbelieving all he had once thought so
convincing.

Thus ended our correspondence on this subject ; and, I
suppose, as a kind of amende honorable, my correspondent
asked me, the next year, to allow him to have a photograph
of myself for a forthcoming book of his on the Darwinian
theory ! This I declined with thanks.

CHAPTER XXXVII

SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIENCES IN ENGLAND AND
AMERICA

The publication of my book in 1874, not only brought me an
extensive correspondence on the subject, but led to my being
invited to take part in many interesting seances, and making
the acquaintance of spiritualists both at home and abroad.
As what I witnessed was often very remarkable, and forms a
sort of supplement to the " Notes of Personal Evidence " given
in my book, and also because these phenomena have had
a very important influence both on my character and my
opinions, it will be necessary here to give a brief outline of
them.

I attended a series of sittings with Miss Kate Cook, the
sister of the Miss Florence Cook, with whom Sir William
Crookes obtained such very striking results. The general
features of these stances were very similar, though there was
great variety in details. They took place in the rooms of
Signor Randi, a miniature painter, living in Montague Place,
W., in a large reception-room, across one corner of which a
curtain was hung and a chair placed inside for the medium.
There were generally six or seven persons present. Miss
Cook and her mother came from North London. Miss C.
was always dressed in black, with lace collar, she wore laced-
up boots, and had earrings in her ears. In a few minutes
after she had entered the cabinet, the curtains would be
drawn apart and a white-robed female figure would appear,
and sometimes come out and stand close in front of the
curtain. One after another she would beckon to us to come

327

328 MY LIFE [Chap.

up. We then talked together, the form in whispers ; I could
look closely into her face, examine the features and hair,
touch her hands, and might even touch and examine her ears
closely, which were not bored for earrings. The figure had
bare feet, was somewhat taller than Miss Cook, and, though
there was a general resemblance, was quite distinct in features,
figure, and hair. After half an hour or more this figure would
retire, close the curtains, and sometimes within a few seconds
would say, " Come and look." We then opened the curtains,
turned up the lamp, and Miss Cook was found in a trance in
the chair, her black dress, laced-boots, etc., in the most perfect
order as when she arrived, while the full-grown white-robed
figure had totally disappeared.

Mr. Robert Chambers introduced me to a wealthy Scotch
lady, Miss Douglas, living in South Audley Street, and at
her house I attended many stances, and met there Mr.
Hensleigh Wedgwood, and several other London spiritualists.
Perhaps the most interesting of these were a series with Mr.
Haxby, a young man engaged in the post-office and a re-
markable medium for materializations. He was a small man,
and sat in a small drawing-room on the first floor separated
by curtains from a larger one, where the visitors sat in a
subdued light. After a few minutes, from between the
curtains would appear a tall and stately East Indian figure
in white robes, a rich waistband, sandals, and large turban,
snowy white, and disposed with perfect elegance. Sometimes
this figure would walk round the room outside the circle,
would lift up a large and very heavy musical box, which he
would wind up and then swing round his head with one
hand. He would often come to each of us in succession, bow,
and allow us to feel his hands and examine his robes. We
asked him to stand against the door-post and marked his
height, and on one occasion Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood
brought with him a shoe-maker's measuring-rule, and at our
request, Abdullah, as he gave his name, took off a sandal,
placed his foot on a chair, and allowed it to be accurately
measured with the sliding-rule. After the seance Mr. Haxby

xxxvii] SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIENCES 329

removed his boot and had his foot measured by the same
rule, when that of the figure was found to be full one inch
and a quarter the longer, while in height it was about half a
foot taller. A minute or two after Abdullah had retired into
the small room, Haxby was found in a trance in his chair,
while no trace of the white-robed stranger was to be seen. The
door and window of the back room were securely fastened,
and often secured with gummed paper, which was found intact.
On another occasion I was present in a private house
when a very similar figure appeared with the medium
Eglinton before a large party of spiritualists and inquirers.
In this case the conditions were even more stringent and the
result absolutely conclusive. A corner of the room had a
curtain hung across it, enclosing a space just large enough to
hold a chair for the medium. I and others examined this
corner and found the walls solid and the carpet nailed down.
The medium on arrival came at once into the room, and after
a short period of introductions seated himself in the corner.
There was a lighted gas-chandelier in the room, which was
turned down so as just to permit us to see each other. The
figure, beautifully robed, passed round the room, allowed
himself to be touched, his robes, hands, and feet examined
closely by all present — I think sixteen or eighteen persons.
Every one was delighted, but to make the seance a test one,
several of the medium's friends begged him to allow himself
to be searched so that the result might be published. After
some difficulty he was persuaded, and four persons were
appointed to make the examination. Immediately two of
these led him into a bedroom, while I and a friend who had
come with me closely examined the chair, floor, and walls,
and were able to declare that nothing so large as a glove had
been left. We then joined the other two in the bedroom,
and as Eglinton took off his clothes each article was passed
through our hands, down to underclothing and socks, so that
we could positively declare that not a single article besides
his own clothes were found upon him. The result was
published in the Spiritualist newspaper, certified by the names
of all present

330 MY LIFE [Chap.

Yet one more case of materialization may be given,
because it was even more remarkable in some respects than
any which have been here recorded. A Mr. Monk, a non-
conformist clergyman, was a remarkable medium, and in
order to be able to examine the phenomena carefully, and
to preserve the medium from the injury often caused by
repeated miscellaneous stances, four gentlemen secured his
exclusive services for a year, hiring apartments for him on a
first floor in Bloomsbury, and paying him a moderate salary.
Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood and Mr. Stainton Moses were two
of these, and they invited me to see the phenomena that
occurred. It was a bright summer afternoon, and everything
happened in the full light of day. After a little conversation,
Monk, who was dressed in the usual clerical black, appeared
to go into a trance ; then stood up a few feet in front of us,
and after a little while pointed to his side, saying, " Look."
We saw there a faint white patch on his coat on the left side.
This grew brighter, then seemed to flicker, and extend both
upwards and downwards, till very gradually it formed a
cloudy pillar extending from his shoulder to his feet and
close to his body. Then he shifted himself a little sideways,
the cloudy figure standing still, but appearing joined to him
by a cloudy band at the height at which it had first begun to
form. Then, after a few minutes more, Monk again said
" Look," and passed his hand through the connecting band,
severing it. He and the figure then moved away from each
other till they were about five or six feet apart. The figure
had now assumed the appearance of a thickly draped female
form, with arms and hands just visible. Monk looked to-
wards it and again said to us " Look," and then clapped his
hands. On which the figure put out her hands, clapped them
as he had done, and we all distinctly heard her clap following
his, but fainter. The figure then moved slowly back to him,
grew fainter and shorter, and was apparently absorbed into
his body as it had grown out of it.

Of course, such a narration as this, to those who know
nothing of the phenomena that gradually lead up to it, seems
mere midsummer madness. But to those who have for years

xxxvii] SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIENCES 331

obtained positive knowledge of a great variety of facts equally
strange, this is only the culminating point of a long series of
phenomena, all antecedently incredible to the people who talk
so confidently of the laws of nature. I will here just remark
that in the four cases of materialization now recorded, with
four different mediums, four different kinds of tests were
obtained without any interference with the conditions needed
for the production of the phenomena. In the first, with Miss
Cook, the figure was positively distinguished by unpierced
ears, while the circumstances were such that the medium
could not possibly have resumed her dress and concealed the
robes of the figure in the few seconds only that sometimes
elapsed between its disappearance and the examination of the
medium. With Mr. Haxby, the measurements both of body
and foot were so different as to prevent any possibility of
personation by the medium. With Mr. Eglinton, the im-
promptu and thorough search after the stance rendered
personation equally impossible ; while the last case, in which
the whole process of the formation of a shrouded figure
was seen in full daylight, absolutely precluded any normal
mode of production of what we saw. I may mention that
Mr. Wedgwood assured me that in the course of their long
investigation they had had far more wonderful results. In
some cases, instead of a shrouded and somewhat shadowy
female figure, a tall robed male figure was produced, while
Mr. Monk was in a deep trance, and in full view.

This figure would remain with them for half an hour or
more, would touch them, and allow of close examination
of his body and clothing, and was so thoroughly, though
temporarily material, that it could exert considerable force,
sometimes even lifting a chair on which one of them was
seated, and thus carrying him around the room.

Now, however, that the whole series of similar phenomena
have been co-ordinated, and to some extent rendered intel-
ligible, by Myer's great work on " Human Personality," it is to
be hoped that even students of physical science will no longer
class all those who have either witnessed such phenomena or
express their belief in them, as insane or idiotically credulous,

332 MY LIFE [Chap.

without even attempting to show how, under the same con-
ditions, such effects can be produced.

Before leaving the subject of my experiences of spiritualism
and spiritualists in England, I will give a case of the strange
phenomenon called the " double," so well authenticated and
so instructive as to deserve to be here recorded. About the
year 1874, Mr. Pengelly, of Torquay, had sent me his very
interesting critical article, " Is it a Fact ? " in which, to my
great surprise, I found an anecdote describing the strange
appearance of the doubles of several persons to a friend of
his (apparently), as he says he can vouch for it. When, as
narrated in Chapter XXVL, we dined together at Glasgow,
I took the opportunity of asking him privately whether I was
right in my conjecture that the person to whom the event
happened was himself, thinly disguised under the pseudonym,
Mr. Hazelwood (Pengelly meaning in Cornish the head of the
hazel-grove). He replied, " You are right ; " which led me to
read it again with still greater interest.

In 1883, thinking the case would be one suited for the
Psychical Research Society, I sent the paper to my friend,
F. W. H. Myers, telling him what Mr. Pengelly had told me ;
and Miss Pengelly has allowed me to copy a letter from Mr.
Myers to her father, thanking him for the additional informa-
tion he had received about the case, and saying, that as the
distance at which the figures were seen was so small, " It is
almost inconceivable that you could have mistaken other
persons for your own family at that distance, especially as
the train must have been almost or quite at a standstill."
But he did not publish the case, and it was probably, among
the mass of other matter, forgotten. I now give the story as
it occurs in Mr. Pengelly's paper, " Is it a Fact ? " (p. 32).

"The following case, for which I can vouch, may serve
to illustrate this.1 It will be found to be supported by both
personal and circumstantial evidence : — Mr. Hazelwood, of
Torquay, having a few years since to go to Dawlish, informed

1 The disbelief in witchcraft, notwithstanding the mass of good testimony
supporting it.

xxxvii] SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIENCES 333

his wife that he should return by the train due at Torre
Station at a certain hour, and suggested that she might,
with their two children, walk up to meet him, which she
agreed to do. On the return journey there was in the
same carriage with him a gentleman who had known Mrs.
Hazelwood for several years, and who knew her children also.
It should be remarked that the family were in mourning, and
that the children were a boy and a girl, the former being the
older. At Newton Station Mr. Hazelwood bought a news-
paper, and was reading it during the remainder of the journey.
He had, for a time, forgotten the arrangement made with his
wife, and he states that he certainly had not spoken of it to
any one. As the train drew near Torre Station his com-
panion said, ' There's Mrs. Hazelwood and your two children
standing on the bank.' He at once looked in the direction
indicated, and distinctly saw a party, which he had not the
least doubt were his wife and boy and girl, standing on the
hedge or bank, which, under Chapel Hill, overlooks the rail-
way. On leaving the station, instead of walking towards
Torquay, he went in the opposite direction, on the Newton
Road, to join them. On his way he met a man who had
known Mrs. Hazelwood from her childhood, and who volun-
teered the remark, ' You are going to join your wife and
family, I suppose. They are just above here, standing on the
hedge.' He proceeded to the spot, and to his surprise found
the party had left, and were nowhere to be seen. After some
fruitless search he proceeded to his own house, and found
his family just starting to meet him at the station, they
having forgotten the hour at which the train was due. Not-
withstanding the fact that three persons, who knew them well,
were prepared to swear that they had seen Mrs. Hazelwood
and her children at a particular spot, notwithstanding the
further fact that this was just the spot where they had
previously, and without the knowledge of two of the witnesses,
agreed to be at the time, it was not a fact that Mrs. Hazel-
wood and her children had on that day been standing on the
hedge overlooking the railway near the station at Torre."
This is one of a large class of appearances termed

334 MY LIFE [Chap.

"doubles," some of the most curious of which I have
made use of in my chapters on " Phantasms " in my book
on " Spiritualism." This one is especially valuable, as being
recorded by a gentleman who was remarkable for the great
care he gave to attain accuracy in all his work ; and it was
published under a well-understood pseudonym, in a place
where he had lived nearly all his life. But what is especially
remarkable is that the two independent witnesses had no
expectation of seeing the parties where the phantasms
appeared, while they themselves having mistaken the hour
the train was due could have had no special anxiety as to
being in time. And two of the persons seen being children,
the theory of the phantasms being caused by the three
" second selves " or " subliminal personalities," is very difficult
to conceive.

Among the eminent men whose first acquaintance and
valued friendship I owe to our common interest in spiritualism
was F. W. H. Myers, whose great work on " Human Person-
ality and its Survival of Bodily Death " has so recently
appeared. I think I must have met him first at some seances
in London, and he asked me to call on him at his rooms in
Bolton Row, Mayfair. I think this was in 1878. I spent
several hours with him, discussing various aspects of spiritual-
istic phenomena. He told me a great deal about the long
series of experiments with the celebrated Newcastle mediums,
Miss Wood and Miss Fairlamb, both under twenty, and
whose powers had been discovered only two years previously,
who were engaged for twelve months by Professor Sidgwick,
Mr. Gurney, and himself, for a long series of stances in New-
castle, in London (at Mr. Balfour's house in Carlton Gardens),
and in Cambridge at Professor Sidgwick's rooms. He
showed me several MSS. books full of notes of these stances
of which he was the reporter, and drew my attention to some
which I read through. In addition, he described to me the
complete tests which were applied in order to render it certain
that the phenomena were not produced by the mediums
themselves. For example, a curtain across the corner of a

xxxvii] SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIENCES 335

room formed the cabinet In this was placed a mattress and
pillow on the bare floor. The medium's wrists were tied
securely with tapes, leaving two ;ends a foot or more long.
These ends were tacked down to the floor, then covered with
sealing-wax and sealed. Under these conditions one or more
forms came out from the curtains, sometimes to a consider-
able distance and touched each one present. The light was
just sufficient to see the figures, which were sometimes those
of children, at other times of adults. Other phenomena
also occurred in the room. Afterwards the medium was
found either awake or still entranced, with the tapes, knots
and seals all apparently untouched.

But this was not thought sufficient to exclude imposture.
The medium might have provided herself with tape, tacks,
wax, and a copy of the seal, and by practice and ingenuity
be able to restore things to their original state after coming
out and personating the figures. To render this impossible
(or rather much less credible), at each stance the width, quality,
or colour of the tape was different, the sealing-wax was of
another colour, or a different seal was used, so that on no two
occasions were the conditions alike. Yet still the phenomena
went on occurring. Then a hammock was procured for the
medium to lie in, and this hammock, by means of pulleys,
was connected with a weighing machine, so that the medium
could not possibly leave it without instant detection. Yet
still the phenomena were produced, and the medium was
found afterwards comfortably lying in her hammock.

Of course such phenomena as these, however well estab-
lished, were entirely out of place at so early a period of the
inquiries of the persons, who soon afterwards founded the
Society for Psychical Research. They wanted to create a
science — to make sure of the first steps before they went on to
the second ; and, above all things, not to go on too fast, so
that the educated but sceptical public might be able to follow
them. They have now worked in this way for nearly a
quarter of a century ; they have published a wonderful collec-
tion of well-attested evidence, and yet they are only now
beginning to approach very carefully and sceptically even the

336 MY LIFE [Chap.

simpler physical phenomena which hundreds of spiritualists,
including Sir William Crookes and Professor Zollner, demon-
strated more than thirty years ago. As to the more advanced
phenomena, such as the disintegration and reproduction of
matter, and the various forms of materialization of the human
form or its parts, Mr. Myers himself, in his great work, only
alludes to them and indicates their possibility, without laying
special stress on the fact of their occurrence. The equally
well-attested phenomena of psychic photography are entirely
unnoticed, though they would easily be fitted into the great
structure he has erected based upon phenomena which he
considered to be demonstrated facts.

This method of very slow advance was, no doubt, neces-
sary for the purpose of establishing what is really a new
science, and in the establishment of this science a foremost
place will always be given to Frederic Myers. He was the
first English writer to attempt to educe order out of the vast
chaos of psychic phenomena, to connect them with admitted
physical and physiological laws, and to formulate certain hypo-
theses which would serve to connect and explain a consider-
able portion of them.1 Yet there are indications that even
his careful examination of evidence and tentative suggestions
are still in advance of most of his fellow researchers ; as
shown by the fact that since his greatly lamented death the
publications of the society have become retrograde rather
than progressive, by devoting space to the publication of
mere inconclusive or suspicious phenomena which are abso-
lutely worthless, and by needlessly pointing out that certain
facts may possibly be explained by imposture or delusion.
Nevertheless, for the advanced " Researcher," Myers's great
work will long serve as a vast reservoir of classified informa-
tion and a guide to further scientific research ; while the
spiritualist will equally value it, and by its light will be able
to interpret the more advanced and more marvellous pheno-
mena with which he is acquainted.

When talking to me about the remarkable stances with the

1 Robert Dale Owen's works, at a much earlier period, attempted the same
thing with more limited materials, but with remarkable success.

xxxvii] SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIENCES 337

two Newcastle mediums, the entire series of which he attended
and recorded very carefully in the notebooks he shewed me,
he laid great stress upon the extremely rigid precautions that
were taken against the possibility of imposture, and con-
veyed to me the impression that he himself was quite con-
vinced of the genuineness of the whole series. He also told
me that Professor and Mrs. Sidgwick only attended a portion
of the series, and that, unfortunately, several of the most
astounding and conclusive of the phenomena occurred in
their absence.

This is important, because Mrs. Sidgwick has published
an account of those she attended (in the Proceedings of tJie
Society for Psychical Research, vol. iv.), and has laid great
stress upon the inconclusive nature of the tests applied, though
she admits that it was exceedingly difficult, " but not perhaps
impossible," to impute the results to imposture. Under these
circumstances, it seems to me, that if these records of the
whole series of stances by Mr. Myers are still in existence and
can be obtained, it is the duty of the Society, in justice to
the mediums (one of whom is still living), and in the interests
of science, to make the entire series public. Under the light
of our more advanced knowledge to-day, such a record by so
careful and so critical an observer, of so long-continued an
inquiry, must contain a mine of invaluable facts.

My Experiences in America.

During a lecturing tour in the United States in 18S6-87, 1
stayed some time in three of the centres of American spiritual-
ism— Boston, Washington, and San Francisco, and made the
acquaintance of many American spiritualists and inquirers,
with whom I attended many remarkable s/ances. At Boston
I met the Rev. Minot J. Savage, whose latest work, " Can
Telepathy Explain ? " contains such a collection of personal
experiences as have fallen to the lot of few inquirers;
Mr. F. J. Garrison, a son of the great abolitionist; Mr.
E. A. Brackett, a sculptor, and author of a remarkable
book on " Materialized Apparitions " ; Dr. Nichols, author of

VOL. IL Z

338 MY LIFE [Chap.

" Whence, Where, and Whither " ; Professor James, of
Harvard, and several others.

I attended several stances at the house of Mrs. Ross, a
very good medium for materializations, in the company of
one or more of my friends. I will state what occurred on
one of these occasions. The stance took place in a front
downstairs room of a small private house, opening by sliding
doors into a back room, and by an ordinary door into the
passage. The cabinet was formed by cloth curtains across
the corner of the room from the fireplace to the sliding door.
One side of this was an outer wall, the other the wall of the
back room, where there was a cupboard containing a quantity
of china. I was invited to examine, and did so thoroughly —
front room, floor, back room, rooms below in basement,
occupied by a heating apparatus ; and I am positive there
were no means of communication other than the doors for
even the smallest child. Then the sliding doors were closed,
fastened with sticking-plaster, and privately marked with
pencil. The ten visitors formed a circle opposite the cabinet,
and I sat with my back close to the passage door and
opposite the curtain at a distance of about ten feet. A red-
shaded lamp was in the furthest corner behind the visitors,
which enabled me to see the time by my watch and the out-
lines of every one in the room ; and as it was behind me
the space between myself and the cabinet was very fairly
lighted. Under these circumstances the appearances were as
follows : —

(i) A female figure in white came out between the
curtains with Mrs. Ross in black, and also a male figure, all
to some distance in front of the cabinet. This was apparently
to demonstrate, once for all, that, whatever they were, the
figures were not Mrs. Ross in disguise.

(2) After these had retired three female figures appeared
together, in white robes and of different heights. These came
two or three feet in front of the curtain.

(3) A male figure came out, recognized by a gentleman
present as his son.

(4) A tall Indian figure came out in white mocassins ; he

xxxvii] SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIENCES 339

danced and spoke ; he also shook hands with me and others,
a large, strong, rough hand.

(5) A female figure with a baby stood close to the
entrance of the cabinet. I went up (on invitation), felt the
baby's face, nose, and hair, and kissed it — apparently a real,
soft-skinned, living baby. Other ladies and gentlemen
agreed.

Directly the stance was over the gas was lighted, and I
again examined the bare walls of the cabinet, the curtains,
and the door, all being just as before, and affording no room
or place for disposing of the baby alone, far less of the other
figures.

At another special stance for friends of Dr. Nichols and
Mr. Brackett, with Professor James and myself — nine in
all, under the same conditions as before, eight or nine
different figures came, including a tall Indian chief in war-
paint and feathers, a little girl who talked and played with
Miss Brackett, and a very pretty and perfectly developed
girl, " Bertha," Mr. Brackett's niece, who has appeared to him
with various mediums for two years, and is as well known to
him as any near relative in earth-life. She speaks distinctly,
which these figures rarely do, and Mr. Brackett has often
seen her develop gradually from a cloudy mass, and almost
instantly vanish away. But what specially interested me
was, that two of the figures beckoned to me to come up to
the cabinet. One was a beautifully draped female figure,
who took my hand, looked at me smilingly, and on my
appearing doubtful, said in a whisper that she had often met
me at Miss Kate Cook's stances in London. She then let me
feel her ears, as I had done before to prove she was not the
medium. I then saw that she closely resembled the figure
with whom I had often talked and joked at Signor Randi's, a
fact known to no one in America.

The other figure was an old gentleman with white hair and
beard, and in evening-dress. He took my hand, bowed, and
looked pleased, as one meeting an old friend. Considering
who was likely to come, I thought of my father and of
Darwin, but there was not enough likeness to either. Then

340 MY LIFE IChap.

at length I recognized the likeness to a photograph I had of
my cousin Algernon Wilson, whom I had not seen since we
were children, but had long corresponded with, as he was an
enthusiastic entomologist, living in Adelaide, where he had
died not long before. Then I looked pleased and said, " Is
it Algernon ? " at which he nodded earnestly, seemed very
much pleased, shook my hand vigorously, and patted my
face and head with his other hand.

These two recognitions were to me very striking, because
they were both so private and personal to myself, and could
not possibly have been known to the medium or even to any
of my friends present. I may state here that a few months
afterwards, a party of twelve gentlemen went to a stance at
Mrs. Ross's, determined to seize hold of the alleged spirit
forms, which they believed to be all confederates, and thus
expose the supposed imposture. It was agreed that some were
to seize the Indian, others to hold Mr. and Mrs. Ross, others
the women and children performers, while the remainder
were to assist when called upon and secure any " properties "
they could find in the cabinet. They carried out the first
part of their programme successfully, but notwithstanding
they were twelve men against two men, one woman, two
boys and a little girl (according to their own account), they
appear to have been entirely overmatched in the struggle, for
they did not succeed either in securing or identifying any one
of them, or in carrying away any of the alleged parapher-
nalia of imposture. They further declared, as if it were an
observed fact, that the assistants, young and old, entered the
cabinet by a sliding portion of the mop-board (or skirting, as
we call it). Immediately this was published in the Boston
papers, Mr. Brackett and some other friends of Mrs. Ross
called on the landlord of the house and asked him to go with
them, taking a carpenter with them, to see if the tenants had
made any such alteration as described by the would-be
exposers. The examination was made, and it was declared
that there was no such opening as alleged, nor had any been
made and closed up again. I wrote a letter to the Banner of
Light, pointing out these facts, and I urged, that the utter

xxxvii] SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIENCES 341

failure of twelve men, who went for the express purpose of
detecting and identifying confederates, utterly failing to do so
or to secure any tangible evidence of their existence, is really
a very strong proof that there were no confederates to detect.
To any one who has carefully studied Mr. Myers's monu-
mental volumes, and given due weight to the whole of the
evidence he adduces for the reality of such phenomena as
are here narrated and what is known of the various stages
that lead up to them ; and considering the proof that even
detached hands are capable of moving material objects, it
will, I think, appear probable that some such result as here
occurred was to be anticipated. I cannot remember a single
instance in which a confederate has been secured by such a
seizure, though cases have occurred in which the seizure of
the spirit form has resulted in the seizure of the medium —
which is not remarkable if we remember the amount of evi-
dence showing that these forms originate from the body of the
medium, and either visibly or invisibly return to it. Also,
considering the demonstrated fact that clothing, flowers, hair,
and other objects pertaining to or brought by these psychic
forms have sometimes a permanent, sometimes a temporary
existence, the fact of any such objects being found on or
near a medium is of itself no proof whatever that they were
brought by the medium for purposes of imposture, except on
the assumption that no such phenomena were possible, in which
case no evidence one way or the other is required, since the
question has been already decided against the medium.

In Washington, where I resided several months, I made
the acquaintance of Professor Elliott Coues, General Lippitt,
Mr. D. Lyman, Senator and Mrs. Stanfield, Mr. T. A. Bland
the Indians' friend, and Mrs. Beecher Hooker, all thorough
spiritualists, as well as many others unknown to fame. With
the three former gentlemen I attended the seances of a very
remarkable public medium, Mr. P. L. O. A. Keeler, and both
witnessed phenomena and obtained tests of a very interesting
kind. The medium was a young man of the clerk or trades-
man class, with only the common school education, and with

342 . MY LIFE [Chap.

no appearance of American smartness. The arrangement of
his stances was peculiar. The corner of a good-sized room
had a black curtain across it on a stretched cord about five
feet from the ground. Inside was a small table on which
was a tambourine and hand-bell. Any one, before the stances
began or afterwards, could examine this enclosed space, the
curtain, the floor, and the walls, as I did myself, the room
being fully lighted, and was quite satisfied that there was
absolutely nothing but what appeared at first sight, and no
arrangements whatever for ingress or egress but under the
curtain into the room. The curtain, too, was entire from end
to'end, a matter of importance in regard to certain phenomena
that occurred. Three chairs were placed close in front of this
curtain on which sat the medium and two persons from the
audience. Another black curtain was passed in front of
them across their chests so as to enclose their bodies in a
dark chamber, while their heads and the arms of the outer
sitter were free. The medium's two hands were placed on the
hands and wrist of the sitter next him.

The stance began with purely physical phenomena. The
tambourine was rattled and played on, then a hand appeared
above the curtain, and a stick was given to it which it seized.
Then the tambourine was lifted high on this stick and
whirled round with great rapidity, the bell being rung at the
same time. All the time the medium sat quiet and impassive,
and the person next him certified to his two hands being on
his or hers. On one occasion a lady, a friend of Professor Elliott
Coues and a woman of unusual ability and character, was
the sitter, and certified at all critical times during the whole
stance that the medium's hands were felt by her. After these
and many other things were performed, the hand would
appear above the curtain, the fingers moving excitedly. This
was the signal for a pencil and a pad of note-paper (as com-
monly used in America) ; then rapid writing was heard, a slip
of paper torn off and thrown over the curtain, sometimes
two or three in rapid succession, and in the direction of certain
sitters. The director of the stance picked them up, read the
name signed, and asked if any one knew it, and when claimed

xxxvii] SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIENCES 343

it was handed to him. In this way a dozen or more of the
chance visitors received messages which were always intel-
ligible to them and often strikingly appropriate. I will give
some of the messages I thus received myself.

On my second visit a very sceptical friend went with us,
and seeing the writing-pad on the piano marked several of
the sheets with his initials. The medium was very angry
and said it would spoil the stance. However, he was calmed
by his friends. When it came to the writing the pad was
given to me over the top of the curtain to hold. I held it
just above the medium's shoulder, when a hand and pencil
came through tlie curtain, and wrote on the pad as I held it.
It is a bold scrawl and hard to read, but the first words seem
to be, " Friends were here to write, but only this one could.
... A. W." Another evening, with the same medium, I
received a paper with this message, " I am William Martin,
and I come for Mr. William Wallace, who could not write
this time after all. He wishes to say to you that you shall
be sustained by coming results in the position you have
taken in the Ross case. It was a most foul misrepresenta-
tion."

This, and other writing I had afterwards, are to me striking
tests in the name William Martin. I never knew him, but
he was an early friend of my brother who was for some
time with Martin's father to learn practical building, the
latter being then engaged in erecting King's College. When
I was with my brother learning surveying, etc., he used often
to speak of his friend Martin, but for the last forty-five years
I had never thought of the name and was greatly surprised
when it appeared. About a month later I had the following
message from the elder Martin, written in a different
hand : —

"Mr. Wallace,

"Your father was an esteemed friend, and I
like to come to you for his sake. We are often together.
How strange it seems to us here that the masses can so long
exist in ignorance. Console yourself with the thought that

344 MY LIFE [Chap.

though ignorance, superstition and bigotry have withheld
from you the just rewards to which your keen enlightenment
and noble sacrifices so fully entitle you, the end is not yet,
and a mighty change is about to take place to put you where
you belong.

"William Martin."

I have no evidence that this Mr. Martin was a friend of
my father, but the fact that my brother William was with
him as stated (which must have been a favour), renders it
probable. On the same evening there were a number of
messages to about a dozen people all in different hand-
writings, several of which were recognized. My friend General
Lippitt had a most beautiful message which he allowed me
to copy, as it was a wonderful test and greatly surprised and
delighted him. His first wife had died twenty-seven years
before in California. She was an English lady and he was
greatly attached to her. This is the message : —

"Darling Francis,

" I come now to greet you from the high spheres to
which I have ascended. Do you recall the past? Do you
remember this day ? This day I used to look forward to and
mention with such pride ? This, my darling, is my birthday
anniversary. Do you not remember ? Oh how happy shall
we be when reunited in a world where we shall see as we are
seen and know as we are known.

■ Elizabeth Lippitt."

General Lippitt told me it was his first wife's birthday,
that he had not recollected it that day, and that no one in
Washington knew the fact but himself.

A German gentleman who was present had a message
given him, which was not only written, as he declared, in
excellent German, but was very characteristic of the friend
from whom it purported to come.

On this evening most wonderful physical manifestations
occurred. A stick was pushed out through the curtain. Two

xxxvii] SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIENCES 345

watches were handed to me through the curtain, and were
claimed by the two persons who sat by the medium. The
small tambourine, about ten inches diameter, was pushed
through the curtain and fell on the floor. These objects
came through different parts of the curtain, but left no holes
as could be seen at the time, and was proved by a close
examination afterwards. More marvellous still (if that be
possible), a waistcoat was handed to me over the curtain,
which proved to be the medium's, though his coat was left
on and his hands had been held by his companion all the
time ; also about a score of people were looking on all the
time in a well-lighted room. These things seem impossible,
but they are, nevertheless, facts.

Before passing on from my Washington friends, I wish to
give one curious test which occurred to General Lippitt
recently, and an account of which he sent to me in February,
1894. In his early life he had lived in Paris, and had become
acquainted with several members of the Bonaparte family,
and had rendered some services to them. This was only
known to himself, but it accounted (to him) for the fact that
he had, through different mediums, received messages from
some of them, and from Napoleon III. In August, 1893, he
had seances with a medium previously unknown to him, and
received on a slate under test conditions a long message in
French, purporting to come from Napoleon III., and to give
his last dying thoughts. A facsimile of this is given in a
Chicago paper, and is written as if it were an ordinary prose
message ; but on copying it out I found that it was in rhyme,
and, so far as I could judge, very forcible, and even pathetic
verse. I therefore sent a copy of it to Mr. F. Myers, asking
him what he thought of it, and whether it was correctly
written. In reply he told me that he had paid special atten-
tion to the rules of French poetry, and that this was correct
verse such as no one but a Frenchman could have written.
General Lippitt, who was a good French scholar, observes
that there is only one error in it — the omission of the final
" e " in the word profonde near the end, which is doubtless an
oversight, when all the other refinements of the language, as

346 MY LIFE [Chap.

well as the numerous accents, are correct. General Lippitt
also prints a certificate that the medium knew no French ;
but that is quite unnecessary in view of the test conditions.
Esprit C, who signs it, is one of the medium's guides who
knows French.

" L'Heure sonne ! on la compte ; elle n'est deja plus :
L'airain n'annonce, helas ! que des moments perdus.
Son redoutable son m'e'pouvante, m'eVeille ;
Et c'est la voix du temps qui frappe a mon oreille.
S'il ne m'abuse point, le lugubre me'tal
De mon heure derniere a donne* le signal :
C'est elle ! . . . ou retrouver tant d'heures e'coule'es ?
Vers leur source lointaine elles sont refoule'es ;
Le seul effroi me reste et l'espoir est banni.
II faut mourir, finir, quand je n'ai rien fini,
Ou vais-je ? et quelle scene a mes yeux se de'ploie
Des bords du lit fune'bre, ou palpite sa proie
Aux lugubres clarte's de son pale flambeau,
L'impitoyable mort me montre le tombeau.
Eternitd profonde : Ocdan sans rivage :
De ce terme fatal c'est toi que j'envisage ;
Sur le fleuve du temps, quoi ? c'est la que je cours ?
L'e'ternite' pour l'homme? il vit si peu de jours."

Esprit C.

At San Francisco my time was short, and my experiences
were limited to a slate-writing stance of a striking and very
satisfactory nature. I went with my brother John who had
lived in California nearly forty years, and who, the day
before, had bought a folding-slate bound with list to shut
noiselessly. The stance was in the morning of a bright
sunny day, and we sat at a small table close to a window.
Mr. Owen, the editor of the Golden Gate, with a friend (a
physician), accompanied us ; but they sat a little way from
the table, looking on. The medium, Mr. Fred Evans, was
quite a young man, whose remarkable gift had been developed
under Mr. Owen's guidance.

From a pile of small slates on a side-table four were
taken at a time, cleaned with a damp sponge, and handed to
us to examine, then laid in pairs on the table. All our hands
were then placed over them till the signal was given, and on

xxxvin SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIENCES 347

ourselves opening them writing was found on both slates.
Two other pairs were then similarly placed on the table, on
one of which the medium drew two diagonal pencil lines, and
on that slate writing was produced in five different colours —
deep blue, red, light green-blue, pale red-lilac, deep lilac, and
these could be seen all superposed upon the pencil cross-
lines. My brother's folding-slate was then placed upon the
floor a foot or two away from the table, and after we had
conversed for a few minutes, keeping it in sight, it was found
to be written on both the inner sides. It then occurred to
me to ask the medium whether writing could be produced on
paper placed between slates. After a moment's pause, as if
asking the question of his guides, he told me to take a paper
pad, tear off six pieces, and place them all between a pair of
slates. This I did, and we placed our hands over them as
before, and in a few minutes, on opening them, we found six
portraits in a peculiar kind of crayon drawing.

I will now describe what were the writings and drawings
we obtained, which are all now before me. The first was a
letter filling the slate in small, clear, and delicate writing, of
which I will quote the concluding portion : " I wish I could
describe to you my spirit home. But I cannot find words
suitable in your earthly language to give it the expression it
deserves. But you will know all when you join me in the
spirit world. . . . Your loving sister, Elizabeth Wallace.
Herbert is here."

Here are two family names given, the first being one
which no one present could have known, as she died when we
were both schoolboys. The opening and concluding parts of
the letter show that it was addressed specially to myself.
The next was addressed to my brother, referring to me as
" brother Alf," and is signed " P. Wallace." This we cannot
understand, as we have no relative with that initial, except
a cousin, Percy Wilson. It is, I think, not improbable that
in transferring the message through the medium, and perhaps
through a spirit-scribe (as is often said to be the case), the
surname was misunderstood owing to the latter supposing
that the communicant was a brother.

348 MY LIFE [Chap.

The next slate contains a message signed "Judge
Edmonds," addressed to myself and Mr. Owen, on the
general subject of spirit manifestations. It is written very
distinctly in a flowing hand.

The next is the slate written in five colours, and signed
"John Gray," one of the well-known early advocates of
spiritualism in America. It is also on the general subject
of spirit -return. Then comes a slate containing a portrait
and signature of "Jno. Pierpont," one of the pioneers of
spiritualism, and around the margin three messages in
different handwritings. One is from Stanley St. Clair, the
spirit-artist, who says he has produced the portrait for me,
at the request of the medium. The others are short messages
from Elizabeth Wallace and R. Wallace, the latter perhaps
one of the unknown Scotch uncles of my father, the other
beginning, " God bless you, my boys," is probably from our
paternal grandmother, who is buried at Laleham. The last
is my brother's folding-slate, containing on one side a short
farewell from " John Gray," the signature being written three
times in different styles and tints ; the other side is a message
signed, "Your father, T. V. Wallace." This, again, was a
test, as no one present would have been able to give my
father's unusual initials correctly, and as he was accustomed
to sign his name.

The six portraits on paper with the lips tinted are those
of Jno. Pierpont (signed) ; Benjamin Rush (an early spiritualist,
signed) ; Robt. Hare, M.D., whose works I had quoted
(signed) ; D. D. Home, the celebrated medium who had died
the year before — a likeness easily recognized ; a girl (signed
" The Spirit of Mary Wallace "), probably my sister who
had died the year before I was born, when eight years old ;
and a lady, who was recognized as Mrs. Breed, a medium of
San Francisco. These are all rather rude outlines, in some-
what irregular and interrupted dashes, but they are all life-
like, and considering that they must have been precipitated
on the six surfaces while in contact with each other between
the slates, as placed by myself, are exceedingly curious.
The whole of these seven slates and six papers were produced

xxxvii] SPIRITUALISTIC EXPERIENCES 349

so rapidly that the seance occupied less than an hour, and
with such simple and complete openness, under the eyes
of four observers, as to constitute absolutely test conditions,
although without any of the usual paraphernalia of tests
which were here quite unnecessary. A statement to this
effect was published, with an account of the stance, signed by
all present.

During the last fifteen years I have not seen much of
spiritualistic phenomena ; but those who have read the account
of my early investigations in my book on the subject, and
add to them all that I have indicated here, will see that
I have reached my present standpoint by a long series of
experiences under such varied and peculiar conditions as to
render unbelief impossible. As Dr. W. B. Carpenter well
remarked many years ago, people can only believe new and
extraordinary facts if there is a place for them in their exist-
ing " fabric of thought." The majority of people to-day have
been brought up in the belief that miracles, ghosts, and the
whole series of strange phenomena here described cannot
exist ; that they are contrary to the laws of nature ; that they
are the superstitions of a bygone age ; and that therefore
they are necessarily either impostures or delusions. There is
no place in the fabric of their thought into which such facts
can be fitted. When I first began this inquiry it was the
same with myself. The facts did not fit into my then
existing fabric of thought. All my preconceptions, all my
knowledge, all my belief in the supremacy of science and of
natural law were against the possibility of such phenomena.
And even when, one by one, the facts were forced upon me
without possibility of escape from them, still, as Sir David
Brewster declared after being at first astounded by the pheno-
mena he saw with Mr. Home, " spirit was the last thing I
could give in to." Every other possible solution was tried and
rejected. Unknown laws of nature were found to be of no
avail when there was always an unknown intelligence behind
the phenomena — an intelligence that showed a human character
and individuality, and an individuality which almost invariably

350 MY LIFE [Chap. XXXVII]

claimed to be that of some person who had lived on earth,
and who, in many cases, was able to prove his or her identity.
Thus, little by little, a place was made in my fabric of thought,
first for all such well-attested facts, and then, but more slowly,
for the spiritualistic interpretation of them.

Unfortunately, at the present day most inquirers begin at
the wrong end. They want to see, and sometimes do see the
most wonderful phenomena first, and being utterly unable to
accept them as facts denounce them as impostures, as did
Tyndall and G. H. Lewes, or declare, as did Huxley, that
such phenomena do not interest them. Many people think
that when I and others publish accounts of such phenomena,
we wish or require our readers to believe them on our testi-
mony. But that is not the case. Neither I nor any other
well-instructed spiritualist expects anything of the kind. We
write not to convince, but to excite to inquiry. We ask
our readers not for belief, but for doubt of their own infallibility
on this question ; we ask for inquiry and patient experiment
before hastily concluding that we are, all of us, mere dupes
and idiots as regards a subject to which we have devoted our
best mental faculties and powers of observation for many
years.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

THE ANTI-VACCINATION CRUSADE

I was brought up to believe that vaccination was a scientific
procedure, and that Jenner was one of the great benefactors
of mankind. I was vaccinated in infancy, and before going
to the Amazon I was persuaded to be vaccinated again. My
children were duly vaccinated, and I never had the slightest
doubt of the value of the operation — taking everything on
trust without any inquiry whatever — till about 1875-80, when
I first heard that there were anti-vaccinators, and read some
articles on the subject. These did not much impress me, as
I could not believe so many eminent men could be mistaken
on such an important matter. But a little later I met Mr.
William Tebb, and through him was introduced to some of
the more important statistical facts bearing upon the subject.
Some of these I was able to test by reference to the original
authorities, and also to the various Reports of the Registrar-
General, Dr. Farr's evidence as to the diminution of small-
pox before Jenner's time, and the extraordinary misstatements
of the supporters of vaccination. Mr. Tebb supplied me
with a good deal of anti-vaccination literature, especially with
" Pierce's Vital Statistics," the tables in which satisfied me
that the claims for vaccination were enormously exaggerated,
if not altogether fallacious. I also now learnt for the first
time that vaccination itself produced a disease, which was
often injurious to health and sometimes fatal to life, and I
also found to my astonishment that even Herbert Spencer
had long ago pointed out that the first compulsory Vaccina-
tion Act had led to an increase of sm all-pox. I then began

35 1

352

MY LIFE

to study the Reports of th. d - fCHAP

draw out curves* ^^T «' a°d to
peases (the only way of sC £ **' and °{ °*<* zymot°
d-sease as well as its annual ineZm, ! ge"eraI COUrse °' a
he course of the former di eaTran "** the" fou"d that
that of the latter as to disp ov 'a Z Jl^*"* Paral'<=' to
** effect of vaccination alt°gether any special protec-

Pamphlet of thirty.elht'°aCC,"fi0n' l ™*e a To t
Registration StaMstic's S £»*" F"ty-five *£*
less and Dangerous" Th;7 Vacc,nat'on to be both Use
Tebb, expend, and * "JZ*™*** i«5 at Mr ^
Persons, among whom were some of mv ° S."??** ""V
. A few years later, when thTlT f £ SOnal {riend^
c.nat;on was appointed, I was invl>ejf ^mission on Vac-
ant declined, as I could not ™ L 1 ^ 3 member °<
ch.efly because I thought I could d ? * "^^ "me, but
Iaccordi„g,ypreparJa J « good as a witness.

the arguments drawn from fa *23S f *? grams- a«° stated
my evidence during part of h ee' dav " ^ ^ l89° g«e
Comm,ssioners were doctors most rf* , ab°Ut half the
'hem. I told them, at the begin „/ ^ °U,eB gave "V to
knew nothing of medicine, but that foP "*■ ^"^ that X
bud down by Sir John Sin, „ dT'r ?g the PrindP'e
mr the benefits of vaccination nl^l T^' ""* evidence
prepared to show the bearing 'of £ TZ ' S.ta&«cal," I was
they insisted on putting Ld; * ** sta&«« only. yrt
med.cal facts to me, asking me hol ff T^ a"d a,,eged
accounted for that; and thfugh J st!tL ? '"^ th''S' hw 1
there were plenty of medical witness' T '" "nd agam that
those p0I„ts, they continually r«"r'e ft * W°"U ^ with
«•<• I had no answer to give not h! hem; and whe<> I
sieged facts, they seeme It ,' Zn£T'S ?q™ed int0 those
>t Yet they were so LZ.n t Z^ g0t the best *
methods that one great Ctwo^ a"d Statistical
the same facts as one of mine and » I, & d'agran1' showi"g
-% how it was that ntC^^fiT ^ WUmph

"inerent. After comparing

xxxviii] THE ANTI-VACCINATION CRUSADE 353

the two diagrams for a few moments I replied that they were
drawn on different scales, but that with that exception I
could see no substantial difference between them. The other
diagram was on a greatly exaggerated vertical scale, so that
the line showing each year's death-rate went up and down
with tremendous peaks and chasms, while mine approximated
more to a very irregular curve. But my questioner could not
see this simple point ; and later he recurred to it a second
time, and asked me if I really meant to tell them that those
two diagrams were both accurate, and when I said again that
though on different scales both represented the same facts, he
looked up at the ceiling with an air which plainly said, " If
you will say that you will say anything ! "

The Commission lingered on for six years, and did not
issue its final report till 1896, while the evidence, statistics, and
diagrams occupied numerous bulky blue-books. The most
valuable parts of it were the appendices, containing the
tables and diagrams presented by the chief witnesses,
together with a large number of official tables and statistics,
both of our own and foreign countries, affording a mass
of material never before brought together. This enabled
me to present the general statistical argument more com-
pletely and forcibly than I had done before, and I devoted
several months of very hard work to doing this, and brought
it out in pamphlet form in January, 1898, in order that a
copy might be sent to every member of the House of
Commons before the new Vaccination Act came up for dis-
cussion. This was done by the National Anti- Vaccination
League, and I wrote to the half-dozen members I knew
personally, begging them to give one evening to its careful
perusal. But so far as any of their speeches showed, not one
of the six hundred and seventy members gave even that
amount of their time to obtain information on a subject in-
volving the health, life, and personal freedom of their con-
stituents. Yet I know that in no work I have written have I
presented so clear and so conclusive a demonstration of the
fallacy of a popular belief as is given in this work, which was
entitled " Vaccination a Delusion : its Penal Enforcement a

VOL. II. 2 A

354 MY LIFE [Chap.

Crime, proved by the Official Evidence in the Reports of the
Royal Commission." This was included in the second part
of my "Wonderful Century," published in June, 1898, and
was also published separately in the pamphlet form, as it
continues to be ; and I feel sure that the time is not far dis-
tant when this will be held to be one of the most important
and most truly scientific of my works.

The great difficulty is to get it read. The subject is
extremely unpopular; yet as presented by Mr. William
White in his " Story of a Great Delusion," it is seen to be at
once a comedy and a tragedy. The historian of epidemic
diseases, Dr. C. Creighton, the man who best knows the
whole subject, and should be held to be the greatest living
authority upon it, terms vaccination "a grotesque delusion."
To inoculate a healthy child (or adult) with an animal
disease, under the pretence of protecting it from another
disease, the risk of having which is not one in a thousand,
would, if now proposed for the first time, be so repugnant to
every principle of sane medicine, as well as to common sense,
that its proposer would be held to be a madman. The
publication of this essay in the " Wonderful Century " (as one
of the "failures") did lead to its being read by a considerable
number of persons, and, as I know, of making many converts.
With the hope of getting it read by Sir John Gorst, I sent a
copy of my pamphlet to Mr. F. W. H. Myers, asking him to
be so good as to read it carefully. In reply he wrote, " I
will read your pamphlet most carefully ; will write and tell
you how it affects me ; and will, in any case, send it on with
your letter and a letter of my own to Sir John Gorst, whom
I know well, and whom I agree with you in regarding
as the most accessible member of the Government. If I
am converted, it will be wholly your doing. I have read
much on the subject — Creighton, etc., and am at present
strongly pro- vaccination ; at the same time, there is no
one by whom I would more willingly be converted than
yourself."

The letter then goes on to quite another matter, and I may
give the remainder further on.

xxxvui] THE ANTI-VACCINATION CRUSADE 355

Two days later he wrote me again : —

■ I can see no answer to your statistics and arguments.
Of course I should like to see what the doctors can say in
reply, as it is difficult to believe in such a widespread blunder.
But so far as the statistics with which you deal go — and that
is very far — I cannot imagine a convincing answer. I am
much obliged to you for letting me see the pamphlet; c id I
shall hand it on to Sir John Gorst, with your letter and a
letter of my own.

"The unveracity of W. B. Carpenter, and especially of
Ernest Hart, ought not to surprise me after what I already
knew of their standards in controversy ; but it is staggering
all the same."

Such a letter from so clear a reasoner and so thoroughly
honest and impartial a writer, was very satisfactory to me ;
but some months later, in September 1898, I received the
following quite unsolicited testimonial from a perfect stranger
to me — Lord Grimthorpe — an opponent in politics, but being
a King's Counsel and a mathematician, as well as an able
writer, was well fitted to form an opinion upon a rather com-
plex statistical problem.

The letter is as follows : —

"Batch Wood, St Albans, September 14, 1898.

" To Dr. Alfred R. Wallace.

" Sir,

" I dare say you will excuse my troubling you with
this letter on a subject on which I do not profess to be an
expert, but on which it may again be my duty to form a
legislative judgment. Last session I was not able to go up
and sit through two probably late debates to vote ; and, indeed,
I had not then made up my mind as I have now, though I
had written a short letter to the Times on the vacillation of
the Government about the Vaccination Bill.

" Since then I have been reading the chapter about it in
your recent book, the " Wonderful Century," and the sub-
sequent letters in the Times; and those of yesterday,
especially Dr. Bond's, move me to tell you that, absurd as his

356 MY LIFE IChap.

statement about your 'only three converts' is, he and his
associates may add me to their number. I do not profess to
have wandered through the thickets of the Commissioners'
contradictory Reports, but I have long learnt in controversies
involving facts, to take more account of the style of the con-
troversialists, and their apparent regard for truth, than of their
assertions and references to other people, and the final
balance of voting. Specially I had to do so in the somewhat
similar controversy in the Times which lasted several months
in 1887-8 in which, from the accident of being put in the
chair of a hospital meeting that had been called to turn out
some doctors for homoeopathic heresy, I had gradually to
take a leading part, being helped by information from the
experts on both sides as the dispute went on. Finally the
Times pronounced that I had completely proved the charges
of medical conspiracy and tyranny, which the 'orthodox'
party had been called upon at the meeting to answer, and
declined to attempt, except by their own dicta.'

" Such letters as that of Dr. Bond, even without the
answers to it, always go a long way to persuade me that the
author has no solid case ; and I regard them as mere con-
troversial fireworks, throwing no real light on the subject of
discussion. In most controversies involving facts, it soon
becomes apparent to competent judges, after hearing the
professed experts, on which side is the balance of truth and
honesty, as it is very clearly in one of a very different kind
which has been going on in the Times for two months, on
what is called clerical and episcopal lawlessness, in which the
writers on one side think themselves at liberty to assert
anything that is ' necessary for, their position ' (as their great
founder avowed fifty years ago), and take their chance of being
refuted.

" In your dispute, as in that, the really decisive facts are
becoming more and more extant from the intolerable mass of
assertions and references to other people's writings which are
worth very little in the face of current genuine evidence, such
as you and other writers on your side have produced in
manageable form, and which the other side have now had

xxxviii] THE ANTI-VACCINATION CRUSADE 357

plenty of time to refute if they can, but certainly have not.
In such a case neither past nor present majorities go for much.
Indeed, a heavy discount may generally be taken off as
due to laziness, and the desire of most people to take the
apparently strongest side. I can only say that the more the
vaccinationists go on writing and talking as they have done
for a long time, the more they are likely to be wrong and
conscious that they are so.

" Lest I should be thought to include your ' appendix '
of a socialistic nostrum or ' Remedy for Want ' in my general
approval of your book, I think it prudent to add that I con-
sider it more demonstrably wrong and ruinous to any country
that should adopt it than any disease that has ever been pro-
pagated ; but I am not going to discuss that I only add
that you may either publish this if you like, or announce me
as a ' fourth convert ' to anti-vaccination under your treat-
ment— and such as Dr. Bond's.

■ Yours obediently,

" Grimthorpe."

" Batch Wood, St Albans, October 4, 1898.
■ To Dr. F. T. Bond, Gloucester.

■ Sir,

■ I am much obliged to you for the copies of your
and Mr. Wallace's letters to the Echo. I have read them
carefully, and compared them with the chapter on Vaccina-
tion in his " Wonderful Century," and I have no hesitation in
giving my verdict as a 'juryman,' and not as an 'expert,' in
his favour.

" I take it for granted that you have made as good a case
as anybody can on your side, and I have less doubt than before
that we (I mean Parliament) have done right in putting an
end, as the late Act practically has, to punishing parents for
refusing to have their children vaccinated at the risk, as they
believe, of doing them more harm than good. The few
magistrates who are taking upon themselves to judge of the
Tightness of the belief will have to be taught that they are
breaking and not obeying or executing the law. Nobody will

358 MY LIFE [Chap.

pay a shilling for a certificate that he conscientiously (which
only means really) believes what he does not. If he did not
he would let them be vaccinated.

" Yours obediently,

" Grimthorpe."
" F. T. Bond, Esq., M.D., Gloucester."

This letter is of the more importance, because Dr. Bond
was the only medical advocate of vaccination who attempted
any extended criticism of my work. He wrote long letters
in scores of newspapers all over the kingdom, some of which
I replied to, showing in every case of any importance that he
had either misrepresented or misunderstood my argument,
and had sometimes been guilty of misquotation. The great
features of my statistical argument were never dealt with by
him or any other critic. The medical journals were content
with pointing out minute and quite unimportant slips in
medical nomenclature or classification, and though my work
has now been before the public seven years, and has been
widely circulated, no attempt at rebutting the main statistical
argument has been made, no disproof has been adduced of
the long series of misstatements of fact or fallacies of reason-
ing which I have charged against the whole body of official
and medical advocates of vaccination. To Myers's very
natural remark, " I should like to see what the doctors can
say in reply," I can now answer, " They have made no
reply ; and their single representative who attempted to do
so, only succeeded in convincing an able and independent
inquirer that they had ' no case.' "

In 1904, in view of a possible general election, I care-
fully condensed my pamphlet into a twenty-four page
tract, which treats the subject under the following seven
headings : —

(1) Why Doctors are not the best judges of the results of
Vaccination.

(2) What is proved by the best Statistical Evidence
available.

(3) London Death-rates during Registration.

xxxviii] THE ANTI-VACCINATION CRUSADE 539

(4) Death-rates in England and Wales during the period
of Registration.

(5) Thirty years of decreasing Vaccination in Leicester,
and its Teachings.

(6) The Army and Navy : a Demonstration of the Use-
lessness of Vaccination.

(7) How to deal with Medical Pro-vaccinators.

This has been written specially to instruct voters, and to
enable them to catechise their parliamentary candidates and
any medical or other upholders of vaccination. I will here
give the last three paragraphs of what will probably be my
last word on this subject

"Doctors and Members of Parliament are alike grossly
ignorant of the true history of the effects of vaccination.
They require to be taught ; and nothing is so likely to teach
them as to show them the diagrams I have referred to in this
short exposition of the subject — those of London for thirty
years before and after vaccination — of England and Wales
during the period of official registration — of Leicester which
has almost abolished small-pox by refusing to be vaccinated
for thirty years — and for the Army and Navy — which, though
thoroughly re-vaccinated and therefore (according to the
doctors) as well protected as they possibly can be, yet die of
small-pox at least as much as badly vaccinated Ireland, and
many times more than unvaccinated Leicester.

"A doctor who has not studied these most vital statistics
has no right to an opinion on this subject.

" A candidate for Parliament who will not give the neces-
sary time and attention to study them, but is yet ready to
vote for penal laws against those who know infinitely more of
the question than he does, is utterly unworthy to receive a
single vote from any self-respecting constituency."

CHAPTER XXXIX

A CHAPTER ON MONEY MATTERS — EARNINGS AND LOSSES
— SPECULATIONS AND LAW-SUITS

Up to the age of twenty-one I do not think I ever had a
sovereign of my own. I then received a small sum, perhaps
about £$o, the remnant of a legacy from my grandfather,
John Greenell. This enabled me to get a fair outfit of
clothes, and to keep myself till I got the appointment at the
Leicester school. While living at Neath as a surveyor I did
little more than earn my living, except during the six months
of the railway mania, when I was able to save about ,£100.
This enabled me to go to Para with Bates, and during the
four years on the Amazon my collections just paid all
expenses, but those I was bringing home with me would
probably have sold for ^"200. My agent, Mr. Stevens, had
fortunately insured them for £150, which enabled me to live
a year in London, and get a good outfit and a sufficient cash
balance for my Malayan journey.

My eight years in the Malay Archipelago were successful,
financially, beyond my expectations. Celebes, the Moluccas,
the Aru Islands, and New Guinea were, for English museums
and private collections, an almost unknown territory. A
large proportion of my insects and birds were either wholly
new or of extreme rarity in England ; and as many of them
were of large size and of great beauty, they brought very
high prices. My agent had invested the proceeds from time
to time in Indian guaranteed railway stock, and a year after
my return I found myself in possession of about ,£300 a year.
Besides this, I still possessed the whole series of private

360

Chap, xxxixj MONEY MATTERS 361

collections, including large numbers of new or very rare
species, which, after I had made what use of them was
needed for my work, produced an amount which in the same
securities would have produced about £200 a year more.

But I never reached that comfortable position. Owing
to my never before having had more than enough to supply
my immediate wants, I was wholly ignorant of the numerous
snares and pitfalls that beset the ignorant investor, and I
unfortunately came under the influence of two or three men
who, quite unintentionally, led me into trouble. Soon after I
came home I made the acquaintance of Mr. R., who held a
good appointment under Government, and had, besides, the
expectation of a moderate fortune on the death of an uncle.
I soon became intimate with him, and we were for some years
joint investigators of spiritualistic phenomena. He was, like
myself at that time, an agnostic, well educated, and of a
more positive character than myself. He had for some years
saved part of his income, and invested it in various foreign
securities at low prices, selling out when they rose in value,
and in this way he assured me he had in a few years doubled
the amount he had saved He studied price-lists and foreign
news, and assured me that it was quite easy, with a little care
and judgment, to increase your capital in this way. He quite
laughed at the idea of allowing several thousand pounds to
lay idle, as he termed it, in Indian securities, and so imbued
me with an idea of his great knowledge of the money-
market, that I was persuaded to sell out some of my bonds
and debentures and buy others that he recommended, which
brought in a higher interest, and which he believed would
soon rise considerably in value. This change went on slowly
with various success for several years, till at last I had in-
vestments in various English, American, and foreign railways,
whose fluctuations in value I was quite unable to compre-
hend, and I began to find, when too late, that almost all my
changes of investment brought me loss instead of profit, and
later on, when the great depression of trade of 1875-85
occurred, the loss was so great as to be almost ruin.

In 1866 one of my oldest friends became secretary to a

362 MY LIFE [Chap.

small body of speculators, who had offices in Pall Mall, and
who, among other things, were buying slate quarry properties,
and forming companies to work them. Two of these properties
were in the neighbourhood of Dolgelly and Machynlleth, and
a party of us went down to see them. We were shown the
outcrop of the slate rock, followed it across the country, were
told it was of fine quality, and that there was a fortune in it
if properly developed. My friend's employer seemed to know
all about it, and as many large fortunes had been made out
of slate quarries, it seemed quite a safe thing. The slate was
undoubtedly there, as small portions had been worked and
split up, and we saw the piles of slates, and were assured that
the quality would be still better as it was worked deeper.
One of the veins had been found to be excellent for billiard
tables, and for all kinds of slate tanks, as it could be got
out in slabs of almost any size, and only wanted sawing and
planing machines worked by a small mountain brook close
by to become very profitable. Of course we were shown
reports by specialists, who declared that the slate rock was
abundant and good, and if properly developed would be
profitable.

I was persuaded to take shares, and to be a director of
these companies, without any knowledge of the business, or
any idea how much capital would be required. The quarries
were started, machinery purchased, call after call made, with
the result in both cases that, after four or five years of struggle,
the capital required and the working expenses were so great
that the companies had to be wound up, and I was the loser
of about a thousand pounds.

While this was going on a still more unfortunate influence
became active. My old friend in Timor and Singapore, Mr.
Frederick Geach, the mining engineer, came home from the
East, and we became very intimate, and saw a good deal of
each other. He was a Cornishman, and familiar with tin,
lead, and copper mining all his life, and he had the most
unbounded confidence in good English mines as an invest-
ment. He had shares in some of the lead-mines of Shropshire
and Montgomeryshire, and we went for a walking tour in that

xxxix] MONEY MATTERS 363

beautiful country, visited the mines, went down the shafts by
endless perpendicular ladders, and examined the veins and
workings with the manager, who had great confidence in its
value, and was a large shareholder. " Here," said Geach,
"you can see the vein of lead ore. It is very valuable, and
extends to an unknown depth. This is not a probability, it
is a certainty." And so I was persuaded to buy shares in
lead-mines, and gradually had a large portion of my capital
invested in them.

But here again, neither I nor Geach, nor hardly one in
England, knew of the insidious foe that in a remote part of
the world was preparing the way for the ruin of English lead-
mining. This was twofold : the great development of mining
in Spain by English capitalists ; and, more important still, the
enormous amount of silver-mining in Nevada, United States,
where the ore contained lead and silver combined, so that as
the works extended large quantities of lead accumulated as
a kind of waste product, and much of this was exported to
Europe, and so lowered the price of lead that most of the
British lead-mines became unprofitable. About 1 870 the price
of lead began to fall, and has continued to fall, as has silver,
ever since. The result of all this was that by 18S0 a large
part of the money I had earned at the risk of health and life
was irrecoverably lost.

While these continued misfortunes were in progress I was
involved in two other annoyances, causing anxiety and worry
for years, as well as a very large money loss. The first was
with a dishonest builder, who contracted to build my house
at Grays, and who was paid every month according to the
proportion of the work done. One day, when the house was
little more than half finished, he did not appear to pay his
men, and as they would not continue to work without their
money I paid them. He did not appear the next week, and
sent no excuse, so the architect gave him notice that I should
complete the building myself, and that, according to the agree-
ment, he would be responsible for any cost beyond the con-
tract price. After a few weeks he appeared, and wanted to
go on, but that we declined. The house cost me somewhat

364 MY LIFE [Chap.

more than the contract price, and when it was finished I sent
him word he could have his ladders, scaffold -poles, boards,
etc., though, according to the agreement, they were to be my
property on his failure to finish the building.

I soon found, however, that he had not paid for a large
portion of the materials, and bills kept coming in for months
afterwards for bricks, timber, stone, iron-work, etc., etc. The
merchants who had trusted him found that he had no effects
whatever, as he lived as a lodger with his father ; and from all
I heard, was accustomed to take contracts in different places
round London, and by not paying for any materials that he
could get on credit, make a handsome profit. But the height
of his impudence was to come. About five years after the
house was finished, I received a demand through a lawyer for
(I think) between £800 and ^"900 damages for not allowing
this man to finish the house ! I wrote, refusing to pay a
penny. Then came a notice of an action at law ; and I was
obliged to put it in a lawyer's hands. All the usual pre-
liminaries of interrogatories, affidavits, statements of claim,
replies, objections, etc., etc., were gone through, and on every
point argued we were successful, with costs, which we never
got. The case was lengthened out for two or three years, and
then ceased, the result being that I had to pay about ;£ioo law
costs for what was merely an attempt to extort money. That
was my experience of English law, which leaves the honest
man in the power of the dishonest one, mulcts the former
in heavy expenses, and is thus the very antithesis of justice.

The next matter was a much more serious one, and cost
me fifteen years of continued worry, litigation, and persecution,
with the final loss of several hundred pounds. And it was all
brought upon me by my own ignorance and my own fault —
ignorance of the fact so well shown by the late Professor de
Morgan — that " paradoxers," as he termed them, can never
be convinced, and my fault in wishing to get money by any
kind of wager. It constitutes, therefore, the most regrettable
incident in my life. As many inaccurate accounts have been
published, I will now state the facts, as briefly as possible, from
documents still in my possession.

xxxix] HAMPDEN AND THE FLAT EARTH 365

In Scientific Opinion of January 12, 1870, Mr. John
Hampden (a relative of Bishop Hampden) challenged
scientific men to prove the convexity of the surface of any
inland water, offering to stake £500 on the result. It con-
tained the following words : ■ He will acknowledge that he
has forfeited his deposit if his opponent can exhibit, to the
satisfaction of any intelligent referee, a convex railway, river,
canal, or lake." Before accepting this challenge I showed it
to Sir Charles Lyell, and asked him whether he thought I
might accept it. He replied, " Certainly. It may stop these
foolish people to have it plainly shown them." I therefore
wrote accepting the offer, proposing Bala lake, in North
Wales, for the experiment, and Mr. J. H. Walsh, editor of
the Field, or any other suitable person, as referee. Mr.
Hampden proposed the Old Bedford canal in Norfolk, which,
near Downham Market, has a stretch of six miles quite straight
between two bridges. He also proposed a Mr. William
Carpenter (a journeyman printer, who had written a book
upholding the " flat earth " theory) as his referee ; and as Mr.
Walsh could not stay away from London more than one day,
which was foggy, I chose Mr. Coulcher, a surgeon and amateur
astronomer, of Downham Market, to act on my behalf, Mr.
Walsh being the umpire and referee.

The experiment finally agreed upon was as follows : The
iron parapet of Welney bridge was thirteen feet three inches
above the water of the canal. The Old Bedford bridge, about
six miles off, was of brick and somewhat higher. On this
bridge I fixed a large sheet of white calico, six feet long and
three feet deep, with a thick black band along the centre, the
lower edge of which was the same height from the water as the
parapet of Welney bridge ; so that the centre of it would be
as high as the line of sight of the large six-inch telescope
I had brought with me. At the centre point, about three
miles from each bridge, I fixed up a long pole with two red
discs on it, the upper one having its centre the same height
above the water as the centre of the black band and of the
telescope, while the second disc was four feet lower down. It
is evident that if the surface of the water is a perfectly straight

366

MY LIFE

[Chap.

line for the six miles, then the three objects — the telescope,
the top disc, and the black band — being all exactly the same
height above the water, the disc would be seen in the telescope
projected upon the black band ; whereas, if the six-mile
surface of the water is convexly curved, then the top disc
would appear to be decidedly higher than the black band, the
amount due to the known size of the earth being five feet
eight inches, which amount will be reduced a little by refraction
to perhaps about five feet.

The above diagrams illustrate the experiment made. The
curved line in Fig. i, and the straight line in Fig. 2, show the
surface of the canal on the two theories of a round or a flat
earth. A and C are the two bridges six miles apart, while B
is the pole midway with two discs on it, the upper disc, the
telescope at A, and the black line on the bridge at C, being
all exactly the same height above the water. If the surface
of the water is truly flat, then on looking at the mark C with
the telescope A, the top disc B will cover that mark. But if
the surface of the water is curved, then the upper disc will
appear above the black mark, and if the disc is more than
four feet above the line joining the telescope and the black
mark, then the lower disc will also appear above the black
mark. Before the experiment was made a diagram similar
to this was submitted to Mr. Hampden, his referee Mr.
Carpenter, and Mr. Walsh, and all three agreed that it
showed clearly what should be seen in the two cases, while

xxxix] HAMPDEN AND THE FLAT EARTH 367

the former declared their firm belief that Fig. 2 showed what
would be seen.

When the pole was set up and the mark put upon the
bridge, Mr. Carpenter accompanied me, and saw that their
heights above the water were the same as that of the telescope
resting on the parapet of the bridge. What was seen in the
large telescope was sketched by Mr. Coulcher and signed by
Mr. Carpenter as correct, and is shown in the following
diagram which was reproduced in the Field newspaper (March
26, 1870), and also in a pamphlet by Carpenter himself. But

' ' Signed by Mr. Carpenter. ' '—Dr. Coulcher s Report. ' ' Signed I "

he declared that this proved nothing, because the telescope
was not levelled, and because it had no cross-hair !

At his request to have a spirit-level in order to show if
there was any " fall " of the surface of water, I had been to
King's Lynn and borrowed a good Troughton's level from a
surveyor there. This I now set up on the bridge at exactly
the same height above the water as the other telescope, and
having levelled it very accurately and called Mr. Carpenter
to see that the bubble was truly central and that the least
movement of the screws elevating or depressing it would
cause the bubble to move away, I adjusted the focus on to
the distant bridge, and showing also the central staff and its
two discs.

368

MY LIFE

[Chap.

Mr. Coulcher looked at it, and then Mr. Carpenter, and
the moment the latter did he said " Beautiful ! Beautiful ! "
And on Mr. Hampden asking him if it was all right, he
replied that it was perfect, and that it showed the three
points in " a perfect straight line ; " " as level as possible ! "
And he actually jumped for joy. Then I asked Mr. Coulcher
and Mr. Carpenter both to make sketches, which they did.
We then fixed a calico flag on the parapet to make it more

The "Bedford Level" Survey.— Sketches by the
Two Referees.

Copied from the Field for March 26, 1870.

These two views, as seen by means of the inverting telescope, are exact representa-
tions of the sketches taken by Mr. Hampden's Referee, and attested by Dr.
Coulcher as being correct in both cases : first, from Welney Bridge ; and
secondly, from the Old Bedford Bridge.

visible, and drove back with the instruments to Old Bedford
bridge, where I set up the level again at the proper height
above the water, and again asked both the referees to make
sketches of what was seen in the level-telescope. This they
did. Mr. Carpenter's was rather more accurately drawn, and
Mr. Coulcher signed them as being correct, and both are
reproduced here.

For those who do not understand the use of a level, it
may be necessary to explain that the cross-hair in the optical
axis of the telescope marks the true level of any object at a
distance with regard to the telescope. Any point that is
seen above the cross-hair is above the level, any point seen
below the cross-hair is below the level, and in the latter case
the line from the telescope to it slopes downwards. To show

xxxix] HAMPDEN AND THE FLAT EARTH 369

this "true level" is the whole purpose of the instrument
called a surveyor's level, and it does show it with wonderful
accuracy. The mere fact, therefore, that the top disc on the
pole was apparently more below the cross-hair than the two
discs were apart, proved that the surface of the water was not
flat, or continuously extended in a straight line. And again
the fact that the distant signal was again about the same
distance, apparently below the middle one, as that was below
the telescope of the level, shows that the surface of the water
did not merely slope down in a straight line, but was curved
downwards with regard to its surface at the starting-point
The following diagram will illustrate this : —

The lower curved line represents the supposed curved
surface of the water. The points ABC are three points
equi-distant above that surface. The top line from A is the
level line shown by the cross-hair in the level-telescope. If
the water surface had been truly level, the two points B and
C must have been cut by the cross-hair. But even if the
cross-hair did not show the true level, but pointed upwards^,
and the water was truly level, then the distant mark, being
the same height above the water as the top disc at half the
distance and the telescope, these two objects must have
appeared in a straight line, the nearer one covering the more
distant. It should appear on the straight line drawn from
the eye at A through B, whereas it appears a long way below
it, thus proving curvature, the essential point to be shown.

Thus the view in the large telescope and in the level-
telescope both told exactly the same thing, and, moreover,
proved that the curvature was very nearly of the amount

VOL. II. 2 B

370 MY LIFE [Chap.

calculated from the known dimensions of the earth. Mr.
Hampden declined to look through either telescope, saying
he trusted to Mr. Carpenter ; while the latter declared posi-
tively that they had won, and that we knew it ; that the fact
that the distant signal appeared below the middle one as far
as the middle one did below the cross-hair, proved that the
three were in a straight line, and that the earth was flat, and
he rejected the view in the large telescope as proving nothing
for the reasons already stated.

At first Mr. Hampden refused to appoint an umpire,
because my referee, Mr. Coulcher, refused to discuss the
question with Mr. Carpenter ; but after a few days he agreed
that Mr. Walsh should be the umpire, after receiving the
reports of the two referees. He had, in fact, unbounded con-
fidence in what Mr. Carpenter told him, and firmly believed
that the experiments had demonstrated the flat earth, and
that no honest man could think otherwise.

But Mr. Walsh decided without any hesitation that I had
proved what I undertook to prove. He published the whole
of the particulars with the reports of the referees and their
sketches in the Field oi March 18 and 26, while a consider-
able correspondence and discussion went on for some weeks
later. At Mr. Hampden's request he allowed Mr. Carpenter
to send in a long argument to show that the experiments
were all in Mr. Hampden's favour, and having considered
them, he wrote to Mr. Hampden that he should hand me the
stakes on a certain day if he had no other reason to adduce
why he should not do so. Thereupon Mr. Hampden wrote
to him demanding his money back on the ground that the
decision was unjust, and ought to have been given in his
favour. In thus writing to Hampden and receiving his
demand for his deposit to be returned, Mr. Walsh made a
great mistake, which had serious consequences for me. The
law declares that all wagers are null and void, and that money
lost by betting is not recoverable at law. But the judges
have decided that when a wager is given against him by the
umpire, the loser can claim his money back from the stake-
holder if the latter has not already paid it away to the winner.

xxxix] HAMPDEN AND THE FLAT EARTH 371

Hence, if a loser immediately claims his money from the
stake-holder, the law will enforce the former's claim on the
ground that it is his money, and the fact that he has lost it
in a quite fair wager is beyond the cognizance of the law.
Neither I nor Mr. Walsh knew of this, although he had
decided and paid many wagers ; but this resulted in my
having to pay the money back five years later, as will be
presently described.

I will now briefly state what were Hampden's proceed-
ings for the next fifteen or sixteen years. He first began
abusing Mr. Walsh in letters, post-cards, leaflets, and pam-
phlets, as a liar, thief, and swindler. Then he began upon
me with even more virulence, writing to the presidents and
secretaries of all the societies to which I belonged, and to
any of my friends whose addresses he could obtain. One of
his favourite statements in these letters was, " Do you know
that Mr. A. R. Wallace is allowing himself to be posted all
over England as a cheat and a swindler ? " But he soon
took more violent measures, and sent the following letter to
my wife : —

"Mrs. Wallace,

"Madam — If your infernal thief of a husband is
brought home some day on a hurdle, with every bone in his
head smashed to pulp, you will know the reason. Do you
tell him from me he is a lying infernal thief, and as sure as
his name is Wallace he never dies in his bed.

"You must be a miserable wretch to be obliged to live
with a convicted felon. Do not think or let him think I
have done with him.

"John Hampden."

For this I brought him up before a police magistrate, and
he was bound over to keep the peace for three months, suf-
fering a week's imprisonment before he could find the neces-
sary sureties. But as soon as the three months were up, he
began again with more abuse than ever, distributing tracts
and writing to small local papers all over England. I now

372 MY LIFE [Chap.

began to receive letters from friends, and also from perfect
strangers, asking me if I knew what was said about me
everywhere. I will now give a summary of the steps I was
obliged to take with the results, or rather absence of results,
that followed.

In 1871, Mr. Walsh prosecuted Hampden for libel. He
was convicted at the Old Bailey, and bound over to keep the
peace for one year.

In January, 1871, I brought an action for libel in order to
give Hampden the opportunity of justifying, if he could, his
language towards me. He did not defend the action, but
suffered judgment to go by default, and the jury gave me a
verdict with £600 damages. But whatever property he had
had been transferred to his son-in-law (a solicitor), so I could
not get a penny, and had to pay the costs of the suit which,
though undefended, were heavy.

In October, 1872, I prosecuted him at the Old Bailey for
further libels. He was respited on publicly apologizing in
several newspapers.

On January 13, 1873, he was brought up again for fresh
libels, and was again respited on publishing a fuller apology
and complete recantation of all his charges, as follows : —

" PUBLIC Apology. — I, the undersigned John Hampden,
do hereby absolutely withdraw all libellous statements pub-
lished by me, which have reflected on the character of Mr.
Alfred Russel Wallace, and apologize for having published
them ; and I promise that I will not repeat the offence. —
John Hampden."

This was published in several of the London daily papers
and in various country papers in which any of his letters had
appeared, and the judge gave him a serious warning that if
brought up again he would be imprisoned.

Some months afterwards, however, he began again with
equally foul libels, and I had him brought up under his
recognizances, when he was sentenced to two months'
imprisonment in Newgate.

But within a year he began again as violently as ever,
and on March 6, 1875, he was indicted at Chelmsford Assizes

xxxix] HAMPDEN AND THE FLAT EARTH 373

for fresh libels, and on proof of his previous convictions and
apologies, he was sentenced to one year's imprisonment and
to keep the peace, under heavy recognizances and sureties, for
two years more. (A full report is given in the Chelmsford
Chronicle, March 12, 1 875.)

Through the interest of his friends, however, he was
liberated in about six months ; and thereupon, in January,
1876, he brought an action against Mr. Walsh to recover his
deposit of £500, and this action he won, on the grounds
already stated ; and as I had signed an indemnity to Mr.
Walsh, I had to pay back the money, and also pay all the
costs of the action, about ^200 more. But as I had a judg-
ment for .£687 damages and costs in my libel suit against
Hampden, I transferred this claim to Mr. Walsh as a set-off
against the amount due by him. Hampden, however, had
already made himself a bankrupt to prevent this claim being
enforced, and had assigned all his actual or future assets to
his son-in-law.

There were now legal difficulties on both sides. I was
advised that the bankruptcy was fraudulent, and could be
annulled ; but to attempt this would be costly, and the result
uncertain. On the other hand, it was doubtful whether my
claim against Hampden would not be treated as an ordinary
creditor's claim in the bankruptcy. There was, therefore, a
consultation of the solicitors, and a voluntary arrangement
was arrived at. I was to pay all the costs of the suit and
£120, amounting to £277 ; while £410 still remained nomi-
nally due to me from Hampden.

These terms were formally agreed to by Hampden and
his son-in-law, and were duly carried out. Of course I had
also to pay Mr. Walsh's costs in the action and my own
lawyer's bill for the settlement, as well as those of the action
for libel, and the various criminal prosecutions of Hampden I
had been compelled to undertake.

Notwithstanding this settlement, however, Hampden was
by no means silenced. The very day after his recognizancss
expired, in 1878, he began again with his abusive post-cards,
circulars, and other forms of libel. In 1885 he wrote and

374 MY LIFE [Chap.

printed a long letter to Huxley, as President of the Royal
Society, chiefly on his biblical discussion with Mr. Gladstone,
in a postscript to which he writes as follows : —

"I have thoroughly exposed that degraded blackleg,
Alfred Russel Wallace, as I would every one who publicly
identifies himself with such grossly false science, which he
had the audacity to claim to be true ! If this man's experi-
ment on the Bedford canal was founded on fact, then the
whole of the Scriptures are false, from the first verse to the
last. But your whole system is based upon falsehood and
fraud, and refusal of all discussion ; and such characters as
Wallace seem to be your only champions." And he has an
appendix on " Modern Education conducted on Wrong
Principles," in which we find such gems as this : —

"When Mr. Mundella and Mr. Gladstone were schoolboys,
the educational professors were all newly indoctrinated with
the pretentious learning of the ' Principia ' of Newton. The
Bible was not regarded as of any authority upon such
subjects, and a flood of writers were all extolling the immortal
genius of the ' incomparable mathematician.' Newton and
his apple-tree were spoken of as the foundation of all true
philosophy. The plausibly sounding phrases 'Attraction'
and ' Gravitation ' were in every pedagogue's mouth, and
the poor children were birched into repeating them every
hour of their lives." And so on for three closely printed
pages.

About this time he printed one thousand copies of a two-
page leaflet, and sent them to almost every one in my
neighbourhood whose address he could obtain, including
most of the masters of Charterhouse School, and the resi-
dents as well as the tradesmen of Godalming. It was full
of — "scientific villainy and roguery," — "cheat, swindler, and
impostor." — " My specific charge against Mr. A. R. Wallace
is that he obtained possession of a cheque for ;£i,ooo by
fraud and falsehood of a party who had no authority to
dispose of it." — " As Mr. Wallace seems wholly devoid of
any sense of honour of his own, I shall most readily submit
the whole matter to any two or more disinterested parties,

xxxix] HAMPDEN AND THE FLAT EARTH 375

and adhere most absolutely and finally to their decision." —
" I will compel him to acknowledge that the curvature of
water which he and his dupes pretend was proved on the
Bedford Level, does not exist! And this Mr. Wallace saw
with his own eyes." And so on in various forms of repetition
and abuse. To save trouble, I drew up a short circular
stating the main facts already given here for the information
of those who had received Hampden's absurdly false libels,
and thereafter took no further notice of him.

One day about this time we happened to have several
friends with us, and as we were at luncheon, I was called to
see a gentleman at the door. I went, and there was Hamp-
den ! I was so taken aback that my only idea was to get rid
of him as soon as possible, but I afterwards much regretted
that I did not ask him in, give him luncheon, and introduce
him as the man who devoted his life to converting the world
into the belief that the earth was flat We should at least
have had some amusement ; and to let him say what he had
to say to a lot of intelligent people might have done him
good. But such " happy thoughts " come too late. He had
come really to see where I lived, and as our cottage and
garden at Godalming, though quite small, were very pretty,
he was able to say afterwards that I (the thief, etc.) was
living in luxury, while he, the martyr to true science, was in
poverty.

He continued to circulate his postcards and tracts, and
to write to all manner of people, challenging them to prove
that the earth was not flat, for several years after. The last
of his efforts which I have preserved is an eight-page tract,
which he distributed at the Royal Geographical Society's
Exhibition of Geographical Appliances, in December, 1885,
in which he attacks all geographical teaching in his usual
style, and declares that " at the present moment they are
cowering beneath the inquiring gaze of one single truth-
seeker, John Hampden, the well-known champion of the
Mosaic cosmogony, as against the infidel theories and super-
stitions of the pagan mystics, who is, at the end of fifteen
years' conflict, still holding his ground against all the

376 MY LIFE [Chap.

professional authorities of England and America ; and the
single fact that during the whole of that time, no one but a
degraded swindler has dared to make a fraudulent attempt
to support the globular theory, is ample and overwhelming
proofs of the worthless character of modern elementary
geography." And again : " Surveyors and civil and military
engineers are offered «£l00 for the discovery of any portion
of the earth's curvature, on land or water, railway or canal,
of not less than five or ten miles, within one hundred miles of
the metropolis. Why does not Mr. A. R. Wallace do again
what he says he has done before ? " And in a list of ad-
vertisements of books, etc., supporting his views he has this
one : " Scientific Information wanted. A gentleman of ample
means and inquisitive disposition offers ,£ioo for particulars
setting forth conclusively the grounds on which Sir Isaac
Newton's Globular Theory was presumably established or
asserted to be the fact."

And this man was educated at Oxford University !
Seldom has so much boldness of assertion and force of
invective been combined with such gross ignorance. And to
this day a society exists to uphold the views of Hampden,
Carpenter, and their teacher, " Parallax ! "

The two law suits, the four prosecutions for libel, the
payments and costs of the settlement, amounted to consider-
ably more than the £500 I received from Hampden, besides
which I bore all the costs of the week's experiments, and
between fifteen and twenty years of continued persecution — a
tolerably severe punishment for what I did not at the time
recognize as an ethical lapse.

There is one other small money matter which I wish to
put on record here, because, though it involves only the small
sum of sixpence, it affords an example of official meanness,
and what really amounts to petty larceny, which can hardly
be surpassed. In 1865 the British Museum purchased from
me some specimen (I think a skeleton) for which they agreed
to pay £$. Two years later I received the following printed
form : —

xxxix] MONEY MATTERS 377

" Principal Librarian and Secretary's Office.

" British Museum, W.C., June 24, 1867.
■ Sir,

" If you will send your own stamped receipt to this
Office, you will be paid the amount due to you by the
Trustees of the British Museum, £5 ay. od.
" I am, sir,

" Your very obedient Servant,

"Thomas Butler,

" Assist Secretary."
" Mr. A. R. Wallace."

I, of course, complied with the request and sent the
stamped receipt, and by return of post had the following
written communication : —

" Mr. Butler begs to transmit the enclosed P.O. order for
£4 igs. 6d. to Mr. Wallace, and the amount of it, with the
cost of the order (6d), makes up the sum due by the Trustees
to Mr. Wallace.

" British Museum, June 25, 1867."

This amazing little dodge (for I can call it nothing else)
completely staggered me. I was at first inclined to return
the P.O. order, or to write asking for the 6d., and if necessary
summon Mr. Butler (cr the Trustees) to a County Court for
the 6d. due. But I was busy, and did not want to enter upon
what I felt sure would be a long correspondence and endless
trouble and expense. I therefore determined to keep the
two incriminating documents, and some day print them.
That day has now come ; and it may be interesting to learn
whether this preposterous and utterly dishonest method of
paying part of an admitted debt, after obtaining a receipt for
the whole, continues to be practised in this or any other
public institution.

It was while these troubles in the Hampden affair were at
their thickest that my earnings invested in railways and mines

37* MY LIFE [Chap.

continued depreciating so constantly as to be a source of great
anxiety to me, and every effort to extricate myself by seeking
better investments only made matters worse. It was at this
time that the endeavour to get the Epping Forest appoint-
ment failed, and had it not been for the kindness of a relative,
Miss Roberts, of Epsom, a cousin of my mother's, with whose
family I had been intimate from my boyhood, I should have
been in absolute want. She had intended to leave me £1000
in her will, but instead of doing so transferred it to me at
once, and as it was in an excellent security, and brought me
in from ,£50 to £6$ a year, it was most welcome. I had sold
my house at Grays fairly well, and in 1880 bought a piece of
land and built a cottage at Godalming, so that I had a home
of my own ; but I had now to depend almost entirely on the
little my books brought me in, together with a few lectures,
reviews, and other articles. I had just finished writing my
"Island Life," and had no idea that I should ever write
another important book, and I therefore saw no way of
increasing my income, which was then barely sufficient to
support my family and educate my two children in the most
economical way. From this ever-increasing anxiety I was
relieved through the grant of a Civil Service pension of .£200,
which came upon me as a very joyful surprise. My most
intimate and confidential friend at this time was Mrs. Fisher
(then Miss Buckley), and to her alone I mentioned my great
losses, and my anxiety as to any sure source of income.
Shortly afterwards she was visiting Darwin, and mentioned it
to him, and he thought that a pension might be granted
me in recognition of my scientific work. Huxley most kindly
assisted in drawing up the necessary memorial to the Prime
Minister, Mr. Gladstone, to whom Darwin wrote personally.
He promptly assented, and the next year, 1881, the first pay-
ment was made. Other of my scientific friends, I believe,
signed the memorial, but it is especially to the three named
that I owe this very great relief from anxiety for the remainder
of my life.

I have already stated that what at the time appeared to

xxxix] MONEY MATTERS 379

be the great misfortune of the loss of about half of my whole
Amazonian collections by the burning of the ship in which I
was coming home, was in all probability a blessing in dis-
guise, since it led me to visit the comparatively unknown
Malay Archipelago, and, perhaps, also supplied the conditions
which led me to think out independently the theory of natural
selection. In like manner I am now inclined to see in the
almost total loss of the money value of those rich collections,
another of those curious indications that our misfortunes are
often useful, or even necessary for bringing out our latent
powers. I am, and have always been, constitutionally lazy,
without any of that fiery energy and intense power of work
possessed by such men as Huxley and Charles Kingsley.
When I once begin any work in which I am interested, I
can go steadily on with it till it is finished, but I need some
definite impulse to set me going, and require a good deal of
time for reflection while the work is being done. Every im-
portant book I have undertaken has been due to an impulse
or a suggestion from without. I spent five years in quiet
enjoyment of my collections, in attending scientific meetings,
and in working out a few problems, before I began to write
my " Malay Archipelago," and it was due to the repeated
suggestions of my friends that I wrote my " Geographical
Distribution of Animals."

But if the entire proceeds of my Malayan collections had
been well invested, and I had obtained a secure income of
^"400 or £500 a year, I think it probable that I should not
have written another book, but should have gone to live
further in the country, enjoyed my garden and greenhouse
(as I always have done), and limited my work to a few lectures
and review articles, but to a much less extent than I actually
have done. It was the necessity of earning money, owing to
my diminishing income, that caused me to accept invitations
to lecture, which I always disliked ; and the same reason
caused me to seek out subjects for scientific or social articles
which, without that necessity, would never have been written.
Under such conditions as here supposed, my dislike to lecturing
would probably have increased, and I should never have

380 MY LIFE [Chap.

ventured on my lecturing tour in America, in which case I
should not have written "Darwinism," and, I firmly believe,
should not have enjoyed such good health as I am now doing.
Then, too, I should probably not have accepted Dr. Lunn's
invitation to lecture at Davos, and my two later books would
never have come into existence.

Of course this is all conjecture, but it seems to myself
highly probable. At all events, I feel perfectly sure that
without the spur of necessity I should not have done much
of the work I have done. I have always had a great desire
to see many of the beauty-spots of the world. Some of them
I have seen, but usually under strict limitation of time and
means. I have longed to visit the old volcanoes of Mont
Dore or the Eifel, both for their geology and their rich
flora ; the Dolomites and the Italian lakes ; Pompei, and
Rome, and the lovely Riviera ; Sicily and Greece ; while
the little I have seen of Switzerland has made me wish to
see more. If I had had the means I should probably have
spent a good part of each winter, spring, or summer, in these
countries, and should have found such constant delight in
them, and in my garden at home, to which I should have
brought home every year new floral treasures, that I should
not have felt the want of any other occupation, and should
probably have written nothing but an occasional review or
magazine article. If, therefore, my books and essays have
been of any use to the world — and though I cannot quite
understand it, scores of people have written to me telling me
so — then the losses and the struggles I have had to go
through have been a necessary discipline calculated to bring
into action whatever faculties I possess. I may be allowed
here to give an extract from one of these letters on my
literary work, nearly the last I received from my lamented
friend F. W. H. Myers. He writes (April 12, 1898) : —

" I am glad to take this opportunity of telling you some-
thing about my relation to one of your books. I write now
from bed, having had severe influenzic pneumonia, now going
oft. For some days my temperature was 1050, and I was very
restless at night — anxious to read, but in too sensitive and

xxxix] MONEY MATTERS 381

fastidious a state to tolerate almost any book. I found that
almost the only book which I could read was your 'Malay
Archipelago.' Of course I had read it before. In spite of
my complete ignorance of natural history there was a certain
uniqueness of charm about the book, both moral and literary,
which made it deeply congenial in those trying hours. You
have had few less instructed readers ; but very few can have
dwelt on that simple, manly record with a more profound
sympathy."

Other people, quite strangers, have also told me that they
have read it over and over again, and always take it with
them on a journey. This is the kind of thing I cannot under-
stand. It is true, if I open it myself I can read a chapter
with pleasure ; but, then, to me it recalls incidents and feelings
almost forgotten, and renews the delights of my wanderings
in the wilderness and of my intense interest in the wonderful
and beautiful forms of plant, bird, and insect life I was con-
tinually meeting with. Others have written in almost equally
laudatory terms of my books on " Land Nationalization " and
on " Spiritualism," which have introduced them to new
spheres of thought ; while others, again, have been equally
pleased with parts of my " Wonderful Century " and " Man's
Place in the Universe." I am thus forced to the conclusion
that my books have served to instruct and to give pleasure to
a good many readers, and that it is therefore just possible
that my life may have been prolonged, and conditions
modified so as to afford the required impulse and the amount
of time for me to write them.

Of course, such a suggestion as this will seem foolishness
or something worse to most of my readers ; but for those
who are imbued with the teachings of modern spiritualism,
and to others who vaguely believe in spiritual guidance on
general religious grounds, such forms of what used to be
termed special providence will not be wholly rejected.

CHAPTER XL

MY CHARACTER — NEW IDEAS— PREDICTIONS
FULFILLED

I HAVE already (in Chapter XV.) given an estimate of my
character when I came of age. I will now make a few
further remarks upon it as modified by my changed views of
life, owing to my becoming convinced of the reality of a
spirit world and a future state of existence.

Up to middle age, and especially during the first
decade after my return from the East, I was so much dis-
inclined to the society of uncongenial and commonplace
people that my natural reserve and coldness of manner often
amounted, I am afraid, to rudeness. I found it impossible, as
I have done all my life, to make conversation with such
people, or even to reply politely to their trivial remarks. I
therefore often appeared gloomy when I was merely bored.
I found it impossible, as some one had said, to tolerate fools
gladly ; while, owing to my deficient language-faculty, talk-
ing without having anything to say, and merely for politeness
or to pass the time, was most difficult and disagreeable.
Hence I was thought to be proud, conceited, or stuck-up. But
later on, as I came to see the baneful influence of our wrong
system of education and of society, I began to realize that
people who could talk of nothing but the trivial amusements
of an empty mind were the victims of these social errors, and
were often in themselves quite estimable characters.

Later on, when the teachings of spiritualism combined
with those of phrenology led me to the conclusion that there
were no absolutely bad men or women, that is, none who, by a

382

[Chap. XL] MY NEW IDEAS 383

rational and sympathetic training and a social system which
gave to all absolute equality of opportunity, might not
become useful, contented, and happy members of society, I
became much more tolerant. I learnt also to distrust all first
impressions ; for I repeatedly came to enjoy the society of
people whose appearance or manner had at first repelled me,
and even in the most apparently trivial- minded was able to
find some common ground of interest or occupation. I feel
myself that my character has continuously improved, and
that this is owing chiefly to the teaching of spiritualism, that
we are in every act and thought of our lives here building up
a character which will largely determine our happiness or
misery hereafter ; and also, that we obtain the greatest happi-
ness ourselves by doing all we can to make those around us
happy.

As I have referred in various parts of this volume to ideas,
or suggestions, or solutions of biological problems, which I
have been the first to put forth, it may be convenient if I
here give a brief account of the more important of them,
some of which have, I think, been almost entirely overlooked.

1. The first and perhaps the most important of these is
my independent discovery of the theory of natural selection
in 1858, in my paper on "The Tendency of Varieties to
depart indefinitely from the Original Type." This is reprinted
in my " Natural Selection and Tropical Nature ; " and it has
been so fully recognized by Darwin himself and by naturalists
generally that I need say no more about it here. I have
given a rather full account of how it first occurred to me in
Chapter XXII. of this work

2. In 1864 I published an article on "The Development
of Human Races under the Law of Natural Selection," the
most original and important part of which was that in which
I showed that so soon as man's intellect and physical struc-
ture led him to use fire, to make tools, to grow food, to
domesticate animals, to use clothing, and build houses, the

384 MY LIFE [Chap.

action of natural selection was diverted from his body to his
mind, and thenceforth his physical form remained stable
while his mental faculties improved. This paper was greatly
admired by Mr. Darwin and several other men of science,
who declared it to be entirely new to them ; but owing to its
having been published in one of my less known works,
"Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection," it
seems to be comparatively little known. Consequently, it
still continues to be asserted or suggested that because we
have been developed physically from some lower form, so in
the future we shall be further developed into a being as
different from our present form as we are different from the
orang or the gorilla. My paper shows why this will not be ;
why the form and structure of our body is permanent, and
that it is really the highest type now possible on the earth.
The fact that we have not improved physically over the
ancient Greeks, and that most savage races — even some of
the lowest in material civilization — possess the human form in
its fullest symmetry and perfection, affords evidence that my
theory is the true one.

3. In 1867 I gave a provisional solution of the cause of
the gay, and even gaudy colours of many caterpillars, which
was asked for by Darwin, and which experiment soon proved
to be correct. This is referred to in Chapter XXI. of the
present volume, and is fully described in my " Natural
Selection and Tropical Nature," pp. 82-86. The principle
established in this case has been since found to be widely
applicable throughout the animal kingdom.

4. In 1868 I wrote a paper on "A Theory of Birds'
Nests," the chief purport of which was to point out and
establish a connection between the colours of female birds
and the mode of nidification which had not been before
noticed. This led to the formulation of the following law,
which has been very widely accepted by ornithologists :
When both sexes of birds are conspicuously coloured, the nest

conceals the sitting bird ; but when the male is conspicuously

XL] MY NEW IDEAS 385

coloured and tJie nest is open to view, tlie female is plainly
coloured and inconspicuous. No less than fifteen whole families
of birds and a number of the genera of other families belong
to the first class, of brightly coloured birds with sexes alike,
and they all build in holes or make domed nests. Most of
these are tropical, but the woodpeckers and kingfishers are
European. In the second class, however brilliant the male
may be, if the nest is open to view, the female is always
plainly coloured, sometimes so much so as to be hardly
recognizable as the same species. This is especially the case
in such birds as the brilliant South American chatterers and
the Eastern pheasants and paradise birds. This law is of
especial value, as showing the exceptional need of protection
of female birds as well as butterflies, and the remarkable way
in which the colours of both classes of animals have become
modified in accordance with this necessity. This paper forms
chapter vi. of my " Natural Selection and Tropical Nature."

5. In the great subject of the origin, use, and purport of
the colours of animals, there are several branches which, I
believe, I was the first to call special attention to. The most
important of these was the establishment of the class of what
I termed " Recognition colours," which are of importance in
affording means for the young to find their parents, the sexes
each other, and strayed individuals of returning to the group
or flock to which they belong. But perhaps even more
important is the use of these special markings or colours
during the process of the development of new species adapted
to slightly different conditions, by checking intercrossing
between them while in process of development. It thus
affords an explanation of the almost universal rule, that closely
allied species differ in colour or marking even when the
external structural differences are exceedingly slight or quite
undiscoverable. The same principle also explains the general
symmetry in the markings of animals in a state of nature,
while under domestication it often disappears : difference of
colour or marking on the two sides would render recognition
difficult. This principle was first stated in my article on

vol. 11. 2 C

386 MY LIFE [Chap.

" The Colours of Animals and Sexual Selection " (in " Natural
Selection and Tropical Nature," 1878) and more fully
developed in " Darwinism." I am now inclined to think that
it accounts for more of the variety and beauty in the animal
world than any other purpose yet discovered.1

I may here add that I believe I was first to give adequate
reasons for the rejection of Darwin's theory of brilliant male
coloration or marking being due to female choice.

6. The general permanence of oceanic and continental
areas was first taught by Professor J. D. Dana, the eminent
American geologist, and again by Darwin in his " Origin of
Species ; " but I am, I believe, the only writer who has
brought forward a number of other considerations, geographical
and physical, which, with those of previous writers, establish
the proposition on almost incontrovertible grounds. My
exposition of the subject is given in " Island Life " (chap, vi.),
while some additional arguments are given in my " Studies "
(vol. i. chap. ii.). The doctrine may be considered as the
only solid basis for any general study of the geographical
distribution of animals, and it is for this reason that I have
made it the subject of my careful consideration.

7. In discussing the causes of glacial epochs I have
adopted the general views of Mr. James Croll as to the
astronomical causes, but have combined them with geogra-
phical changes, and have shown how the latter, even though
small in amount, might produce very important results. In
particular I have laid stress on the properties of air and
water in equalizing temperature over the earth, while snow

1 A correspondent, Mr. G. Norman Douglass, writing from the British Embassy,
St. Petersburg, in 1894, sent me the following translation of a passage in
Schopenhauer's " Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (Zur Teleologie) " which
curiously anticipates my views : —

M One accounts for the wonderfully varied and vividly glowing coloration of the
plumage of tropical birds, although only in a very general way, by the stronger
influence of light between the tropics — as its causa efficiens. As its causa finahs, I
should say that these brilliant plumages are the full-dress uniforms by means of
which the individuals of the numberless species, often belonging to one and the
same genus, recognize each other, so that every male finds its female."

XL] MY NEW IDEAS 387

and ice, by their immobility, produce cumulative effects ; and
thus a lowering of temperature of a few degrees may lead to
a country being ice-clad which before was ice-free. This is
a vital point which is of the very essence of the problem of
glaciation ; yet it has been altogether neglected in the various
mathematical or physical theories which have recently been
put forward. My own discussion of the problem in chapter
viii. of " Island Life " has never, so far as I know, been con-
troverted, and I still think it constitutes the most complete
explanation of the phenomenon yet given.

During a discussion in Nature, so late as 1896, Professor
G. H. Darwin and Mr. E. P. Culverwell adduced some new
calculations as to the amount of diminished sun-heat due to
eccentricity, as invalidating Croll's arguments ; whereupon I
pointed out that their facts had not the importance they
supposed, because they took no account of the cumulative
effects of snow and ice above referred to (Nature, vol. liii.
p. 220). Sir Robert Ball also, quite independently, made the
same objection as myself.

8. In 1880 I published my "Island Life," and the last
chapter but one is " On the Arctic Element in South
Temperate Floras," in which I gave a solution of the very
remarkable phenomena stated by Sir Joseph Hooker in his
" Introductory Essay on the Flora of Australia." My expla-
nation is founded on known facts as to the dispersal and
distribution of plants, and does not require those enormous
changes in the climate of tropical lowlands during the glacial
period on which Darwin founded his explanation, and which,
I believe, no biologist well acquainted either with the fauna
or the flora of the equatorial zone has found it possible to
accept. I am informed by my friend Mr. Francis Darwin
that this chapter was especially noticed in Germany at the
time of its first appearance, but he can hear of no detailed
criticism of it, except one by H. von Jhering in Englers
Botan-JahrbiicJw (vol. xvii., 1893), of which he has kindly
sent me a translation of the more important passages. This
is not the place to reply to the criticism, which would require

388 MY LIFE [Chap.

a chapter. I can only say here that the writer has not a suffi-
cient grasp of the elementary laws of distribution to enable
him to grapple with the subject. One example of this will
suffice. He says, " Plants are not, as a fact, carried far by
wind, Corsican, Sardinian, and Sicilian plants not occurring in
Italy." No one who understands the first principles of evolu-
tion by natural selection could have made such a statement.
And as to his alleged "fact," I have given overwhelming
evidence against it in my book.

Mr. Darwin informs me, however, that he thinks the great
German botanist, Engler, is favourable to my views ; but
what is very much more important is that Sir Joseph Hooker
himself accepts them, and I have his permission (February,
1905) to quote the following passages referring to the whole
book, from a letter written in 1880, and to say that he has
not changed his opinion : —

" I think you have made an immense advance to our
knowledge of the ways and means of distribution, and bridged
many great gaps. Your reasoning seems to me to be sound
throughout, though I am not prepared to receive it in all its
details."

And again : " I very much like your whole working of the
problem of the isolation and connection of New Zealand and
Australia inter se, and with the countries north of them ; and
the whole treatment of that respecting north and south
migration over the Globe is admirable."

For those who have not my "Island Life," there is a
compact statement of the whole argument in my "Dar-
winism," pp. 361-373.

9. In 1 88 1 I put forth the first idea of mouth-gesture as a
factor in the origin of language, in a review of E. P. Tylor's
"Anthropology," and in 1895 I extended it into an article in
the Fortnightly Review, and reprinted it with a few further
corrections in my " Studies," under the title, " The Expres-
siveness of Speech or Mouth-Gesture as a Factor in the Origin
of Language." In it I have developed a completely new
principle in the theory of the origin of language by showing

XL] MY NEW IDEAS 389

that every motion of the jaws, lips, and tongue, together with
inward or outward breathing, and especially the mute or
liquid consonants ending words which serve to indicate abrupt
or continuous motion, have corresponding meanings in so
many cases as to show a fundamental connection. I thus
enormously extend the principle of onomatopoeias in the
origin of vocal language. As I have been unable to find any
reference to this important factor in the origin of language,
and as no competent writer has pointed out any fallacy in it,
I think I am justified in supposing it to be new and important.
Mr. Gladstone informed me that there were many thousands
of illustrations of my ideas in Homer.

10. In 1890 I published in the Fortnightly Review an
article on "Human Selection," and in 1892 (in the Boston
Arena) one on " Human Progress, Past and Future." These
deal with different aspects of the same great problem — the
gradual improvement of the race by natural process ; and
they were also written partly for the purpose of opposing the
various artificial processes of selection advocated by several
English and American writers. I showed that the only
method of advance for us, as for the lower animals, is in
some form of natural selection, and that the only mode of
natural selection that can act alike on physical, mental, and
moral qualities will come into play under a social system
which gives equal opportunities of culture, training, leisure,
and happiness to every individual. This extension of the
principle of natural selection as it acts in the animal world
generally is, I believe, quite new, and is by far the most
important of the new ideas I have given to the world.

A short summary of these papers appears in my thirty-
third chapter ; but every one interested in the deepest
social problems should read the articles themselves (in my
" Studies " ), which give a very condensed statement of the
whole argument.

1 1. In an article on "The Glacial Erosion of Lake Basins "
(in the Fortnightly Review, December, 1893), I brought

39° MY LIFE [Chap.

together the whole of the evidence bearing upon the question,
and adduced a completely new argument for this mode of
origin of the valley lakes of glaciated countries. This is
founded on their surface and bottom contours, both of which
are shown to be such as would necessarily arise from ice-
action, while they would not arise from the other alleged
mode of origin — unequal elevation or subsidence.

12. In a new edition of "Stanford's Compendium, Austra-
lasia," vol. i., when describing the physical and mental
characteristics of the Australian aborigines, I stated my
belief that they were really a low and perhaps primitive type
of the Caucasian race. I further developed the subject in my
" Studies," and illustrated it by photographs of Australians
and Ainos, of the Veddahs of Ceylon, and of the Khmers of
Cambodia — all outlying members of the same great human
race. This, I think, is an important simplification in the
classification of the races of man.

Bees" cells. — But besides these more important scientific
principles or ideas, there are a few minor ones which are of
sufficient interest to be briefly mentioned. In the article on
the "Bees' Cell" (referred to in Chapter XXVIII.), I called
attention to a circumstance that had been, I think, unnoticed
by all previous writers. An immense deal of ingenuity and
of mathematical skill had been expended in showing that the
two layers of hexagonal cells, with basal dividing-plates
inclined at a particular angle, gave the greatest economy of
space and of material possible ; and the instinct of the bees in
building such a comb to contain their store of honey was
held to show that it was a divinely bestowed special faculty.
But all these writers omitted to take into account one fact,
which shows their whole argument to be fallacious. This is,
that the combs are suspended vertically, and that when full of
honey the upper rows of cells have to support at least ten
times as much weight as the lowest rows. But there is no
corresponding difference in the thickness of the walls of the
cells ; so that, as the upper rows are strong enough, the lower

XL] MY NEW IDEAS 391

must be quite unnecessarily strong, and there is thus a great
waste of wax. The whole conception of a supernatural
faculty for the purpose of economizing wax is thus shown to
be fallacious. Darwin's explanation entirely obviates this
difficulty, since it depends on the bees possessing intelligence
enough to reduce all the cellwalls to a nearly uniform thick-
ness, being that which is sufficient under all circumstances
to support the weight of the whole mass of comb and
honey.

T/ie supposed " homing" instinct of dogs, etc. — In the year
1873 one of the many discussions on this subject took place
in Nature. I had suggested the immense importance of the
sense of smell in enabling dogs to find their way back along
a route they had been carried in a basket or covered cart ;
but, of course, there are cases which this will not explain.
I gave a summing up of the whole subject, and added a
new and very remarkable case which happened to my
friend Dr. Purland, whose amusing letters I have given in
Chapter XXVIII. This case is as follows : —

" My friend lost a favourite little dog when he was living
in Long Acre. Three months afterwards he removed to
a house in another street about half a mile distant — a place
he had not contemplated going to, or even seen, before the
loss of the dog. Two months later (five months after the
loss of the dog) a scratching was heard at the front door, and
on opening it the dog rushed in, having found out its master
in the new house. My friend was so astonished that he went
next day to Long Acre to an acquaintance who lived nearly
opposite the old house (then empty), and told him his little
dog had come back. ' Oh,' said this person, ' I saw the dog
myself yesterday. He scratched at your door, barked a good
deal, then went to the middle of the street, turned round
several times, and started off towards where you now live.' My
friend cannot tell how much time elapsed between the dog's
leaving the old and arriving at the new house. If every
movement of this dog could have been watched from one door
to the other, much might have been learnt Could it have

392 MY LIFE [Chap.

obtained information from other dogs ? Could the odour of
persons and furniture linger two months in the streets ? "

It is evident that at least twelve hours were occupied in
finding the new place, leaving time for a good deal of trial
and error. One suggestion now occurs to me. There was a
rather circuitous omnibus route leading from Long Acre to
very near the new house. The dog may have often seen its
master travelling in a 'bus, and may even have gone with
some of the family. He may, therefore, have followed
the 'bus route, seeking all the way for indications, till at last
he crossed the recent track of his master or of some other
member of the family, and by scent followed it up to the
door. The following passage concludes my letter to Nature : —

" I venture to hope that some persons having means and
leisure will experiment on this subject in the same careful and
thorough way that Mr. Spalding experimented with his fowls.
The animal's previous history must be known and recorded ;
a sufficient number of experiments, at various distances and
under different conditions, must be made ; and a person of
intelligence and activity must keep the animal in sight, and
note down its every action till it arrives home. If this is
done, I feel sure that a satisfactory theory will soon be arrived
at, and much of, if not all, the mystery that now attaches
to this class of facts be removed." This suggestion I have
made several times during the last thirty years, but I cannot
learn that any one has yet carried it out. It is strange that
while thousands of dogs' lives are sacrificed annually to
establish some minute point in physiology, no one can be
found to carry out a few pleasurable and interesting experi-
ments to ascertain in what manner and by the use of what
faculties lost animals habitually find their way home.

An analogous problem to this is that of the migration of
birds, which also has been almost always imputed to some
special instinct or peculiar faculty other than that of the
ordinary senses. On this question I wrote to Nature as
follows (October 8, 1874) : "It appears to me probable that
here, as in so many other cases, ' survival cf the fittest ' will
be found to have had a powerful influence. Let us suppose

XL] MY NEW IDEAS 393

that with any species of migratory bird breeding can, as a
rule, be only safely accomplished in a certain area; and, further,
that during a large part of the rest of the year sufficient food
cannot be obtained in that area. It will follow that those
birds which do not leave the breeding area at the proper
season will suffer, and ultimately become extinct ; which will
also be the fate of those which do not leave the subsistence
area at the proper time. Now, if we suppose that the two
areas were (for some remote ancestor of the existing species)
coincident, but through geological and climated changes
gradually diverged from each other, we can easily understand
how the habit of incipient and partial migration at the proper
season would become hereditary (through the action of natural
selection), and so fixed as to appear to be what we term an
instinct. It will probably be found that every gradation still
exists in various parts of the world, from a complete coinci-
dence to a complete separation of the breeding and subsistence
areas ; and when the life-histories of a sufficient number of
species are thoroughly worked out, we shall find every link
between species which never leave a restricted area in which
they breed and live the whole year round, to those other
cases in which the two areas are very widely separated. The
actual causes that determine the exact time, year by year, at
which certain species migrate, will, of course, be difficult to
ascertain. I would suggest, however, that they will be found
to depend upon the climatal changes which most affect each
species. The change of colour, or the fall of certain leaves ;
the change to the pupa state of certain larvae ; prevalent
winds or rains, or even the decreased temperature of earth or
water, may all have their influence. Ample materials must
now exist, in the case of European birds, for an instructive
work on this subject The two areas should be carefully
determined for a number of species ; the times of their
movements should be compared with those of the natural
phenomena likely to influence them ; the past changes of
surface, of climate, and of vegetation should be taken account
of ; and there seems no reason to doubt that such a mode of
research would throw much light on the problem."

394 MY LIFE [Chap.

In an article on " The Problem of Instinct " in my
" Studies " (vol. i. chap, xxii.), I have supplemented the above
theory as to why birds migrate, by another as to how they
migrate, and trace it wholly to experience, the young birds
following the old ones ; but an enormous proportion of the
young fail to make the outward or the homeward journey
safely.

I have given a summary of these three papers here,
because the views I set forth explain some of the most
remarkable cases of what have been termed instincts among
the higher animals, as being really due to instruction and
imitation, together with the exercise of specially acute faculties
of smell or sight, of memory and a moderate amount of in-
telligence. It is because I go farther in this direction than
any other writer I am acquainted with that I put this subject
among my " new ideas."

In 1894 I wrote an article for the Nineteenth Century on
the question of the proper observance of Sunday, which I
have reprinted in my * Studies " under the title, " A Counsel
of Perfection for Sabbatarians." In this short article I define
clearly, I think for the first time, what the " work " so strictly
and impressively forbidden really is, and then show how
utterly inconsistent are the great majority of Sabbatarians,
who themselves break the commandment both in letter and
spirit, while they loudly condemn others for acts which are
not forbidden by it. I also show how the commandment can
be and should be strictly kept by all who believe it to be a
Divine command, and point out the good results which would
follow such a mode of obeying it. That the idea was new
and its reasoning unanswerable maybe perhaps inferred from
the fact that no reply, so far as I know, was made to it ; while
a well-known writer was so impressed by it that he made
his own bed the following Sunday in accordance with its
suggestions.

One other new idea of quite a different nature I will refer
to here, because I think that publicity may yet lead to its

XL] MY NEW IDEAS 395

adoption and to the consequent annual saving of life and
property. I was led to it by having seen the effects of the
explosion of a powder barge on the Regent's Canal when I
was living in the neighbourhood (some time in the sixties) ;
and again while living at Grays and often passing the great
magazine at Purfleet, where there had been an explosion
some years before. On reading of the elaborate and costly
precautions at all such magazines, and of explosions occurring
somewhere almost every year notwithstanding all precautions,
it occurred to me that there was a simple way of rendering
such explosions impossible, and at the same time reducing
largely the cost of storing all explosives.

The plan was to store all gunpowder, cartridges, and
other explosives in metal drums, either hexagonal or circular
in form and of uniform size and height, fitted at top with an
air-tight cap of a size suited to the kind of explosive it con-
tained. These drums would be arranged in rows in shallow,
open tanks, filled with water so as to cover the lids, the water
being kept at a uniform level by an inflow and overflow. Such
tanks would need no protection whatever, except against
thieves, and no precautions whatever would be required. For
the conveyance of powder, etc., trucks and barges with water-
tanks could be used, and in factories all explosive materials
should be kept under water, so that if an explosion occurred
during the actual processes of manufacture it would be strictly
limited, and could not extend either to the stores of material
or of the finished product, since if the water were all blown
away by the concussion the contents would remain uninjured.

I drew up a careful statement of the advantages of this
plan, with a drawing of the proposed drum, and sent it through
a friend to Sir Thomas Brassey, then a Lord of the Admiralty,
requesting him to lay it before the proper authorities. In
reply I received a memorandum from the Director of Naval
Ordnance, referring me to the " Treatise of Ammunition, 1881 "
(a copy of which was sent), as to " the present service powder-
cases." He added that the plan would be difficult, and per-
haps impossible on board ship, on account of the extra space
required. The last paragraph was —

396 MY LIFE [Chap.

"For permanent depots of powder like Upnor the idea
seems worthy of attention, and Mr. Wallace might address
the War Office on the subject after informing himself as to
the present service powder-cases.

" F. A. Herbert.

"20. 6. 82."

As the Treatise sent merely showed that copper drums
were in use something similar to those I suggested, but the
interminable pages of instructions and precautions made no
reference whatever to water-storage, I did not trouble myself
to send my plan to the War Office. I, however, sent it to a
few newspapers, where it appeared, and I received in conse-
quence a letter from the editor of the Ironmonger approv-
ing of the plan for large stores of powder, but fearing it
could not be applied to retail dealers, where explosions, often
fatal, were continually occurring, almost always through
" gross negligence."

It thus appears that good authorities could see no prac-
tical objections to the plan in most cases, neither did they
deny the absolute security that would be obtained by it ; yet
the crop of explosions, with loss of life, goes on every few
years, and till some one in authority takes it up, will, I pre-
sume, continue.

Predictions Fulfilled.

Having devoted three chapters to an account of my
various experiences in connection with modern spiritualism,
which have, however, been far less extraordinary than those
of many of my friends, I may not improperly conclude this
record of my life and experience with a statement of a few of
the predictions which I have received at different times, and
which have been to some extent fulfilled.

In 1870 and the following years several communications
in automatic writing were received through a member of my
family purporting to be from my brother William, with whom
I had lived so many years. In some of these he referred to

XL] PREDICTIONS FULFILLED 397

my disappointments in obtaining employment and to my
money losses, always urging me not to trouble myself about
my affairs, which would certainly improve ; but I was not to
be in a hurry. These messages never contained any proofs
of identity, and I did not therefore feel much interest in them,
and their ultimate fulfilment, though in quite unexpected
ways, cannot be considered to be of any great importance.

Some years later, when we were living at Dorking, my
little boy, then five years old, became very delicate, and
seemed pining away without any perceptible ailment. At
that time I was being treated myself for a chronic complaint
by an American medium, in whom I had much confidence ;
and one day, when in his usual trance, he told me, without
any inquiry on my part, that the boy was in danger, and that
if we wished to save him we must leave Dorking, go to a
more bracing place, and let him be out-of-doors as much as
possible and " have the smell of the earth." I then noticed
that we were all rather languid without knowing why, and
therefore removed in the spring to Croydon, where we all felt
stronger, and the boy at once began to get better, and has had
fair health ever since.

Some time afterwards I accompanied a lady friend of
mine to have a stance with the same medium, she being quite
unknown to him. Among many other interesting things, he
told us that something would happen before very long which
would cause us to see less of each other, but would not affect
our friendship. We neither of us could guess what that could
be, but a year or two later the lady married a very old friend,
a widower, whose wife at the time of the prediction was, I
think, alive, while he was living in a distant colony without
any expressed intention of coming home. After the marriage
they went to live in Devonshire, and for some years we only
met at very long intervals. These two cases seem to me to
be genuine clairvoyance or prediction.

But much more important than the preceding are certain
predictions which were made to me in April, 1896, and which
have been fulfilled during the succeeding eight years. At

39« MY LIFE [Chap.

that time I was living at Parkstone in rather poor health and
subject to chronic asthma, with palpitations and frequent
bronchitis, from which I never expected to recover. I had
given up lecturing, and had no expectation of ever writing
another book, neither had I the least idea of leaving the
house I was living in, which I had purchased and enlarged a
few years before. It was under these circumstances that a

medium I had visited once in London, Madame G , was

staying with friends at Wimborne, and came to see me, and
offered to give me a seance. One of her controls, an old
Scotch physician, advised me about my health, told me to eat
fish, and assured me that I was not coming to their side for
some years yet, as I had a good deal of work to do here.
The other control, named "Sunshine," an Indian girl, who
seemed to be able to get information from many sources,
was very positive in her statements. She said, " You won't
live here always. You will come out of this hole. You will
come more into the world, and do something public for
spiritualism." I replied, " You are quite wrong. I shall
never leave this house now, and I shall not appear in public
again." But she insisted that she was right, and said, "You
will see ; and when it comes to pass, remember what I told
you." She then said, "Fanny [my sister] sends her love.
She loved you more than any one in the world." This I
knew to be true, though during her life I did not so fully
realize it. Then Sunshine gave me her parting words,
speaking slowly and distinctly : " The third chapter of your
life, and your book, is to come. It can be expressed as
Satisfaction, Retrospection, and Work." These three words
were spoken very impressively, and I wrote them at once in
a small note-book with capital letters, though I had no
notion whatever of what they could refer to, and no belief
that they would be in any way fulfilled.

Yet two months later the first step in the fulfilment was
taken through Dr. Lunn's invitation to give a lecture at
Davos, and my acceptance of it, due mainly to the tempta-
tion of a week in Switzerland free of cost and with a pleasant
party. As already described (Chapter XXXI I.), this lecture

XL] PREDICTIONS FULFILLED 399

was the starting-point of all my subsequent work. The very
next year brought me renewed health and strength to do the
work, as already described. Another year passed, and I
received a pressing invitation to take the chair and give a
short address to the International Congress of Spiritualists,
which I felt myself unable to refuse, and thus, as I had been
told I should, I "did something public for spiritualism."
Yet another year, and a great desire for life more in the
country than at Parkstone (where we were being surrounded
by new building operations) led me to join some friends in
trying to find a locality for a kind of home-colony of con-
genial persons ; and though the plan was never carried out,
it led ultimately to my finding the site on which to build my
present house, and thus " get out of that hole," as I had been
told by Sunshine that I should do. And now, looking back
upon the eight years of renewed health I have enjoyed, and
with constant interesting work,howcan this be better described
than as ■ the third chapter of my life ; " while ■ Man's Place
in the Universe " — a totally new subject for me — may well be
termed the " third chapter of my book," that is, of my
literary work. Again, this wholesome activity of body and
mind, the obtaining a beautiful site where I am surrounded
by grass and woodland, and have a splendid view over moor
and water to distant hills and the open sea, with abundance
of pure air and sunshine, the building of a comfortable house
in one of the choicest spots in the whole district — surely all
this was well foretold in the one word ■ Satisfaction." What has
chiefly occupied me in this house — an Autobiography extend-
ing over three-quarters of a century — is admirably described
by the word " Retrospection." And the whole of this process
has involved, or been the result of, continuous and pleasure-
able " Work."

I will only add here that during the whole of this " third
chapter of my life" I had entirely forgotten the particular
words of the prediction which I had noted down at the time,
and was greatly surprised, on referring to them again for the
purpose of this chapter, to find how curiously they fitted the
subsequent events. Of course it may be said that every one

400 MY LIFE [Chap. XL]

who reaches my age enjoys " retrospection," but that kind of
general looking back to the past is very different from the
detailed Retrospection I have had to make in searching out
the many long-forgotten incidents and details of my very
varied life as here recorded ; and the Work this has involved,
and the Satisfaction I have had in writing, fully justify the
solemn emphasis with which the prediction was made.

I now bid my readers, who have travelled with me so far
a hearty Farewell.

ADDENDUM
CHAPTER XXXIIIa

EXCURSIONS AND EXAMINATIONS

While endeavouring to give an account of all matters which
occupied or interested me during the latter half of my life, I
somewhat hastily concluded my MSS. and sent it to press
without any reference to two matters which were of some
importance to myself, and one of them of some general
interest These are, the various holiday excursions I took
with my father-in-law, Mr. William Mitten, whose deep en-
thusiasm for nature and extensive knowledge of plants in
general, and mosses in particular, rendered his companionship
very congenial to me ; and my work as an Assistant Ex-
aminer in Physical Geography and Physiography, which
occupied me for three weeks or more every summer, almost
continually for twenty-seven years. In order to make this
record of my life more complete, I have added a supple-
mentary chapter devoted to these two subjects.

My first excursion with Mr. Mitten was in August, 1867,
to North Wales, his first visit to that beautiful district We
stayed a few days at Corwen, and our first walk on Sunday
morning was along the road to the west up the valley of the
Alwen. In about five miles we reached Pont-y-glyn, where a
farm-road crossed a very deep ravine. This we descended
and found the bottom full of curious hollows, with vertical
rocks damp or dripping, overshadowed by trees and shrubs.
Here the yellow Welsh poppy grew luxuriantly, as well as
the globe-flowers and the subalpine Rubus saxatilis. But
what delighted Mr. Mitten on this his first walk in Wales
was the abundance of mosses and hepaticae, and for a full

VOL. 11. 401 2 D

402 MY LIFE [Chap.

hour he explored every nook and cranny, and every few
minutes cried out to me, " I've got another species I never
gathered before," till I thought he would never tear himself
away ; and during several other visits to Wales in the
Snowdon and Cader Idris districts, and in the Vale of Neath,
I do not think he ever came upon a richer spot for his
favourite group of plants.

The next day we took a much longer ramble along
country lanes, which gradually led us on to the ridge of the
Berwyn mountains, from 2500 to 2700 feet above sea-level.
At the highest summit, where a circle of precipices descends
to a little tarn — Llyn-llyne-caws — my friend crept out along
the face of the rocks to get some rare mosses, till he made
me quite afraid for his safety. But he was very active and
sure-footed, and always managed to get what he wanted.
On the high peaty moors we found the creeping cloud-berry,
and as we had strolled slowly, searching everywhere for
plants and enjoying the scenery and the mountain air, it was
late in the afternoon before we came to a deep valley where
there were some houses, and as we had walked about eight or
nine miles over high mountains since we last saw a house, we
determined to go down and try to find a night's lodging. We
were attracted by glimpses of a waterfall up this valley, and
therefore made for the highest house we could see, a rather
neat small farmhouse. By the time we had reached it the
sun had set, and when we asked if we could have supper
and lodging there, we were told it was impossible, as some
titled person — I forget the name — was coming next day with
some friends to shoot there, and every thing was got ready for
him. However, we told them we had walked over the
mountains from Corwen and were very tired, and if we went
down to the village we should have so much to walk back in
the morning, that at last they agreed. I quite forget what
kind of accommodation we had, but I rather think we slept
on the floor. We had, however, a good supper, and break-
fast next morning, when, after getting a view of the water-
fall, which Mr. Mitten sketched, we walked about three
miles westward over a mountain ridge to a good but very

LLANRHAIDWR WATERFALL.

{To face p. 403, Vol. II.

xxxiua] EXCURSIONS AND EXAMINATIONS 403

wild road, which led us back through the village of Llandrillo
to Corwen, a distance of about seventeen miles, forming
altogether one of the wildest mountain walks I have ever
taken in our own country.

The waterfall we thus accidentally came upon is called
Pistill Rhaiadwr, and is little known to tourists, as it is a long
way from any beaten track, but it is undoubtedly the finest
in Wales, and has a peculiar feature which is, I think, unique
in the British Isles. Between the upper and the lower part
of the fall the water passes under a natural arch of rock,
along which it is possible to crawl, though when there is
much water the arch is drenched with spray. The photograph
here copied shows this remarkable feature, as well as the
double fall, the upper one being about 150 feet high, the
total height being 240 feet George Borrow, in his "Wild
Wales," considers this curious bridge to be a blemish, and
remarks, "This unsightly object has stood where it now
stands since the day of creation, and will probably remain
there to the day of judgment It would be a desecration of
nature to remove it by art, but no one could regret if Nature
herself, in one of her floods, were to sweep it away." The
ancient geology and theology of this passage are very
characteristic.

Two years later we had another excursion together,
accompanied by my friend Geach, going first to Beddgelert,
and then on to Pen-y-gwryd, where we found the little inn
crowded, and had difficulty in finding the roughest accom-
modation. Next morning we started at five, and had a most
delightful walk up Snowdon by this very picturesque route.
Reaching the summit with excellent appetites, we enjoyed our
breakfast of coffee and bacon in the little hut on the top, and
then, as it was a glorious day with floating clouds whose
shadows below us were a delight, we spent an hour or more
in the enjoyment of the splendid views, with the numerous
lakes in almost all the surrounding civms and valleys which
render this mountain especially interesting to the glacial
geologist. Numbers of swifts were flying about over and
around the peak, and when Mr. Mitten climbed out on some

404 MY LIFE [Chap.

crags in search of rare mosses, they dashed about so close to
his head as to cause him to retreat. After returning to Bedd-
gelert we went up a small valley to find a very rare water-
moss, which Mr. William Borrer, the well-known botanist,
had told Mr. Mitten was to be found there ; and after a long
search in every rock-hole that seemed a likely place, he, at
last, found the treasure, as he almost always did when he
went in search of any rarity. While stopping at a cottage
during a shower, and noticing some large birds of prey
screaming on a mountain near, he asked the woman of the
house what birds they were. To which she replied, " Harpies,"
which made us wonder what remote part of the world we had
got to. We afterwards went to Dolgelly and Cader Idris,
where, in a small lake, we found the uncommon Lobelia
Dortmanna.

In 1875 we went again to Snowdon, and afterwards to the
curious ravine called Twll-du, or the " Devil's Kitchen," near
which I found an umbrella, and Mrs. Mitten, who accompanied
us, found somebody's lunch, consisting of a baked trout and
grapes ; while Mr. Mitten revelled as usual in the rare mosses,
and later at the Swallow Falls, on the way to Bettws-y-Coed,
he found a moss quite new to him.

Our next excursion was to South Wales, when my wife
and Mrs. Mitten accompanied us, as I wished to show them
the beautiful scenery of my favourite Vale of Neath. We
stayed a few days at a cottage at Pont-nedd Fychan and
visited the beautiful waterfalls, the rocking-stone, the subter-
ranean river, and the fine Dinas rock. While here one day
we passed a labourer at work on the roadside, and Mrs. Mitten,
thinking to gratify the patriotism of a Welshman, remarked
on the beauty of the scenery, and asked him if he did not
think it a privilege to live in such a fine country ? Rather to
our amusement, he told us that he did not think much of the
country, it was all hills and stones, and there was no good
land, and he much preferred his own country, which was
Lincolnshire !

Another year I and Mr. Mitten went to Glen Clova in the
Highlands in search of the many rare plants for which it is

xxxiiia] EXCURSIONS AND EXAMINATIONS 405

celebrated. But we had little success because we had no guide
to the exact localities of the rarities. But we much enjoyed
the excursion and the wild scenery, though we had some diffi-
culty in getting the keepers to allow us to enter the glen. Being
at the inn on Sunday a number of farmers and their wives
came in after church to meet their friends and drink whisky,
and on listening to their very voluble talk I could not under-
stand a word that they were saying. I concluded, therefore,
that they were speaking Gaelic, and was much pleased to
have heard it. But the landlord's daughter told me afterwards
that no one spoke Gaelic there, and that all the people I had
heard were speaking English ! I could not have believed
that pronunciation and accent could have produced such
complete unintelligibility. On passing through Edinburgh
we called on the late Professor Balfour at the Botanical
Gardens, and he much regretted that he had not accompanied
us, as he could have shown us all the rarities of that botanical
treasure-house.

In the spring of 1877 I accompanied Mr. Mitten to Spa
in Belgium, where he was taking his youngest daughter to a
school to acquire French conversation. We stayed a few
days there, botanizing on the moors and hills around, and
were interested in noticing some peculiarities of the vegetation
as compared with our own. Nowhere did we see a single
primrose, but its place was taken by the true oxlip {Primula
elatior), so local with us. Our rare little fern, Asplenium
septentrionale, was common by the roadsides. Our Swiss tour
has been noticed in Chapter XXXIII. Even during Mr.
Mitten's occasional visits to us in Dorsetshire, he had found
several plants new to the district or to the county. The
most notable of these were the crowberry (Empetrum tiignim),
never before noticed in Dorsetshire, a quite large bush of
which was found on Studland Heath, a well-searched botanical
locality. Even more interesting was his discovery of the
rare aquatic grass, Leersia oryzoides, which he thought
should grow in the ditches near Wareham, and knowing its
flowering season, he went there and found it, though the
very ditch had often been searched by other botanists !

406 MY LIFE [Chap.

My Experiences as an Examiner.

It was, I think, in 1870, that I heard from Bates of the
examinations in Physical Geography under the Science and
Art Department, for which he was one of the Assistant
Examiners, and he advised me to apply to Professor Ansted,
the examiner-in-chief, if I wished to obtain the post of an
assistant. I did so; and began the work in 1871, and con-
tinued yearly till 1877. In 1871 I also had the examiner-
ship in Physical Geography and Geology for the Indian Civil
Engineering College, and in 1870 and 1871 for the Royal
Geographical Society.

The work under Professor Ansted was hard while it
lasted, but was interesting, and often quite amusing, and it
was very well paid. The assistant examiners had each over
a thousand papers to examine. The work occupied about
three weeks more or less, and the remuneration amounted to
from £50 to £6o, or occasionally even more. In 1878 Pro-
fessor Judd and Sir Norman Lockyer were appointed joint
examiners, the syllabus being altered to include geology and
physical astronomy, while the subject of examination was
now changed from Physical Geography to Physiography,
and I continued to be an assistant examiner till 1897, with
the exception of one year during my American tour.

During the earlier period a considerable number of well-
known scientific men, mostly geologists or biologists, were
among the assistant examiners, such as H. W. Bates, William
Carruthers, the botanist, J. F. Collingwood, Major Cooper-
King, Professor J. Morris, Professor T. Rupert Jones, Dr.
Henry Woodward of the Natural History Museum, Professor
H. G. Seeley, and a few others less well known to me. There
were three meetings in London to compare results and secure
an equal rate of marking, and these afforded an opportunity
for a little conversation between persons who rarely met
elsewhere, and we also for some years had an annual dinner,
which was latterly discontinued when a considerable propor-
tion of the examiners lived in the country.

xxxiiia] EXCURSIONS AND EXAMINATIONS 407

Although the drudgery and strain of reading through a
thousand papers, with replies to the same set of questions,
exhibiting every possible degree of ignorance of the subject
and often extremely diffuse, was very great, yet a little relief
was given by the highly amusing character of some of the
answers, of the more curious of which I, as well as several
others of the examiners, made notes. During intervals of
our more serious work, we often communicated some of these
to our fellow-sufferers, and thus contributed a little hilarity
to our otherwise strictly business meetings.

On looking over my notes of these examinations extend-
ing over more than a quarter of a century, I think it will be
both amusing and instructive to give a few examples of these
replies, of which I have a rather large collection, as they have
an important bearing on the whole question of the utility of
such examinations, on which I may, perhaps, afterwards say
a few words. The first I will quote are from a rather long
series that occurred in 1873. It must be remembered that in
Professor Ansted's time sixteen questions were asked, ranging
over most of the subjects included in Physical Geography,
but only eight were to be answered, so that the candidates
need only attempt to answer those about which they knew
something. Further, they were all supposed to have had
some special teaching in the subject, and were sent up by
their masters in the hope of getting the allowance granted by
the Government for each one who passed.

The first question was, "Show why the longest day in
Edinburgh is longer than the longest day in London." Out
of a large number of answers, showing more or less complete
ignorance of the cause of this interesting phenomenon which
must be known to every one who has spent a winter at any
two places in the north and the south of our islands, I have
preserved five.

(1) Because it possesses a maritime climate.

(2) Because the manufactures in London produce a smoky atmosphere.

(3) Because it is not in such a warm place as London.

(4) Because London is on a meridian and Edinburgh is not.

(5) Because the first meridian shades the sun from London, while it
is shining in Edinburgh.

408 MY LIFE [Chap.

Now, these answers, and scores of others equally wide of
the mark but not so short or so amusing, show that no
attempt had ever been made to teach these boys to under-
stand the commonest facts connected with the motions of the
earth — such as the seasons, varying lengths of day and night,
change of position of the sun at rising and setting, and its
altitude at noon, etc. — in the only way in which they can be
taught to the majority of people, that is, by simple experi-
ments with a globe and a lamp in a darkened room. In this
way the reason of all the changes is seen to follow inevitably
from the form, position, and motions of the earth, while no
amount of verbal explanation, even with the help of diagrams,
can make it intelligible to any but those who have the special
geometrical faculty. By such experiments any intelligent
children from eight or ten upwards may be easily made to
understand these facts, as well as the apparent motions of all
the heavenly bodies. Yet probably to this day not one school
in a hundred teaches such things, and not one teacher in a
hundred knows how to teach them.

Another question was, " Mention the natural habitat of the
horse, the elephant, the hippopotamus, and the rhinoceros,"
and the following answers were given : —

(i) The horse is used for drawing anything, such as carts, plows,
or anything he is taken to do ; the hippopotamus is a very disagreeable
beast and runs about very wild.

(2) The habit of the horse is plowing, the elephant goes to shows.

(3) The principle habitat of \ the elephant is the fauna, the rhinoceros,
the buffalo, and the hippopotamus is the white bear.

The above replies show gross ignorance of the facts of
animal distribution or of the terms used in regard to it ; and
the following show equal ignorance of common geographical
or meteorological phenomena. The answers show sufficiently
what were the questions : —

Q. 11. The principal Atlantic icebergs come from the Alleghanies on
the east of America ; when they reach the valley below they melt and
form small straits, which in time spread out into rivers. They enrich the
climate through which they pass.

xxxiiia] EXCURSIONS AND EXAMINATIONS 409

Q. 11. Iceberg is a mass of ice formed in the polar regions and
generally connected with volcanoes.

Q. 11. Icebergs are formed by geysers shooting up in the air out of
the sea and frozen there.

In reply to a question as to deep dredging in the Atlantic
the following answers were given : —

Q. 15. The depth of the water of the Atlantic is measured by large
things called ravines. The depth is 90,000,000 miles. Gold is found at
the bottom.

Q. 15. The matter found at the bottom of the Atlantic is copper,
pearls, and diamonds.

Q. 15. The material found by deep dredging in the Atlantic is — the
Atlantic canal or cable.

The question being, " What is meant by the distribution
of plants and animals in vertical and horizontal space, and
what do you understand by representative forms ? " — I have
notes of the four following answers : —

(1) Horizontal distribution is when they grow near the horizon ;
vertical distribution is when they grow in vertical space, as wheat, or
anything on the same level.

(2) Plants grow in gardens, animals live on the earth.

(3) By distribution of plants and animals in vertical and horizontal
space, we mean, the plants and animals in the distance between pointed
and curved lines.

(4) Representative forms of animals and plants is, how they are
represented in books.

In 1878 I had some good examples of the kind of answer
in which the candidate evidently has a very high opinion of
his own attainments and his mode of explaining the whole
matter. The question was, " In what respects do a volcano
and a geyser resemble each other, and in what respects do
they differ ? " The answer is rather a long one : —

A volcano is a raised piece of land in about a thousand years, then in
another thousand years it has become larger and larger till it becomes
as high as would be called a volcano. But a geyser is a raised piece of
land done all in a night

Difference. The volcano takes a long long time to be at the point of
saturation, but the geyser is done all in one night.

410 MY LIFE [Chap.

Agreement. They are both raised-up pieces of land. Sometimes a
volcano goes on fire and makes a creator, and then it bursts. When
it bursts you will always observe that down at the bottom of the volcano
and about ten miles round and round about it there lies cinders as large
as bricks, and as you proceed to the top of the volcano it always becomes
smaller, till at the mouth of it it is all dross, like very small coal.

This last sentence is so precise and clear in its state-
ments that one might suppose it to be the result of personal
observation !

Another of the same class occurred in 1879, when in
answer to the question, " What evidence have we that lions
and tigers once lived in this country ? " the reply was —

We have only this evidence that lions and tigers once lived in this
country, that when a man, or even any man or men, have been digging
for minerals, wells, or anything else, they have found the fossils, and it
has at last after a good long consideration and perseverance it has turned
out to be the skeleton of a lion or tiger.

The same paper explains thunder as follows : —

The cause of the noise made during thunderstorms is the meeting
of the electric and other gases. It is said that a gentleman caught a
glimpse of one of these collisions by means of a kite. It was thus found
out what was the cause of thunderstorms, and also what made the flash
of lightning.

In 1880 we had the following answers to a question about
the causes of the extinction of animals, and as to any which
have become extinct since the appearance of man on the
earth : —

(1) Giants, and the great fish which swallowed Jonah.

(2) Extinct volcanoes not having erupted for a length of time is one
cause which has brought about the extinction of animals.

(3) Animals which lived before the flood no longer exist except their
fossilized remains. Iothoraics, Pleathorus, Mammoth, Dothorium, Adam
and Eve never saw, having become extinct.

(4) Animals which have become extinct since man has been on the
earth are Ammonites, Belemnites, Mammals and Productus horridus.

(5) The unicorn is extinct.

(6) Extinct means that they have gone away, but may become active
again. Some of the causes that they have become extinct are that they
have been caged up, etc. The animals that have become extinct since
the appearance of man are the jaguars.

xxxiiia] EXCURSIONS AND EXAMINATIONS 411

Many other answers showed a similar absence of know-
ledge upon this most interesting branch of natural history,
and one which may be made easily intelligible even to
children.

The equally simple and interesting question as to what
geographical range of animals or plants means, is thus
answered : —

(1) What is meant by geographical range is, that they are arranged
according to their shape and size.

(2) The geographical range of a species of animal or plant is that
part of a country in which no species of animal or plant will live, only
the species which first originated there.

In 1882 we had a question analogous to that so badly
answered in 1873 : " What is the cause of the long days and
nights of the Polar regions?" and the answers showed little
improvement in the teaching. Here are a few of them : —

(1) The reason why they have long days and nights is because at
the poles they have only six hours sun, and the sun does not rise at 6
o'clock a.m. at the poles as it does here, but does not rise till nine and
ten o'clock a.m.

(2) Because the sun only visits the polar regions a particular part of
the year. When the sun is gone the day only lasts a few hours.

(3) The poles being so far from the equator. That is, it takes the
light a certain time to travel that distance.

(4) At the N. Pole the Aurora Borealis ; at the South Pole the South
Australis sheds its light upon the Polar regions, the long nights are
owing to the Aurora disappearing. Long days may be also owing to the
Colures ; long nights to the moon not affecting the Polar regions.

(5) In summer Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, being the bulk of
the land of the world, require a great deal of heat from the sun. Again,
when it is winter in Europe, etc., it is summer in Australia. Now
Australia being a very small part of the earth it will not require as much
heat as the other continents did. Consequently more heat can be given
by the sun to the Polar regions than in our summer.

(6) The cause of the long days is due to the slowness with which the
moon sets, or, more correctly, the long nights, and when the moon does
set it remains a long time forming the long days.

(7) The reason they have long days and nights is that the people
always catch the sun or the moon ; another reason is that they are
nearest the sun.

(8) The cause of the long days and nights of the Polar regions is that
the days and nights are just the opposite to what it is stated in the

412 MY LIFE [Chap.

question, namely short days and long nights, it being one continuous
winter from one years end to the other, summer being only for a few
weeks at a time, and then the days are comparatively short compared
with ours.

(9) The long days and nights are caused by the quantity of snow that
falls at the poles.

(10) The cause of the long days in the Polar regions is this : when
the sun is observed there (which it seldom is) the rays are reflected as it
were, and it forms day. The cause of the long nights in the Polar regions
is this : the sun only makes his appearance for a very short time, during
this time it is day, but after the sun disappears it is night, which by that
means is very long. It is to be understood that it is a certain part of the
year during which the days are long, and the other part during which the
nights are long.

It seems to me a very sad thing that under a vast Govern-
ment organization at a very great cost, it should be possible
for such results as these to be produced. Many of these
candidates have evidently good capacity, but are sent up
to be examined on subjects of which they are disgracefully
ignorant, either from want of any teaching whatever, or
through their teachers being themselves disgracefully ignorant
— and there are clear indications that the latter is very often
the case.

Six years later (1888), we find equal ignorance on
another subject of great interest, and as to which knowledge
was easy to obtain even without special training. The
question was, " How is the depth of the ocean determined ? "

(1) The depth of the ocean is determined by the water carrying the
sediment to the mouth of the ocean and depositing it again.

(2) The depth of the ocean is determined by discharging a wire or
rope from a cannon, the wire being long with a point fixed, which when
it touches something hard an electric current passes immediately to the
ship ; they thus go on till they find the lowest sounding.

(3) The depth of the ocean is determined by means of the barometer,
an instrument invented for measuring the heights of sea-levels, etc. The
barometer is placed by the side of some mountain, and in this manner
they calculate taking the readings from the barometer.

(4) The ocean contains poles, insects live at the bottom of the ocean
and bore holes in the poles, when the poles are reached they reach the
bottom of the ocean.

(5) The depth of the ocean is determined because it i always movin
and wearing away the bottom.

xxxiiia] EXCURSIONS AND EXAMINATIONS 413

(6) The depth of the ocean is determined by fixing a piece of rope to
a heavy piece of metal which is lowered into the water, and as soon
as it touches the bottom the weight is no longer felt and the rope is cut
off at the surface of the water ; the rope is then measured. It is brought
up by a diver.

(7) The depth of the ocean is determined by sounding or pianoforte
wire which is let down until it reaches the bottom of the ocean ; great
care must be taken to catch the sound.

Equally gross ignorance is shown as to the mariner's com-
pass, the question being whether it always points due north ;
if not, why not ?

(1) The mariner's compass do not always point due north because if
it did on board a ship, the captain of the ship would want to go south and
it would guide him the wrong way, instead of south it would guide him
north, so it is made to turn N.S.E.W. The mariner's compass is made
to turn round in any way in which the captain wishes to turn it, so as to
guide him which way he wants to go. If he wants to go to the south he
puts the point to the south, etc. They are used by men who want to go to
different parts of the world. Say if a man is lost in travelling to Germany
he looks at his compass, and if it is north he puts the point north, or
if it is south, etc.

(2) The mariner's compass does not point due north because the wind
affects it. If the wind is blowing hard the dial points slightly to the
north, and when it is a heavy storm the dial points nowhere, but just
swings backwards and forwards.

Another subject of the greatest interest and one that can
be very easily taught to even young children by a number of
simple and easy experiments, is that of the weight and
density of the atmosphere, and the construction of the
barometer. Some knowledge of these subjects is essential to
a clear understanding of a great number of natural phe-
nomena. Yet this is how, so late as 1889, some of these
students replied to easy questions about it : —

(1) The weight of the air can be determined by the law of gravitation.
For example, take an apple from a tree and let it go. What happens ?
It falls to the ground. This shows that the air is heavier and attracts
the apple at the ground. Therefore we can say the apple does not fall,
but it is the ground that attracts it. By that process we could discover
or determine the weight of the air. We are able to move about because
the earth attracts us, and so we are able to move about in this dense
mass of air under us.

414 MY LIFE [Chap.

(2) To a person who has not studied the question air has no weight.
If air has weight, why do we not get tired of bearing that weight ? To
prove to that person that air has weight, ask — How do you take head-
aches ? We take headaches because the air gets light and some of the
usual weight is taken off the head, and we get giddy.

These two young men write with an air of authority, as if
they were teachers rather than learners, yet it is hard to say
which of the two is the more profoundly ignorant. The
other four, while equally ignorant, are more modest in their
style.

(3) We are able to move under the pressure of the atmosphere by im-
purities and other bodies displacing the air. If there were no impurities
in the air we could not move about. For example, water-vapour gets into
the air, and displaces it making the air lighter.

(4) We are able to bear a certain amount of the weight of the
atmosphere and a very little more would kill us.

(5) We are able to move about on the earth's surface because
although the atmosphere is pressing us down we have the sun attract-
ing us.

(6) The reason that we are able to move about under the weight of
the atmosphere is that the atmosphere is two hundred miles away from
the surface of the earth.

Passing on to 1891, such a common instrument as the
barometer, which can be so easily explained by simple ex-
periments, is thus hopelessly blundered : —

(1) Air occupies the space above the mercury. If a hole were bored
through the glass above the mercury the air would escape and probably
the tube would burst.

(2) The air would escape and the mercury would remain dormant.

(3) The principle on which the action of the mercurial barometer
depends is, that it must be enclosed in a strong .case and must not be
touched in any way.

(4) A water barometer is longer than a mercurial barometer because
it has to go down to the bottom of the sea to see how deep it is. A
mercurial barometer has to see how high a thing is, and no hill is higher
than the depth of the ocean except a few high mountains which nobody
can get to the top of. Oxygen occupies the space above the mercury,
and if a hole were bored the oxygen would flow out and the mercury rise
to the top and flow out also.

In 1893, in order to correct some popular errors, the

xxxiiia] EXCURSIONS AND EXAMINATIONS 415

following questions were asked : " Point out the errors in

the following statements : —

" (a) Earthquakes have raised to heaven the ocean bed."
" (b) Volcanoes are burning mountains that vomit fire and

smoke." To which the following replies were given : —

(1) Earthquakes swallow the ocean bed.

(2) In ancient times volcanoes were called burning mountains, but we
do not call them by that name now, because we have a new name for
them derived from the Latin words volca to burn and noe mountain, and
the two put together " volcanoe."

In the same year, in reply to the very elementary question,
" How is angular space measured ? " — without a clear concep-
tion of which no knowledge of mechanics or any comprehen-
sion of many of the simplest facts of nature is possible — such
replies as the following were given : —

(1) By multiplying the number of seconds a body is falling by 32.

(2) Angular space is measured by a delicate instrument which brings
the rays to one position on a stand or anything you like to put in the
way, and they take the angle and measure it and keep on like this at all
times of the year and then find the average.

(3) You take a pair of compasses and put a point on one star and a
point on the other, and then you look between your legs where they join
and judge the distance between them thus.

In 1895 we again had a simple question as to a very
common instrument, the construction and use of which can be
taught to any child — " Describe the mariner's compass and
its chief uses ; " — and we had a set of answers as bad as those
seven years earlier : —

(1) The Mariner's Compass is a thin bit of steel cut into 32 points.

(2) The Mariner's Compass is a box with a card and a lot of needles.

(3) The Mariner's Compass is a brass box with 24 circular cards
hinged on, no matter which way it rolls it carries these around with it.

(4) The Mariner's Compass is a box and a card with 32 points.

(5) If a sailor was shipwrecked on a desert island he could find a
north and south line if he had a Nautical Almanack.

(6) The Mariner's Compass is a circular bit of wood with a nail put
through it, and into this is a pivot which is very easily shook about, and
the Captain brings this to sea with him. Of course it has the Cardinal
points on it, N.E., S.W. etc., and he knows where he is.

416 MY LIFE [Chap.

(7) To repel the other great magnet, the earth, and to prevent the
ship (because of the iron) being attracted to the earth.

Of course it will be said that the examples here given
are all extreme cases, and that a majority of the papers
show a considerable amount of knowledge. But this is
altogether beside the question. I never had time or in-
clination to interrupt my work in order to copy all the very
ignorant answers, but only a few here and there which
specially struck me. For each one thus copied there were
at least a dozen equally bad, but often so wordy and involved
as to take too much time to preserve, while a far greater
number exhibited a little knowledge so intermingled with
gross ignorance, as for any useful purpose would be equally
bad.

But the point I wish to insist upon is, the utter failure of a
system which, at the end of twenty years, allows of any such
candidates as these taking part in an examination. The
failure is twofold. First, in the notion that any good can
result from the teaching of such a large and complex subject
to youths who come to it without any preliminary training
whatever, and who are crammed with it by means of a lesson
a week for perhaps one year ; and, in the second place, the
attempting to teach such a subject at all before a sufficiently
capable body of teachers have been found who know the
whole range of subjects included in it, both theoretically and
practically, and who also know how to communicate to others
the knowledge they themselves possess.

In these examinations scores and sometimes hundreds of
papers come from single large schools, and it is a familiar
thing to examiners to find the same absurd error, often stated
in the very same words, running through a whole school,
except, perhaps, in the case of one or two exceptionally clever
lads who have, by reading or experiment, educated them-
selves upon the point in question. Now, the absurdity of the
system is, that the ignorant teacher never has his ignorance
pointed out to him, and imputes the failure of a number of
his pupils to their stupidity or carelessness, whereas it is
really all due to his own ignorance.

xxxiiia] EXCURSIONS AND EXAMINATIONS 417

Another evil result of these examinations under a Govern-
ment department is, that in order to justify their existence, it
is necessary to show a certain considerable amount of success.
Hence the " passes " are brought up to good general average,
however bad the bulk of the papers may be ; and people are
deluded by the idea that because a person has passed in
Physiography he has a good general knowledge of the whole
subject, whereas many pass who are quite unfit to teach any
portion of it to the smallest child. My own conclusion is that
all these examinations are an enormous waste of public money,
with no useful result whatever. Nature-knowledge of the
kind referred to is the most important, the most interesting,
and therefore the most useful of all knowledge. But to be
thus useful it must be taught properly throughout the whole
period of instruction from the kinder-garten onwards, always
by means of facts, experiments, and outdoor observation,
supplemented, where necessary, by fuller exposition of difficult
points in the classroom.

The whole status of the teacher is degraded by the present
system, which assumes that any fairly educated person can,
by means of a few courses of lectures and a short period of
cramming, be qualified to teach these subjects to the young.
The real fact is that none can teach them properly who
have not a natural taste for them, and have largely taught
themselves by personal observation and study. They alone
know the difficulties felt by beginners ; they alone are able to
go to the fundamental principles that underlie the most
familiar phenomena, and are thus able to make everything
clear to their pupils. Such men are comparatively rare, but
they should be carefully sought for and given the highest
rank in the teacher's profession. When that is done, no
examinations will be advisable or necessary.

Before quitting the examination question, I wish to say a
word in favour of the late Professor Ansted as an Examiner
in Physical Geography. On looking over many of the papers
set by him from 1871 to 1877, I am greatly impressed by his
broad grasp of the whole subject, and the admirable manner
in which he dealt in turn with all the natural phenomena

VOL. II. 2 E

41 8 MY LIFE [Chap. XXXIHa]

embraced in it, from the simplest to the most complex. He
usually set fifteen to sixteen questions, in both the Elementary
and Advanced stages, only eight of which were to be answered ;
and they always comprised a considerable portion of the
whole field embraced in the study. I feel sure that :he
questions set by him during any four or five years of the period
named, would serve as an admirable guide to a student who
wished to make himself master of the fascinating study of
earth-knowledge or " physiography."

INDEX

A., Mr., anecdotes of, i. 108, 129
Aar, exploring the gorge of the, ii. 214
Abbe Paris, miracles at the tomb of,
ii. 309

Aberhonddu, i. 161

Abbey-Cwm-Hir, i. 150, 161

Aberystwith, i. 161

Abyssinia, plants of, ii. 13, 21 ; effects
of Christianity in, ii. 53

" Acclimatization," article on, in the
" Encyclopaedia Britannica," by A.
R. Wallace, ii. 98

Academy, T/ie, review by A. R. Wal-
lace, of " The Descent of Man " in,
ii. 10

Aden, i. 335

Adelboden, Switzerland, ii. 220

Adirondacks, ii. 188

Adshead, Mr., his interest in spirit-
ualism, ii. 322

" Adventures of Mrs. Leek and Mrs.
Aleshine, The," read by A. R. Wal-
lace, ii. 135

Africa, plants of, ii. 13, 21

Agassiz, Louis, on the glacial epoch,

i- 134
Agassiz, Mr. Alexander, A. R. Wal-
lace meets, ii. no
Agassiz Museum of Zoology, ii. no
" Age of Bronze, The," i. 1 13
"Age of Reason," Thomas Paine's, i.

87

Aiguilles, view of, i. 325

Ainsworth, W. Harrison, " Rook-
wood " by, i. 75

Airy, Sir G. B., lecture on Halley's
Comet, i. 247

Aksakoff, Hon. Alexander, visits at

Grays, ii. 93
Alabama, Fanny Wallace goes to, i.

223 ; returns from, i. 256
Albany Street, London, residence of

Mr. and Mrs. Sims at, i. 263
Albury, St. George Mivart builds a

house near, ii. 44
d'Alembert, quoted, ii. 2S4
Alexandria, described in letter to

George Silk, i. 332-335
Alexandria Bay, St. Lawrence river,

ii. 188
Ali, Malay servant, described, i. 3S2
Aliven, North Wales, ii. 401
Alleghanies, crossing the, ii. 138
Allen, Mr. Charles, his search for

birds of paradise, i. 387-394
Allen, Grant, on " Colour Sense," ii.

71 ; " In Magdalen Tower," by, ii.

121 ; A. R. Wallace's admiration

for, ii. 187 ; A. R. Wallace on, ii.

209 ; R. Le Gallienne on, ii. 218 ;

on English rule in India, ii. 262,

263 ; A. R. Wallace urges him to

write socialistic novel, i. 272, 273
Allen, Rev. J. A., A. R. Wallace's

friendship with, ii. 121 ; visit to the

House of Representatives, ii. 124,

125 ; A. R. Wallace stays with, ii.

187, 188
Allen, William, shareholder in the

New Lanark Mills, i. 98
Allingham, William, introduces A. R.

Wallace to Tennyson, ii. 29S
Allman, Professor, his sufferings from

asthma, ii. 229
All Saints' churchyard at Hertford,

i. 49

419

420

INDEX

" Alteriora," by Professor Stuart
Blackie, ii. 257

Alto Orinoco, A. R. Wallace's voyage
on the, ii. 71

Altrincham, A. R. Wallace's lecture
at, ii. 201

Alwen, North Wales, ii. 401

Amazon, The, i. 15, 194 ; A. R. Wal-
lace and H. W. Bates undertake
collecting expedition to, i. 264, 275-
288 ; animal life on, i. 324, 328 ;
odoriferous plants on, ii. 68 ; ex-
penses of expedition to, ii. 360

Amboyna, A. R. Wallace's expedition
to> i- 357j 369 ; butterflies of, i.
403

America, i. 417 ; dispersal of man in,
i. 422 ; trees with aromatic leaves
in, ii. 66 ; A. R. Wallace under-
takes lecturing tour in, ii. 105, 106 ;
A. R. Wallace's lecturing tour in,
ii. 107, 199

Andermatt, walk to, ii. 213

Andes, i. 284, 326 ; odoriferous plants
on the, ii. 68

"Animal Life and Intelligence," by
G. J. Romanes ; reviewed by A. R.
Wallace, ii. 210

Animals, distribution of, ii. 94-98 ;
lectures on colours and mimicry of,
ii. 105, 106, in, 126, 145, 148, 151.
158, 186, 385

"Animals and Plants under Domesti-
cation," by Darwin, i. 422 ; ii.
II

Annals and Magazine of Natural His-
lory, The, A. R. Wallace's article,
"On the Law which has regulated
the Introduction of New Species,"
in, i. 355 ; Rev. S. Haughton's article
" On the Bee's Cell and the Origin
of Species," in, ii. 87

Antarctic Islands, the plants of, studied
by Sir J. Hooker, ii. 100

Ansted, Professor, anecdote of, ii. 314 ;
examiner-in-chief in Physical Geo-
graphy, ii. 406, 407 ; A. R. Wallace's
estimate of, ii. 417

Anthropology, A. R. Wallace lectures
on, ii. 128

" Anticipations and Hopes for the Im-

mediate Future," by A. R. Wallace,
quoted, ii. 221-223

"Antiquity of Man, The," by Sir
Charles Lyell, i. 426, 430

Ants, the effect of, on plants, ii. 64-71

" Apparitions," articles by A. R. Wal-
lace, published in The Arena, ii. 210

" Appreciation of the Past Century,
by A. R. Wallace, in The Morning
Leader, ii. 220

Arctic Plants in the Southern Hemi-
sphere and on Isolated Mountain-tops
within the Tropics, differences of
opinion between Darwin and A. R.
Wallace on, ii. 20, 387

Arena, The, A. R. Wallace writes an
article for, ii. 209 ; A. R. Wallace
writes two articles on " Apparitions,"
for, 210

Argyll, Duke of, discussions with, i.
435 5 " Origin of Species" criticised
by, ii. 8 ; on the flight of birds, ii. 25

Arjuna, mount, i. 376

Arkansas, ii. 178

Armstrong, Mr. and Mrs., A. R.
Wallace's friendship with, ii. 120

Aru Islands, successful expedition to
the, i. 356, 357, 369

Astrolabe Bay, Dr. Maklay's adven-
tures in, ii. 35

Astronomy, A. R. Wallace's first
interest in, i. 191

Athol, Duke of, in connection with
the Glen Tilt case, ii. 259

Atlantic Monthly, The, paper on "The
Birth of the Solar System," in, i. 427

Australia, birds of, i. 396-398 ; mam-
mals of, i. 420

Avondale, Ohio, residence of Mr.
Dury, ii. 143

Azores, Mr. C. II. Watson's botanical
studies in the, ii. 100

15

Backhouse Mr., alpine gardens of, ii. 50
"Bad Times," by A. R. Wallace,

Herbert Spencer on, ii. 31 ; criticisms

on, ii. 104, 105
Bagshot, ii. 60
Bahia, Darwin at, ii. 20

INDEX

421

Bailies, Mr. Edward, on the condition

of New Lanark, i. 101
Baines, Mr., African traveller, L 405
Baker, Mr., of Kew, ii. 13. See note
Baker, Professor James H., of Denver

High School, ii. 155
Balfour, Professor, A. R. Wallace calls

on, ii. 405
Balfour, Right Hon. A. J., on the land

question, ii. 254 ; seances at, ii. 334
Bali, i. 356
Ball, Sir Robert, on " Cause of the Ice

Age," ii. 216, 387
Baltimore, A. R. Wallace lectures at,

ii. 113, 114
Banda, i. 357, 369

Banka, A. R. Wallace goes to, i. 376
Banner of Light, Boston, A. R. Wallace

writes letter to, ii. 340
Barking, A. R. Wallace takes a house

at, i. 416 ; ii. 90
Barra, Brazil, A. R. Wallace's expedi-
tion to, i. 281
Barrett, Professor, ii. 34; paper on

thought reading at the meeting of

the British Association, ii. 49 ; founds

Psychical Research Society, ii. 49
Barry, Mr., his designs for Houses of

Parliament, i. 189
Bartholomew's " Specifications for

Practical Architecture," i. 189
Bartlett, Mr., i. 384
Barton-in-the-Clay, William and A. R.

Wallace land-surveying at, i. 106 ;

description of, i. Ill, 118
Batavia, i. 376
Batchian, A. R. Wallace's residence at,

i- 365> 367> 395
Bates, Henry Walter, entomologist, A.
R. Wallace's first meeting with, i.
237 ; extracts from correspondence
with, i. 254, 256 ; undertakes an
expedition to Brazil with A. R.
Wallace, i. 264, 266 ; the voyage
out, i. 267 ; nurses Herbert Wallace
with yellow fever and catches it him-
self, i. 282 ; collecting on the
Amazon, i. 326 ; letters from A. R.
Wallace to, i. 349-354. 358. 373,
377 ; on mimicry in animals, i. 407 ;
becomes assistant secretary of the

Royal Geographical Society, i. 415 ;
visits Darwin, ii. 1 ; consulted by
Darwin on colouring of caterpillars,
ii. 3 ; first meeting with Herbert
Spencer, ii. 23 ; urges Wallace to
investigate spiritualism, ii. 282 ; is
assistant examiner in Physical Geo-
graphy, ii. 406
Bateson, Mr., A. R. Wallace criticizes,

ii. 213 ; on Utility, ii. 215
Bay of Biscay, storm in the, i. 267
Beacon, The, on " Bad Times," ii.

Beacons, the, in Brecknockshire, i.
160 ; account of, i. 162-165, 249 ;
walk to, i. 251-253

Beal, Professor, of Michigan, ii. 186

Beane, river, i. 34, 35

Beau Brummell, i. 7

Becca de Nona, excursion to, i. 413

Beddgelert, excursion to, ii. 403, 404

Bedford, i. 1 17, 118, 129

Bedfordshire, William and A. R. Wal-
lace land-surveying in, i. 106-117

Beecher, Henry Ward, ii. 122

Bees' cells, Mr. Haughton on, ii. 87 ;
A. R. Wallace on, ii. 390

Beetles, collecting, at Bukit Tima, i.
338 ; at Sarawak, i. 351 ; collected
in three and a half years, i. 360 ;
difficulty in obtaining, i. 379

Bell, Arthur J., A. R. Wallace on the
works of, ii. 37, 38

Bellamy, Mr. E., reference to Social-
ism of, ii. 199 ; his "Looking Back-
ward " considered, ii. 266 ; his
"Equality" considered, ii. 268-271

Bellew, Mr. J., ii. 318, 324

Belt, Mr., on protective leaves, ii. 65,

69

Bencoolen, i. 376

Bengeo, picturesque village, i. 35

Beni, river, i. 320

Bennett, A. W., his paper on "The
Theory of Natural Selection from a
Mathematical Point of View," ii.

7.8
Bennett, Mr. E. T., 11. 277
Bentham, Jeremy, co-shareholder with

Robert Owen, i. 98
Berkhampstead, i. 135

422

INDEX

Bermuda, ii. loo

Bernheim, Dr., on Lourdes, ii. 307

Berry, Mrs. Catherine, ii. 277

Berwyn mountains, R. A. Wallace and
Mr. Mitten's walk to, ii. 402

Bessir, i. 371

Bethnal Green, museum at, A. R.
Wallace applies for directorship of,
i. 415, 422 ; ii. 90

Bettws-y-Coed, North Wales, ii. 404

Bevan, Mr., civil engineer, i. 136

Bierstadt, ii. 124

Biological Section of the British Asso-
ciation, A. R. Wallace president of,
ii. 49, 98

Bird, Miss, her account of Lake Tahoe,
ii. 174

Birds of Brazil, described, i. 274 ; search
for umbrella-bird, i. 281, 283 ; um-
brella-bird, i. 314, 315 ; of Malacca
described, i. 339 ; exhibition of, from
New Guinea, i. 364 ; collection of,
from Batchian, i. 367 ; narrative of
search after birds of paradise, i. 387—
394 ; writings of A. R. Wallace on,
i. 394, 395 ; discussion on the flight
of, ii. 25, 26 ; migratory, discussed,

»• 392, 394

Birmingham, i. 131, 133 ; new railway
to, i. 140

" Birth of the Solar System, The,"
discussed, i. 427

Bishop of Georgia (Dr. Elliott), Colum-
bia College, established by the, i. 14,
223

Blackdown, near Haslemere, Tenny-
son's residence at, ii. 298

Blackheath Park, residence of John
Stuart Mill, ii. 236

Blackie, Professor J. Stuart, his con-
nection with A. R. Wallace, ii. 257

Bland, Mr. Hubert, as socialist, ii.
272

Bland, Dr. T. A., editor of The
Council Fire, ii. 129

Blatchford, Robert, his opinions on
military expenditure, ii. 223; "Merrie
England " by, ii. 268

Bloomington, Indiana, A. R. Wallace
lectures at, ii. 145

Bluecoal School at Hertford, i. 42

Boisduval, Dr., his book on butterflies,
i. 329

Bombay, i. 383

Bonaparte, Prince Lucien, "Conspec-
tus Generum Avium " by, i. 327, 355

Bond, Dr., Lord Grimthorpe's letter to,

»• 357, 358
Borneo, i. 341, 350, 359 ; Sir James

Brooke's return to, ii. 52
Borrer, Mr. William, botanist, ii. 404
Borrow, George, author of" Lavengro,"

quoted on Welsh mutton, i. 159, 161;

on Welsh literature, i. 168 ; quoted

on Pistill Rhaiadwr waterfall, ii.

403
Boston, A. R. Wallace stays at, ii. 108 ;

first lecture at, ii. 109 ; occupation

at, ii. no, 115, 116; A. R. Wallace

describes seances at, ii. 337-341
Botany, A. R. Wallace's first interest

in, i. Ill ; his studies in, i. 192-

197 ; first literary effort in, i.

199
Boulton and Watt, Messrs., i. 133
Bouru, i. 395 ; paper by A. R. Wallace

on the birds of, i. 396
Boutleroff, the biologist, visits at Grays,

ii. 93
Bowman, Mr. Robert, A. R. Wallace

stays with, ii. 112
Boyd-Kinnear, Mr. J., A. R. Wallace

stays with, at Guernsey, ii. 256,

257
"Boy's Own Book," i. 64
Brackett, Mr. E. A., author of

" Materialized Apparitions," ii. 337 ;

stance with, ii. 339, 340
Bradgate Park, rambles in, i. 237
Bradley, Professor, of University of

California, ii. 165
Brady, Sir Antonio, ii. 90
Branner, Dr., A. R. Wallace stays

with, ii. 145, 146. See vote ii. 167,

168
Brassey, Sir Thomas, his connection

with the Industrial Remuneration

Conference, ii. 250 ; A. R. Wallace's

correspondence with, ii. 395
Brazil, collections from, i. 264
Brecknockshire, W. and A. R. Wallace

land-surveying in, i. 160-167

INDEX

423

Brecon, A. R. Wallace's long walk to,

i. 160, 178, 249
Brewster, Sir David, his letters on
Home's manifestations, ii. 287-290 ;
quoted, ii. 349
British Association, Sir Charles Lyell's
presidential address to, i. 417 ; Mr.
A. W. Bennett's paper on M Natural
Selection" read to, ii. 7; A. R.
Wallace's reminiscences of meetings
of, ii. 45-50
British Museum, i. 265, 313, 328 ; A.
R. Wallace studies at, i. 386 ; its
method of payment, ii. 376, 377
Brooke, Captain, disagreement with his

uncle, Sir James Brooke, ii. 51
Brooke, Charles, Rajah of Sarawak,

ii. 51
Brooke, Sir James, Rajah of Sarawak,
i. 326 ; courtesy to A. R. Wallace,
i. 341 ; sketch of, i. 345-347 5 A. R.
Wallace's visits to, ii. 51
Brooks, Rev. J. G., his address on

"What Socialists Want," ii. ill
Brooks, Dr. W. K., zoologist, ii. 114
Brougham, Lord, present at Home's

seance at Cox's Hotel, ii. 287-290
Brown, Mrs., ii. 51
Brown, Mr., agent to Earl de Grey,

i. 107 ; nephew of, i. 129
Brown, Mr. Curtis, suggests to A. R.
Wallace the plan for " Man's Place
in the Universe," ii. 232
Brown, Dr. John, eloquent preacher,

i. 240
Browne, A. G., A. R. Wallace stays

with, ii. 107, 108, 125
Brace-Joy, Mr. A., cures Dr. Wallace's

asthma, ii. 229, 230
Brunig, excursion to, ii. 214
Bryn-coch, life at, i. 179, 189, 194,
205 ; A. R. Wallace revisits, i. 253
Buccleuch, Duke of, made President of

the British Association, ii. 48, 49
Buckland, Dr., i. 134
Buckle, Henry Thomas, " History of

Civilization " by, ii. 31
Buckley, Miss Arabella, afterwards
Mrs. Fisher, i. 433, 435; ii. 15,
83 ; her interest in spiritualism,
ii. 296 ; helps to procure A. R.

Wallace a Civil Service Pension,
ii. 378

Buckingham, James Silk, as lecturer,
i. 130

Buffon, the naturalist, Samuel Butler's
exposition on doctrines of, ii. 83, 87

Builth, i. 148

Buitenzorg, i. 376

Bugis, language of Celebes, i. 356

Bukit Tima, French mission at, A. R.
Wallace stays at, i. 337, 348

Bull, Mr. William, his annual exhibition
of orchids, ii. 206

Bunbury, Sir Charles, i. 435

Bunyan, John, connection with the
Tinker of Turvey, i. 123

Burdett-Coutts, Lady, A. R. Wallace's
acquaintance with, ii. 51, 52

Burnett, Mrs. Hodgson, A. R. Wallace
meets, ii. 119

Burnett, Mr. John, his connection with
the Industrial Remuneration Con-
ference, ii. 250

Burney, Fanny, "Evelina" by, i. 75

Burt, Mr. Thomas, his connection with
the Industrial Remuneration Con-
ference, ii. 250

Butler, A. G. , his observations on cater-
pillars, ii. 6

Butler, Mr. Samuel, A. R. Wallace's
reminiscences of, ii 83-87, his attitude
towards spiritualism, ii. 296, 297

Butterflies of Brazil, described, i. 287 ;
A. R. Wallace on,'i. 400-403; W.
H. Edward's collection of North
American, ii. 139
Byron, Lord, verses on, quoted, i.
112, 113

Cader Idris, A. R. Wallace and Mr.

Mitten's excursions to, ii. 402, 404
Cadoxton, W. and A. R. Wallace

make survey of, i. 178, 188
Cairo, described, i. 334
Cajeli, i. 375
Calaveras Grove of big trees, ii. 163,

164

424

INDEX

"Caleb Williams," by W. Godwin, i.

75
California, John Wallace went to, i.

15 ; John Wallace settles in, i. 263
Cambridge, meeting of the British

Association at, ii. 46
Cambridge Natural Science Club, A.

R. Wallace reads paper on Zoological

Regions to, ii. 211
Cambridge, U.S.A., museums of, ii.

no
"Can Telepathy Explain?" by Rev.

Minot J. Savage, ii. 337
Canada, A. R. Wallace lectures in,

ii. 125-128
Carpenter, Edward, as socialist, ii.

272
Carpenter, Dr. W. B., i. 411 ; ii. 34 ; A.

R. Wallace's reminiscences of, ii.

42, 43 ; opposes Professor Barrett's

paper on thought reading, ii. 49 ; his

attitude towards spiritualism, ii. 278,

285 j quoted, ii. 349
Carpenter, Mr. William, referee for

Mr. Hampden in the flat-earth tests,

"• 36S-370. 376

Carrington, Lord, his experience in
small holdings, i. 154

Carroll, Lewis (C. L. Dodgson), A. R.
Wallace's pleasure in the books of,
i. 225

Carruthers, William, is assistant ex-
aminer in Physical Geography, ii.
406

Carter, Mr., owner of the inn at Silsoe,
i. 129

Carter, President, A. R. Wallace enter-
tained by, ii. in

Cartwright, Sir Richard, A. R. Wallace
goes to tea at, ii. 187

Case, Henry, epitaph on, quoted, i. 7

Casey, Mr. Comerford, his translation
of an epitaph quoted, i. 9 ; Latin
speech translated by, ii. 102, 202

Cassell and Co., Messrs., new publishers
of the " Industrial Remuneration
Report," ii. 250

Cassiquiare, i. 316, 317 ; fruits of, ii. 71

Castle Howard, ii. 50

"Causes of War and the Remedies,"
the article by A. R. Wallace, ii. 220

" Caterpillars and Birds," letter to The
Field by A. R. Wallace, ii. 4-6

Caterpillars, colouring of, discussed,
ii. 3-7; injury done by, ii. 71,

384
Cawood, Mr. John, deputy to report

on the condition of New Lanark, i.

101
Celebes, Dutch Settlement, i. 326 ; A.

R. Wallace's expedition to, i. 357,

367, 395. 403
Celtic literature and language, i. 167—

169
Ceram, i. 369, 375
Chadwell Spring, described, i. 37
Chamber's " Biographical Dictionary,"

estimate of Charles Mackay in, ii.

259
Chambers, Dr. Robert, his letter to A.

R. Wallace, ii. 285, 289
Chamouni, i. 325
Champery, Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Wallace

stay at, i. 412
Chapman, Mr., ii. 154
Charles Allen at Alexandria, i. 334 ;

his occupations, i. 338 ; account of,

i. 340
Charnwood Forest, A. R. Wallace's

visit to, i. 267
Chatsworth, A. R. Wallace's visit to,

i. 267
Chauncey's " History and Antiquities

of Hertfordshire," i. 5
Chelmsford Assizes, John Hampden

indicted at, ii. 372
Chepstow, epitaph on Mark Sanderson

at, i. 8
Cheyenne, ii. 156
Chicago, ii. 184 ; A. R. Wallace's

impressions of, ii. 185
Chichester, epitaph on Henry Case at,

i. 7
Christian Socialist, 77ie, discussion

on " Interest " in, ii. 244 ; A. R.

Wallace's article on "The Morality

of Interest," quoted, ii. 244-249
Church of England, disestablishment

of, discussed, i. 431, 432
Church's picture of " Niagara," ii. 124
Cimarron, A. R. Wallace stays at,

ii. 177

INDEX

425

Cincinnati, U.S.A., ii. 136; A. R.

Wallace stays at, ii. 141 ; lectures

at, ii. 145
"Cityless and Countryless World," by

Henry Olerich, ii. 267
Clarion, The, ii. 221 ; letter on

"Militarism" by A. R. Wallace

printed in, ii. 223
Clark, Dr. G. B., interest in land

nationalization, ii. 240
Clarke, Rev. James Freeman, ii. 116
Clarke, Rev. R. F., " Lourdes and its

Miracles," by, ii. 305
Clarke, Sir James, Queen's physician,

ii. 259
Clear Creek Valley, ii. 177, 184
Clephan, Mr., architect, i. 114, 130
Cleveland, President, A. R. Wallace

visits, ii. 133
Clifford, Rev. John, as socialist, ii. 272
Clifton Forge, A. R. Wallace stays at,

ii. 138
Clutterbuck's " History of Herts," i. 5
Clydach river, i. 186
Coalburgh, West Virginia, residence of

Mr. Edwards, i. 265 ; ii. 136, 139
Cole, Sir Henry, of the Science and

Art Department at South Kensington,

i. 415
Coleman, Mr., on Sir David Brewster's

statements about Home, ii. 288
" Collected Essays," by Huxley, ii.

103
College Hill, A. R. Wallace lectures

at, ii. 145
Collen, Abbot of Glastonbury, i. 161
Collingwood, J. F., is assistant ex-
aminer in Physical Geography, ii.

406
Collings, Mr. Jesse, his interest in land

nationalization, ii. 256
Colorado river, ii. 156
Colorado springs, ii. 176, 179
"Colours of Animals and Sexual

Selection, The," by A. R. Wallace,

ii. 386
" Colours of Animals," lecture by A.

R. Wallace, ii. 105, 106, III, 126,

145, 148, 151, 158, 186
Columbia College, Georgia, Fanny

Wallace went to, as teacher, i. 14

Combe, George, " Constitution of
Man," by, i. 234

"Compendium of Geography and
Travel," A. R. Wallace writes the
volume on Australia, ii. 101, 210

Coneysthorpe, ii. 65

"Consistency," tract by Robert Dale
Owen, i. 88

"Conspectus Generum Avium," by
Prince Lucien Bonaparte, i. 327,355

Constantinople, Russian designs, i. 347

" Constitution of Man," by George
Combe, i. 234

Constitutional, The, Radical newspaper,
i. 112, and note, 113

Contemporary Review, The, " A Repre-
sentative House of Lords," by A. R.
Wallace in, ii. 212; "How best to
model the Earth," by A. R. Wallace
in, ii. 214 ; A. R. Wallace on Irish
landlordism in, ii. 240

" Contributions to the Theory of
Natural Selection," by A. R.
Wallace, i. 40x5 ; ii. 384

Cook, Mr., A. R. Wallace stays with, at
Michigan, ii. 185

Cook, Miss Florence, medium, ii. 323,

327. 331
Cook, Miss Kate, seances with, as

medium, ii. 327, 328
Cooper, Fenimore, novels of, read by

A. R. Wallace, i. 74
" Co-operative Commonwealth," by

Gronlund, ii. 267
Cooper-King, Major, is assistant ex-
aminer in Physical Geography, ii.

406
Cope, Professor, ii. no; " The Origin

of the Fittest," by, ii. 132, 133 ;

" Primary Factors of Evolution," by,

ii. 215
Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, ii.

124
Corelli, Miss Marie, A. R. Wallace in-
troduced to, ii. 259
Corwen, North Wales, A. R. Wallace

and Mr. Mitten stay at, ii. 401, 402,

403
" Cosmos," by Humboldt, i. 255
Cosmos Club, Washington, reception at,

ii. 119

426

INDEX

Coues, Dr. Elliott, A. R. Wallace's
acquaintance with, ii. 117, 123; his
interest in spiritualism, ii. 341, 342

Coulcher, Mr., referee for A. R.
Wallace in the flat-eai th experiments,
ii- 36S-37o

Coulson, Mr., mining engineer at
Sadong, i. 341, 343

Coulter's " Flora of the Rocky Moun-
tains," ii. 176

Council Bluffs, ii. 185 ■

Council Fire, The, ii. 129

Coupang, i. 369

Couvercle, i. 325

Coventry, i. 138, 238

Cowper, William, the poet, quoted,
i. 28

Cox, Mr., of Cox's Hotel, seance held
at, ii. 287-290

Cox, Mr. Robert, A. R. Wallace stays
with, in Edinburgh, ii. 257

Cox, Serjeant, ii. 277

" Creed of Science," by W. Graham,
Darwin's comments on, ii. 14

Creighton, Dr. C, on epidemic
diseases, ii. 354

Crimea, i. 331 ; A. R. Wallace's
remarks on the war, i. 347

Croll, Mr. James, on the glacial epoch,
i. 406, 425 ; ii. 13 ; A. R. Wallace
corresponds with, ii. 100 ; on the
Ice Age, ii. 216, 386

Crookes, Sir William, ii. 34; his interest
in spiritualism, ii. 277, 336 ; recep-
tion of his book on spiritualism, ii.
282 ; present at seance, ii. 286 ; elec-
trical tests, ii. 291 ; on mediums, ii.
294 ; experiments with Mr. Home,
ii. 295

Crowell, Dr. Eugene, his " Primitive
Christianity and Modern Spiritual-
ism," ii. 295

Croydon, A. R. Wallace resides at,
ii. 98 ; Romanes calls at, ii. 314

Crutwell, Clement Henry, headmaster
of Hertford Grammar School, de-
scribed, i. 49-51 ; boarders' meals
at, i. 55 ; November 5th celebrations,
i. 66

Crymlyn Burrows, walk to, described,
i. 247

Crynant, i. 180

Crystal Palace, i. 321

Cuba, A. R. Wallace writes for Daily

Chronicle, on, ii. 220
Cubitt, Mr., builder, i. 14
Culverwell, Mr. E. P., ii. 387

D

Daily Chronicle, The, A. R. Wallace
interviewed by, ii. 210 ; writes for,
ii, 220

Dale, Mr., mill-owner, Robert Owen's
connection with, i. 95

Dalhousie, Earl of, his connection with
the Industrial Remuneration Con-
ference, ii. 250

Dana, Professor J. D., A. R. Wallace
meets, ii. 113; on permanence of
oceanic and continental areas, ii.
386

Dante's "Inferno," read by A. R.
Wallace, i. 75

' ' Darkness and Dawn, the Peaceful
Birth of a New Age," ii. 268

Darlington, A. R. Wallace lectures at,
ii. 201

Dartmoor, ii. 51 ; A. R. Wallace on
importance of preserving, ii. 238

Darwen, A. R. Wallace lectures at,
ii. 201

" Darwin, Charles," by A. R. Wallace,
ii. 2

Darwin, Charles, his " Origin of
Species," i. 255, 372 ; Journal of, i.
256; A. R. Wallace's letter to, i.
355 ; A. R. Wallace's letter to,
on " Varieties," i. 363, 365 ; on
"Utilities," i. -407 ; "Descent of
Man," by, i. 408 ; his opinion of
"The Races of Man and Natural
Selection," i. 418 ; his theory of
Pangenesis, i. 422, 425 ; his opinions
on the influence of the glacial epoch,
i. 425, 426 ; natural selection dis-
cussed, i. 427, 428 ; his connection
with A. R. Wallace, ii. 1 ; ill health
of, ii. 2 ; discussion on colour of
caterpillars, ii. 3 ; letter to A. R.
Wallace, ii. 7 ; Duke of Argyll's

INDEX

427

criticism of ° Origin of Species," j
ii. 8, 9 ; A. R. Wallace's review of |
"The Descent of Man," ii. 10; St.
George Mivart's attitude towards, 1
ii. 10 ; on the glacial epoch, ii. 12 ;
letters to A. R. Wallace from, ii. 13- <
15 ; differences of opinion between
A. R. Wallace and, ii. 16; 1. The j
Origin of Man as an Intellectual 1
and Moral Being, ii. 16 ; 2. Sexual
Selection through Female Choice, ii. 1 7 ;
3. Arctic Plants in Southern Hemi- \
sphere, and on Isolated Mountain-tops
within the Tropics, ii. 20 ; 4. Pan- j
genesis, ii. 21 ; A. R. Wallace's j
feelings towards, ii. 39 ; Mivart's
criticism of, ii. 44 ; Samuel Butler
on, ii. 84 ; death of, ii. 102, 103 ;
his letters to Romanes on spiritualism,
»• 3X5> 3I7-32i, 324 5 helps to j
procure Civil Service Pension for
A. R. Wallace, ii. 378 ; references
to, ii. 383, 3S4, 386, 387, 388,

390
Darwin, Dr. Erasmus, ii. I ; Samuel

Butler's exposition of the doctrines

of, ii. 83, 84
Darwin, Mr. Francis, ii. 387
Darwin, Professor G. H., ii. 387
"Darwinism," by James Hutchinson

Stirling, ii. 212
" Darwinism," A. R. Wallace lectures

on, ii. 105, 106, 109, 113, 114, 126,

I27, 153. 158, 1S6
"Darwinism," by A. R. Wallace,

i. 417 ; coloration of insects treated

in, ii. 6 ; sexual selection through

female choice treated in, ii. 18;

writes, ii. 206 ; new edition of, ii. 220,

316, 386
Davidson, Mr., of the U.S. Geological

Survey, ii. 158
Davies, Miss, A. R. Wallace boarded

with, i. 69, 70
Davies, Rev. C. Maurice, ii. 277
Davos, Dr. Lunn's party at, ii. 216-

220, 228, 231
Davy, Sir Humphry, his "Lectures on

Agricultural Chemistry," i. 205
Dawson, Sir William, Canadian geolo-
gist, ii. 43, 116

"Debatable Land between this World
and the Next, The," by Robert Dale
Owen, ii. 294

" Defence of Modern Spiritualism," by
A. R. Wallace, in The Fortnightly
Review, ii. 295

Defoe, Daniel, his "History of the
Great Plague," i. 74

Dent du Midi, i. 412

Denver, A. R. Wallace goes to, ii.
155, 176, 184

"Descent of Man," by Charles Dar-
win, i. 408, ii. 7 ; A. R. Wallace's
impressions of, ii. 9, 10, 18

" Development of Human Races under
the Law of Natural Selection,"
article by A. R. Wallace, ii. 383

De Vries, Dutch botanist, ii. 213

Devynock, i. 165

Dialectical Society, A. R. Wallace on
the committee of, ii. 276 ; Mr.
Varley's evidence in the Report of
the, ii. 291 ; A. R. Wallace reads
paper to, ii. 295

" Diary of a Physician," Samuel War-
ren's, read by A. R. Wallace, i.

75
Dick, Robert, quoted on land question,

ii. 241-243
" Dictionary of Birds," by Professor

Newton, ii. 26
Dietrichsen's Almanac, i. 191
Dilke, Elizabeth, grandmother of

A. Russel Wallace, i. 2 ; probable

maiden name of, i. 6
Dinas rock, i. 250 ; excursion to, ii.

404
" Disestablishment and Disendow-

ment," by A. R. Wallace, i. 432
" Distribution of Animals, Geographi-
cal," ii. 94-98 ; ii. 211
Distribution of Plants, "Island Life,"

by A. R. Wallace, ii. 99-101
Distribution — Zoology, A. R. Wallace

writes for the " Encyclopaedia Britan-

nica," ii. 98
" Dobbo in the Trading Season," by

A. R. Wallace, i. 406
Dogs, "homing" instinct of, ii. 391
Dohrn, Anton, A. R. Wallace's criti-
cism of, ii. 295

428

INDEX

Dolgelly, Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Wal-
lace's stay at, i. 412 ; slate quarries
at, ii. 362 ; excursion to, ii. 404

Donner Lake, Nevada, ii. 173

" Don Quixote," i. 330

Dorey, i. 363 ; birds of paradise at, i.

388, 389
Dorking, A. R. Wallace resides at, ii.

98, 397

Doubleday, Mr. Edward, consulted on
the proposed journey to the Amazon,
i. 264

Douglas, Miss, stances at the house of,
ii. 286 ; stance with Mr. Haxby, de-
scribed, at, ii. 328

Down, Charles Darwin's house at,
ii. I

Dozens, Dr., at Lourdes, ii. 303,

304

"Dream of Eugene Aram, The," A.
R. Wallace's association of, i. 40

Dringarth, i. 251

Drinkwater, Mr., Robert Owen's con-
nection with, i. 93-95

Drumau mountain, i. 244, 248

Dublin University, degree of LL.D.
conferred on A. R. Wallace, by the,
ii. 102

Dufour, Dr. Leon, " Histoire de la
Prostitution " by, i. 372 ; ii. 68

Dulais valley, i. 253

Duncombe, Thomas Slingsby, election
of, for Hertford, i. 44

Dundee, meeting of the British Associ-
ation at, ii. 48

Dunn, Dr., of Cincinnati, ii. 142

Dunstable, i. 131

Dury, Mr. Charles, ii. 141 ; A. R.
Wallace stays with, ii. 143 ; his
experience of a snake-bite, ii. 144 ;
his collections, ii. 144

Dutton, Captain, ii. 1 18

Dyaks, i. 343 ; described, i. 345

Dyer, Mr., i. 31

Dyer, Sir W. T. Thistleton, gives
plants to A. R. Wallace for his
Parkstone garden, ii. 206

"Dynamic Sociology," by F. Lester
Ward, ii. 1 17

Ealing, seance at, 287, 289

Eastwood, Miss, goes botanizing ex-
pedition to Gray's Peak, ii. 180-184

Eastwood, Mr. and Mrs., ii. 184

Edinburgh, meeting of the British
Association at, ii. 48

Edinburgh Review, The, review of
" Origin of Species " in, ii. 2

Edmunds, Dr. and Mrs., ii. 277

Edwards, W. H., "A Voyage up the
Amazon," i. 264 ; his meeting with
A. R. Wallace, i. 265; ii. 136; A.
R. Wallace stays with, ii. 139, 140

Ega> i- 359

Eglinton, Mr., medium seance de-
scribed, ii. 329, 331

Elam, Dr., "Physician's Problems"
by, ii. 65

"Elements of Botany," Lindley's,

i- 193
Elliott, Dr., Bishop of Georgia, i. 14,

223
Elliotson, Dr., helps to establish

mesmeric hospital, ii. 75 ; his in-
vestigations of mesmerism, ii. 310
Ellis, Mrs., on working men's wages,

i. 81
Ely, childish recollection of night spent

at, i. 47
Ely, Professor, ii. 114
Elwes, Mr. H. J., gives plants to A.

R. Wallace for his Parkstone garden,

ii. 206
Emerson, Edward Waldo, at farewell

dinner to A. R. Wallace, ii. 115
Emigrant Songs, by Charles Mackay,

ii. 259
Emilius, mount, i. 414
" Encyclopaedia Britannica, The,"

article on "Acclimatization," by A.

R. Wallace in, ii. 98 ; article on

" Distribution — Zoology " by A. R.

Wallace in, ii. 98
Engler's Botan-Jahrbiicher, criticism

of " Island Life " in, ii. 387
"English and American Flowers," by

A. R. Wallace, ii. 143
"Enquiry into Socialism," by Mr.

Kirk up, ii. 267

INDEX

429

Entomological Society, A. R. Wallace
attends meetings of, i. 386 ; A. R.
Wallace's presidential address to,
i. 408, 415 ; coloration of cater-
pillars discussed by, ii. 4 ; address
on origin of insects by A. R. Wallace,
given at, ii. 26

" Episodes Miraculeux de Lourdes,
Les," by If. Henri Lasserre, ii. 305

Epitaphs, quoted, i. 7-9

Epping Forest, acquired by Corpora-
tion of London, i. 416 ; A. R.
Wallace candidate for post of super-
intendent, ii. 101

" Epping Forest, and how best to deal
with it," in The Fortnightly Review,
by A. R. Wallace, i. 416

" Equality," by E. Bellamy, considered,
ii. 268-271

"Erewhon," by Samuel Butler, ii. 83,
189

" Essay on the Right of Property in
Land," by Professor Ogilvie, ii. 241

" Essays on Natural Selection " by A.
R. Wallace, ii. 17

Essex Field Club, A. R. Wallace gives
lecture on " Darwinism " to, ii. 106

Estcourt, Mr. Roland, his connection
with Nationalization Society, ii. 240

Evans, Mr. Fred, medium at San
Francisco, ii. 346

" Evelina," by Fanny Burney, i. 75

" Every Man his own Letter- Writer,"
A. R. Wallace's comments on, ii.

*35

" Evolution Old and New," by Samuel
Butler, ii. 83 ; A. R. Wallace's letter
on, ii. 84

Ewington and Chilcot, Messrs.,
solicitors, i. 6

Exeter, meeting of the British Associa-
tion at, ii. 46

" Exeter Change for the British Lions,"
parody on the British Association,
ii. 46

" Expression of the Emotions in Man
and Animals, The," by Darwin, ii. 1,
11

" Faerie Queene," Spenser's, read by

A. R. Wallace, i. 75
"Fair Heaven, The," by Samuel

Butler, ii. 83
Fairchild, President George F. F., con-
versation with, ii. 152, 153
Fairlamb, Miss, medium, ii. 334
Family Herald, The, i. 366, 368
Farr, Dr., on Vaccination, ii. 351
Fawcett, Mr. W., sends A. R. Wallace

Jamaica orchids, ii. 206
Fay, Mrs., medium, ii. 291
Fernando Po, plants on, ii. 21
Ferrier, Professor, i. 262
Field, The, " Caterpillars and Birds,"

by A. R. Wallace, printed in, ii. 4 ;

J. H. Walsh, editor of, ii. 365, 367
Fielding's, Henry, " Tom Jones " read

by A. R. Wallace, i. 75
Fillingham, Rev. R. C, as socialist,

ii. 272
" First Principles," by Herbert

Spencer, admiration of A. R. Wal-
lace for, ii. 23
Fish of Brazil, described, i. 274, 285,

286
Fitch, Mr. Walter, botanical artist,

i. 321
Fitzjohn, Mr., Master at Hertford

Grammar School, i. 52
Flegere, i. 325

Flood, Mr., palace of, ii. 166
" Flora of the Rocky Mountains, ii.

176
Flower, Sir William, ii. 34, 46
" Flowering Sunday," i. 19
M Footfalls on the Boundary of Another

World," by Robert Dale Owen, ii.

294
Forbes, Mr. John M., gives farewell

dinner to A. R. Wallace, ii. 115
Forbes, Professor E., bis theory of

" polarity," i. 358
Forests of South America, described, i.

270, 287 ; jungles of Malay, i. 242 ;

of California, ii. 163, 164, 169
Fortnightly Review, The, articles by

A. R. Wallace in : " Epping Forest,

and how best to deal with it," i. 416 ;

430

INDEX

"English and American Flowers,"
ii. 143 ; "Human Selection," ii. 209,
267 j "The Method of Organic
Evolution," ii. 212, 213; "The
Expressiveness of Speech," ii. 213 j
"Man's Place in the Universe,"
ii. 232; "A Defence of Modern
Spiritualism," ii. 295

Fortune, Mr., plant-collector, ii. 61

"Forty-five Years of Registration
Statistics, proving Vaccination to
be both Useless and Dangerous,"
pamphlet by A. R. Wallace, ii. 352

Foster, Joseph, shareholder in the New-
Lanark Mills, i. 98

Foxwell, Professor, his connection
with the Industrial Remuneration
Conference, ii. 250

Fraser's Magazine, review of "Origin
of Species " in, ii. 2

Freeman, Mr. and Mrs., of Stockton,
ii. 159, 160

Freeman's Journal on "Bad Times,"
ii. 104

Frcebel, educational system of, i. 99

Frolic, gun-boat, waiting for orders to
go to Singapore, i. 329-331

Fruits of the East, described, i. 353,
354 ; Dr. Spruce on coloration of,

»• 71-73
Fry, Mrs., her influence on prisoners,

ii. 218
" Fuel of the Sun," by W. Mattieu

Williams, discussed, i. 429

G

Galapagos, the plants of, studied by
Sir J. Hooker, ii. 100

Galaudet, Dr., head of National Deaf
Mute College, Washington, ii. 130

Galle, i. 335

" Gallos de Serra," hunt for, i. 284

Galton, Mr. Francis, " Hereditary
Genius," by, i. 408, 422 ; experi-
ments of, ii. 22, 34 ; A. R. Wallace
on, ii. 209 ; A. R. Wallace criticizes,
ii. 213

Garden of the Gods described, ii. 179,
180

Gardener's Chronicle, i. 193

Garrison, Mr. F. J., his interest in
spiritualism, ii. 337

Geach, Mr. Frederick, mining engineer,
i. 375 ; helps A. R. Wallace at
Grays, ii. 92, 93 ; unfortunate invest-
ments in lead ,mines, ii. 362, 363 ;
accompanies A. R. Wallace and Mr.
Mitten to excursion in Wales, ii.

403

Geddes, Professor Patrick, of Edin-
burgh, ii. 34

Geikie, Sir Archibald, geological ex-
cursion at St. Andrews under the
guidance of, ii. 286

Gelli-duch-lithe, owned by Mr. Worth-
ington, i. 183, 186

Gemmi Pass, A. R. Wallace's ascent
of, i. 325

General Chronicle, i. 12

" General Inclosure Act," A. R.
Wallace's criticism on, i. 150-158

" Genesis of Species, The," ii. 10

" Geographical Distribution of Ani-
mals," by A. R. Wallace, ii. 94-98,
379

" Geological Climates and the Origin
of Climates," by A. R. Wallace, i.
406, 425 and note

George, Henry, "ProgressandPoverty,"
by, ii. 14; Herbert Spencer on, 29-
30 ; A. R. Wallace makes the ac-
quaintance of, ii. 107 ; reference to,
241 ; his connection with the Land
Nationalization Society, ii. 255 ; on
English rule in Ireland, ii. 256

Georgetown, ii. 186

Gibbons, Dr., drive to the Redwood
Forest, ii. 158

Gibraltar, i. 332

Giffen, Sir Robert, on working men,
erroneous statements, i. 81-86 ; his
connection with the Industrial Re-
muneration Conference, ii. 250

Oilman, President of Johns Hopkins
University, ii. 114

Gilolo, i. 365, 394

Glacial epoch, influence of, discussed,
ii. 12, 100

" Glacial Erosion of Lake Basins, The,"
by A. R. Wallace in The Fortnightly
Revieio, ii. 389

INDEX

431

Gladstone, \V. E. quoted, i. 81 ; letter
to A. R. Wallace, ii. 213 ; his dis-
cussion with Huxley, ii. 374 ; grants
Civil Service Pension to A. R.
Wallace, ii. 378, 389

Glasgow Argus, The, Charles Mackay
editor of, ii. 259

Glasgow, meeting of the British Asso-
ciation at, ii. 49

Glen Clova, A. R. Wallace and Mr.
Mitten go to, ii. 404

Glen Eyrie, ii. 179, 180

Gnoll House, i. 245, 248

Goat Island, Niagara, ii. 127

Godalming, i. 137, 190; ii. 15; A.
R. Wallace goes to live at, ii. 103;
returns from America to, ii. 200 ;
the garden at, ii. 202, 203 ; A. R.
Wallace sells his house at, ii. 227,

374
Godwin, Mr., master at Hertford

Grammar School, i. 53
Godwin's, William, " Caleb Williams,"

read by A. R. Wallace, i. 75
Gceschenen, A. R. Wallace goes to, ii.

213
Gold Run, California, ii. 1 75
Goram, i. 370
Gordon, Lady Duff, "Letters from

Egypt," ii. S3
" Gorge of the Aar and its Teachings,

The," article by A. R. Wallace, ii.

215
Gorst, Sir John, is sent A. R. Wallace's

pamphlet on Vaccination, ii. 354
Gould, Mr., at the Naturalists' Club

dinner, ii. 115
Graells, Professor, of Madrid, ii. 68
Graham, William, " Creed of Science "

by, ii. 14
Grammar School at Hertford, John and

A. R. Wallace educated at, i. 46 ;

its building, i. 48 ; the masters, i. 49 ;

food, i. 55 ; recreations, i. 56-58
Grant, Principal, of Kingston, ii. 125
Gravesend, i. 416

Gray, Dr. Asa, A. R. Wallace makes

the acquaintance of, ii. 109, no;

A.R.Wallace dines with, ii. in, 116

Gray, George Robert, of the British

Museum, i. 3S6

Gray, Dr. John Edward, his opinion of
A. R. Wallace's review of Mr.
Haughton, ii. 88

Graymount, ii. 155; botanizing at, ii.
180, 181, 184

Grays, A . R. Wallace builds house at,
i. 416, ii. 60, 91-93 ; A. R. Wallace
sells house at, ii. 98 ; A. R. Wallace's
troubles with the builder of, ii. 363,

364
Gray's Peak, botanizing expedition to,

ii. 180-184
Great Brickhill, i. 133
" Great Revolution of 1905," by F.

W. Hayes, ii. 268
Greely, Captain, Arctic explorer, ii. 119
Greenbriar river, ii. 139
Green, Mr., celebrated aeronaut, 11.75
Green river, ii. 176
Greenell, John, grandfather of A. R.

Wallace, i. 4 ; A. R. Wallace's

legacy from, ii. 360
Greenell, Martha, married Thomas

Wilson, i. 4
Greenell, Mary Anne, married Thomas

Vere Wallace, i. 4
Greenell, Mrs. Rebecca, death of, i. 12
Greenell, William, inscription on the

tomb of, quoted, i. 4 ; portrait of,

i-5, 6
Greenland, ice action in, i. 429
Gregory, Dr., his investigations of

mesmerism, ii. 310
Grey, Earl de, Wrest Park, the seat of,

i. 107, 129
Grimsel Pass, A. R. Wallace goes over,

ii. 213
Grimthorpe, Lord, letter to A. R.

Wallace, ii. 355-357 ; letter to Dr.

Bond, ii. 357, 358
Grindelwald, glaciers at, i. 414
Grizzly Gulch, expedition to, ii. 181-

183
Gronlund's "Our Destiny," ii. 267
Grote, George, the historian, dining

with John Stuart Mill, ii. 236
Guama, collecting expedition up the,

i. 275
Guernsey, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace visit,

ii. 256
Guia, on the Upper Rio Negro, i. 284

432

INDEX

" Gulliver's Travels," read by A. R.

Wallace, i. 74
Gunnison river, ii. 176, 177
Guppy, Mr. and Mrs., seances at,

ii. 300, 301 ; quoted, ii. 314
Gurney, Mr. Edward, helps to found

Psychical Research Society, ii. 49 ;

investigate spiritualism, ii. 334
Guy Faux, serio-comic play by A. R.

Wallace, i. 239
Guy, Dr., on vaccination, ii. 352
Gwilym, Dafydd ap, Welsh poet, i. 168

II

"Habit and Instinct," by Professor

Lloyd Morgan, ii. 220
Haddock, Dr., his investigations of

mesmerism, ii. 310
Haeckel, Samuel Butler, on the theories

of, ii. 83
Hagen, Mr., at the Naturalists' Club

dinner, ii. 115
Haggar, Morris, i. 372
Haileybury College, i. 39
Hale, Mr., anthropologist, ii. 126
Hall, Mr. Spencer, his lecture on

mesmerism, i. 232 ;
Hall, Mr. S. C, ii. 277 ; present at

stance, ii. 285
Hall of Science, lectures at the, i. 87 ;

Robert Owen's addresses at, i. 104
Halley's Comet, i. 247
Halston, Jack Mytton of, i. 171
Hampden, John, his challenge to prove

the convexity of the earth, ii. 365 ;

A. R. Wallace accepts wager, ii. 365 ;

the tests, ii. 365-369 ; his behaviour

on losing his wager, ii. 370, 371 ; A.

R. Wallace's legal actions against,

ii. 372, 373 ; his continued libels on

A. R. Wallace, ii. 374-376
Hanbury, Sir Thomas, visits A. R.

Wallace at Parkstone, ii. 206
Hannay and Dietrichsen's Almanac, i.

191
Ilanworth, the Wallaces' connection

with, i. 2, 3
Harper's Ferry, ii. 136

Harrison, Mr. Frederic, his connection

with the Industrial Remuneration

Conference, ii. 250
Hart, Captain, A. R. Wallace stayed

with, i. 375
Hartham described, i. 34, 35, 6t,
Harvard University, ii. 111
Haslemere, A. R. Wallace visits

Tennyson at, ii. 298, 799
Haughton, Rev. S., article " On the

Bee's Cell and the Origin of Species,"

by, ii. 87 ; A. R. Wallace's criticism

of, ii. 88 ; kind letter from, 89
Haweis, Rev. H. R., one of Dr. Lunn's

party at Davos, ii. 217, 218
Hay, i. 160, 178
Haxby, Mr., medium, seance described,

ii. 328, 329
Haydon, Mrs., medium, G. H. Lewes

assertions on, ii. 281, 283, 290
Hayes, F. W., " Great Revolution of

1905 " by, ii. 268
Hayward, C. F., architect, i. 190 ; A.

R. Wallace goes to live near, ii.

103
Hayward, Mr. Charles, bookseller and

chemist, an account of, i. 190, 191,

193

Haywards Heath, ii. 44

Heatherside, residence of Augustus
Mongredien, ii. 60

Ileaton, Dr. John Henry, i. 146 ; re-
miniscence of dinner with, i. 149

Heawood, Mr., librarian of the Royal
Geographical Society, i. 317

Helen, unfortunate ship A. R. Wallace
started to return home in, i. 305

Henry, M. Joseph, botanist, ii. 154

Henslow, Rev. George, A. R. Wallace's
criticism of, ii. 212 ; on " Utility," ii.

215-

Herbert, Hon. Auberon, dining with
John Stuart Mill, ii. 236

Herbert, F. A., letter from, ii. 396

"Hereditary Genius," by Francis
Galton, i. 408

Herschell, Sir John, i. 430

Hertford, the Greenells' connection
with, i. 4; the Wallace family went
to live at, i. 12 ; William Wallace in
the office of an architect at, i. 14 ;

INDEX

433

described, i. 32-44 ; school life at,

described, i. 45-62
Hicks, Edwin Thomas, his delineation

of the character of A. R. Wallace, i.

258
Higgins, H. H., of Turvey Abbey,

anecdote of, i. 122, 123
Higham Gobion, i. 106, 109
Hilgard, Professor, ii. 158
Hill, Rev. Abraham, head master at

Collegiate School at Leicester, i.

230-238
Hill, Mr., master at Hertford Grammar

School, i. 53
Hirwain, i. 250
" Histoire de la Prostitution," by Dr.

Leon Dufour, i. 372
"History and Antiquities of Hertford-
shire," by Chauncey, i. 5
" History of America," by William

Robertson, i. 232
"History of Charles V.," by William

Robertson, i. 232
" History of Civilization," by Buckle,

ii. 31.
" History of the Conquests of Mexico

and Peru," by Prescott, i. 232
" History of the Great Plague," by

Defoe, read by A. R. Wallace, i.

74
"History of Herts," by Clutterbuck,

i-5

Hitchin, i. 109, 1 16

Hobson, J. A., as socialist, ii. 272

Hoddesdon, the Wallace family re-
moved to, i. 12 ; boarding school
kept by Fanny Wallace at, i. 13, 72 ;
Rawdon Cottage at, i. 73 ; A. R.
Wallace walks to, i. 1 16 : holiday
at, i. 135 ; A. R. Wallace returns
ill to, i. 147 ; death of Thomas Vere
Wallace at, i. 223 ; Christmas at,
i. 229

Hodges, Mrs. Frances, miniature of,
i. 6

Hoffmann, Dr., ii. 119

Hogg, Mr., takes A. R. Wallace for
a drive, ii. 152

Hogsflesh, Henry Holman, i. 122

Holden, Professor, of the Lick Obser-
vatory, ii. 158
VOL. II.

Holder, Dr. J. B., ii. 125

Holly Lodge, A. R. Wallace's house

at Barking, ii. 90
Holman, Judge, quoted, ii. 120 ; visits

President Cleveland, ii. 133
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, A. R.

Wallace makes the acquaintance of,

ii. 109, 1 10 ; dining with Mr. Forbes,

ii. 115
Holyhead, i. 131
Holyoake, Mr. G. J., obituary notice

of Robert Owen by, i. 105
Home, Mr., the medium, ii. 282 ;

stances described, ii. 285, 286 ;

Sir David Brewster's comments on

seance 2X Cox's Hotel, ii. 287-290, 349
"Home Life of Sir David Brewster,"

ii. 289
Honddu, i. 161
Hood, Thomas, quoted, i. 28, 39 ;

A. R. Wallace's admiration for, i. 74,

225
Hood's Comic Annual, A. R. Wallace's

admiration for, i. 74
Hooker, Dr., A. R. Wallace's paper

on " Varieties " shown to, i. 365, 366
Hooker, Mrs. Beecher, ii. 122, 165 ;

as spiritualist, ii. 341
Hooker, Sir Joseph, Darwin's reference

to, ii. 12 ; Darwin's letter to, ii. 14,

34 ; botanical studies of, ii. 100, 101,

387 ; quoted, ii. 388
Hope, Colonel, A. R. Wallace's

acquaintance with, ii. 91
Horn's Mill described, i. 36
Horsfield, Dr., his butterfly collection,

i. 265
Horton, Miss Sarah W., of Oakland,

California, ii. 175
Houghton, Mr., publisher, ii. 109
"How best to Model the Earth," by

A. R. Wallace, in The Contemporary

Revieiv, ii. 214
" How to cause Wealth to be more

equably distributed," by A. R.

Wallace, ii. 251-253
" How to civilize Savages," by A. R.

Wallace, ii. 52
Howitt, William, ii. 277; present at

seance, ii. 285 j founds The Spiritual

Magazine, ii. 286

2 F

434

INDEX

Hue's " Travels," i. 349

Hudson, Miss, ancestor of A. R. Wal-
lace, i. 4

Hudson, Mr., "Naturalist in La Plata,
The," by, ii. 71, 158 ; reviewed by
A. R. Wallace, ii. 210

Hudson river, A. R. Wallace's excur-
sion up, ii. 108

Hughes, Rev. Hugh Price, one of Dr.
Lunn's party at Davos, ii. 217, 218

Hughes and Son, Messrs., of Wrexham,
Welsh literature published by, i. 168

" Human Personality," by Myers, ii.

331

"Human Progress, Past and Future,"
in the Boston Arena, ii. 389

" Human Selection," by A. R. Wallace
in The Fortnightly Review, ii. 209,
267, 389

f Humanite Nouville, article by A.
R. Wallace in, ii. 220

Humbold's " Personal Narrative of
Travels in South America," its in-
fluence on A. R. Wallace, i. 232 ;
" Cosmos," by, i. 255, 354 ; quoted,
ii. 72

Humboldt river, ii. 176

Hume, David, quoted, ii. 309

"Humphrey Clinker," read by A. R.
Wallace, i. 75

Hunter, W. W., Director-General of
Statistics for India, ii. 263

Hurstpierpoint, residence of Mr. Mit-
ten at, i. 411 ; A. R. Wallace's visits
to, i. 411 ; goes to live at, i. 414,
422

Hutchinson, Mr. J. G., on working
men's, wages, i. 81

Huxley, Leonard, ii. 37

Huxley, T. H., first meeting with A.
R. Wallace, i. 323 ; " On the Origin
of Species," i. 355, 415 ; his classifi-
cation of man, i. 419 ; quoted, ii.
16, 21 ; social meetings at, ii. 33 ;
A. R. Wallace's friendship with, ii.
34 ; his misunderstanding with A.
R. Wallace, ii. 36 ; correspondence
on Mr. Bell's works, ii. 37 ; A. R.
Wallace's feelings towards, ii. 39,
42 ; acquaintance with Dr. Purland,
ii. 75 ; obituary notice of Darwin by,

ii. 103 ; his attitude towards spirit-
ualism, ii. 280, 350; John Hamp-
den's letter to, ii. 374 ; helps to
procure Civil Service Pension for A.
R. Wallace, ii. 378

Hyatt, Mr., biologist, ii. 109 ; at Bos-
ton Naturalists' Club dinner, ii. 115

Hyndham, Mr. H. M., reprints lecture
by Thomas Spence, ii. 240

Hyndman, H. M., as socialist, ii. 272

Ibis, The, A. R. Wallace's paper on

" Pigeons" published in, i. 399
" Ice Age and its Work," articles by

A. R. Wallace, ii. 210
"Ice-marks in North Wales," by A.

R. Wallace, printed in Quarterly

Journal of Seience, i. 412
lies, Mr., manager of Windsor Hotel,

Montreal, ii. 86 ; A. R. Wallace

stays with, ii. 189
" Iliad," Pope's, read by A. R. Wal-
lace, i. 75
Inambari river, i. 320
" Incidents in my Life," by Home, the

medium, ii. 289
Independent, The, of New York, A. R.

Wallace reviews "The Origin of the

Fittest " in, ii. 132
" Industrial Remuneration Report," ii.

250
"Inefficiency of Strikes," letter by A.

R. Wallace to The labour Annual,

ii. 223
"Inferno, Dante's," read by A. R.

Wallace, i. 75
Ingleby, Mr. C. M., A. R. Wallace's

acquaintance with, ii. 90
Insects, A. R. Wallace collecting at

Bukit Tima, i. 338, 403 ; number of,

in Malacca and Borneo, i. 353, 360 ;

on the probable rate of change of,

i. 418
Interlachen, i. 414
International Congress of Spiritualists,

A. R. Wallace chairman at, ii. 399
Irish, in America, ii. 120, 140, 188 ;

landlordism, ii. 239

INDEX

435

Irish Land League, ii. 239

" Island Life," by A. R. Wallace, i.
406 ; influence of glacial epoch dis-
cussed in, i. 425 ; Darwin's opinion
of, ii. 12 ; distribution of organisms
treated in, ii. 20 ; A. R. Wallace
lectures on, ii. 106, 113 ; new edition
of, ii. 220, 386, 387

Isleworth, i. 223

James, Dr. William, at the Naturalists'

Club dinner, ii. 115, 116, 338
Java, i. 287 ; natural history of, i. 326,

350 ; ruined temples of, i. 356, 376 ;

birds of, i. 396, 397 j climate of, ii.

98
Javita, good specimens to be found at,

i. 284
Jekyll, Miss, gives plants to A. R.

Wallace for his Parkstone garden, ii.

206
Jenner, William, inventor of Vaccina-

nation, ii. 351
Jessop, Rev. A., i. 156
Jevons, Mr. William, an account of, i.

246
Jhering, H. von, his criticism on

"Island Life," ii. 387
Johns Hopkins University, A. R.

Wallace lectures at, ii. 1 14
Jones, Lloyd, Robert Owen's con-
nection with, i. 92, 93 ; his book on

the life of Robert Owen, i. 105
Jones, Professor T. Rupert, assistant

examiner in Physical Geography, ii.

406
Jordeson, the crew of the Helen picked

up by the, i. 306
"Journal," Darwin's, i. 256
Juaurite, A. R. Wallace's expedition to,

i. 283, 284
Judd, Professor, assistant examiner in

Physical Geography, ii. 406
Julesberg, ii. 184
Jurua river, explored by Count Stradelli,

i- 3*7
Jurupari cataract, explored by Count

Stradelli, i. 317 ; Dr. T. Koch's ex-
pedition to, i. 320
'Justice," by Herbert Spencer, i. 175 ;
reference to, ii. 272

Kanahwha river, ii. 139

Kansas City, 146, 150

Kavanagh, Mr. Morgan, friend of Dr.

Purland, ii. 80
Kay, Dr., of Theological College in

Calcutta, ii. 52
Ke Islands, i. 369, 370
Keeler, Mr. P. L. O. A., medium,

manifestations of, ii. 342
Keller, Helen, i. 182
Kenilworth Castle, excursion to, i. 238
Kennan, Mr., address on Siberia, ii.

119
Kent's Cavern, ii. 49
Ken worthy, J. C, as socialist, ii. 272
Kerner's observations on plants, ii. 65
Keulemans, illustrations by, i. 405
Kidd, Mr. Benjamin, on equality of

opportunity,!. 175; "Social Evolu-
tion" by, ii. 212
Kilburn, Mr. N., John Stuart Mill's

reply to, on Spiritualism, ii. 283
King, Clarence, geologist, ii. 125
King, Mr., accompanies Dr. Richard

Spruce to Brazil, i. 276
Kingsley, Charles, A. R. Wallace's

meeting with, ii. 46
Kingston, Canada, A. R. Wallace

lectures at, ii. 125 ; stays with Mr.

and Mrs. Allen at, ii. 187, 188
Kington, William Wallace articled to

firm of surveyors at, i. 14, 24, 136 ;

W. and A. R. Wallace go to Messrs.

Sayce at, i. 140, 141, 147, 161
Kirkman, Rev. T. P., ii. 62
Kirkup, his "Enquiry into Socialism,"

ii. 267
Knowledge on "Bad Times," ii. 105
Knowles, editor of The Nineteenth

Century, ii. 263
Koch, Dr. T., his expedition up the

Uaupes, i. 320

436

INDEX

L , Miss, A. R. Wallace's engage-
ment to, i. 409-411

Labour Annual letter from A. R.
Wallace on "Strikes" in the, ii.
223

Lacaze, M., on Lourdes, ii. 307

" Lady of the Lake, The," read by
A. R. Wallace, i. 74

Lake-basins, glacial origin of, i. 412

Laleham, burial-place of William and
George Wallace, i. 2, 3

Lamarck, theories of, i. 362 ; Samuel
Butler's exposition of the doctrines of,
ii. 83, 84

" Lament of Cona for the Unpeopling of
the Highlands," by Charles Mackay,
ii. 258, 260

' ' Land Nationalization : its Necessity
and its Aims," by A. R. Wallace,
i. 158; ii. 102, 243 ; read by Robert
Miller, ii. 249 ; Charles Mackay on,
ii. 259, 381

Land Nationalization, A. R. Wallace
on, ii. 130; Herbert Spencer on,
ii. 235 ; discussed, ii. 238-239 ; fore-
runners of, ii. 240 ; Robert Dick's
propositions on, ii. 241-243 ; Robert
Miller's conference on, ii. 249-255

Land Nationalization Society, formation
of, ii. 27-29 ; A. R. Wallace, presi-
dent of, ii. 235, 240 ; A. R. Wallace
writes handbook to, ii. 243 ; methods
of, ii. 254; Henry George's connection
with, ii. 255 ; Miss Helen Taylor,
a supporter of, ii. 256 ; A. R.
Wallace's address on "Security of
the Home " at meeting of, ii. 264, 265

Land Tenure Reform Association,
formed by John Stuart Mill, ii. 235

Langley, Professor, lecture by, ii. no;
A. R. Wallace met, ii. 114

Laplace, his theory of the origin of the
solar system, i. 427

Lasserre, M. Henri, his books on the
miracles of Lourdes, ii. 305-307

Latham, Dr. R. G., writes some
"remarks" on Indian languages for
A. R. Wallace's book of "Travels,"
i. 321 ; superintends the modelling

of Indian figures for the Crystal

Palace, i. 322
Lauterbrunnen, The Staubbach at,

i. 414 ; A. R. Wallace goes to,

ii. 214 ; i. 134
Lawrence, A. R. Wallace lectures at,

ii. 151
Lawrence's " Lectures on Man," i. 254,

366
Lea river, i. 34, 35
Leavens, Mr., A. R. Wallace given

introduction to, i. 265
Leaves, odours of, ii. 65-71
Lecky, Mr., i. 435
Leconte, Dr., ii. 158
"Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry,"

by Sir H. Davy, i. 205
"Lectures on Man," by Lawrence, i.

254> 366
"Lectures on Physical Geography," by

Rev. S. Haughton, ii. 88
Lee, Mr., civil engineer, i. 94
Le Gallienne, Mr. Richard, one of Dr.

Lunn's party to Davos, ii. 217;

lecture on "Minor Poets," ii. 218,

219
Leicester, A. R. Wallace goes as master

to the Collegiate school at, i. 230-240
Leighton Buzzard, i. 131 ; A. R.

Wallace learns watchmaking at, i.

135-139

Lesson, M., birds of paradise procured
by, i. 388-394

Lester, Mr. C. Edwards, his purchase
of ivory cross, i. 265

"Letters from Egypt," by Lady Duff
Gordon, ii. 53

Leuk, drive to, i. 325

Levi, Professor Leone, ii. 104

Lewes, G. H., his criticism of Darwin,
i. 423 ; his attitude towards spirit-
ualism, ii. 279-283, 285, 290, 291, 350

"Life and Habit," by Samuel Butler,
ii. 83

"Life and Letters," Darwin's, i. 363,
ii. 2

"Life of Jesus," by Strauss, i. 227

Lille, Fanny Wallace at school at, i.
14, 72

" Limits of Natural Selection applied
to Man," by A. R. Wallace, i. 407

INDEX

437

Lindley, article by, i. 194, 237 ; "Vege-
table Kingdom " by, ii. 67
Lindley's " Elements of Botany"

bought by A. R. Wallace, i. 193
Linnean Society, The, i. 320, 363 ; A. R.
Wallace's paper on "Varieties" read
to, i. 365, 366 ; A. R. Wallace attends
meetings of, i. 386 ; paper on the
"Malayan Papilionidse " read before,
i. 400 ; A. R. Wallace reads paper on
"The Problem of Utility" to, ii. 215 ;
Romanes' paper on "Physiological
Selection" at, ii. 316
Liverpool, anecdote of Mr. Higgins at,
i. 122, 267 ; A. R. Wallace arrives
from America at, ii. 200 ; A. R.
Wallace lectures at, ii. 201, 209
Lippitt, General Francis, ii. 123, 341 ;
his spiritualistic experiences, ii. 344-
346

Llanbadock, Welsh village, i. 21, 2$, 26

Llanberris, Mr. and Mrs. A. R.
Wallace stay at, i. 412

Llanbister, W. and A. R. Wallace
surveying at, i. 148, 150

Llandrillo, North Wales, ii. 403

Llandrindod, i. 151

Llanfihangel-nant-Melan, i. 161

Llangollen, i. 161

Llanrhaiadr, i. 249

Llantwit Cottage at Neath, residence of
Wallaces at, i. 244, 256

Llantwit-juxta-Neath, survey of, i. 245

Llia river, i. 167, 251

Llewellyn, Mr. J. Dillwyn, orchid of,
i. 194

Lobo Raman, A. R. Wallace goes to,

i- 376

Lockyer, Sir Norman, his theory of the
solar system, i. 427 ; ii. 34 ; assistant
examiner in Physical Geography, ii.
406

Lodge, Sir Oliver, as socialist, ii. 272

Lombok, A. R. Wallace's stay at,
t 356 ; birds of, i. 396, 420

London, A. R. Wallace's life in, i. 79,
87, 117 ; by rail to, i. 135, 243 ; A.
R. Wallace's return to, from the
Amazon, i. 313, 325 ; A. R. Wallace
returns to, from the Malay Archi-
pelago, i. 384 ; A. R. Wallace resides

in, i. 385, 411, 414 ; A. R. Wallace

leaves, ii. 90, 200
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, Charles

Mackay in comparison with, ii. 260
"Looking Backwood," by E. Bellamy,

considered, ii. 266
Lourdes, the miracles of, ii. 302-309
" Lourdes and its Miracles," by Rev.

R. F. Clarke, ii. 305
"Lourdes avec Zola, A," by Felix

Lacaze, ii. 307, 341
Lowell Institute of Boston, invites A.

R. Wallace to give series of lectures,

ii. 105, 106
Lowell, J. Russell, one of Darwin's

pall-bearers, ii. 103 ; at farewell

dinner to A. R. Wallace, ii. 115
Lowestoft, epitaph on Charles Ward

at, quoted, i. 8
Lubbock, Sir John (Lord Avebury),

social meetings at the house of, ii. 33,

34

Lucerne, A. R. Wallace stays at, ii. 213

Ludlow, i. 170

Lunn, Dr., invites A. R. Wallace to
Davos, ii. 216-220; far-reaching
consequences of A. R. Wallace's
visit to Davos, ii. 233, 380, 398

Luray, caves of, described, ii. 136,

137

Luton, i. 129

Lyell, Sir Charles, "Principles of
Geology" by, i. 133, 162, 355, 363 ;
his opinion of A. R. Wallace's article
on " Varieties," i. 365, 366 ; A. R.
Wallace on, i. 406, 415 ; his friendship
with A. R. Wallace, i. 417 ; letter
from A. R. Wallace on the rate of
change of insects, i. 418 ; letter from
A. R. Wallace on the antiquity of
man, i. 419; discussions on dis-
tribution and dispersal, i. 420 ; letter
from A. R. Wallace on G. H. Lewes,
i. 423 ; his letter to A. R. Wallace
on glacial epoch, i. 424 ; on origin of
lake-basins, i. 426, 428 ; letter from
A. R. Wallace on " Fuel of the
Sun," i. 429 ; discussion on the
antiquity of man, i. 430 ; A. R.
Wallace's reminiscences of, i. 433-
435; letter from Darwin to, ii. 21 ;

438

INDEX

A. R. Wallace's feelings towards,

ii. 39, 90 ; A. R. Wallace consults,

ii. 365
Lyell, Sir Leonard, i. 417
Lyman, Mr. Daniel, his interest in

spiritualism, ii. 123
Lytton, Bulwer, works of, read by

R. A. Wallace, i. 75

M

Madagascar, black pigeons of, i. 400
Madeira, beetles of, i. 408 ; insects of,

i. 418
Madeira river, explored by Count

Stradelli, i. 317, 324
Madisonville cemeteries, ii. 142
Macassar3 A. R. Wallace's residence

in, i. 356
Machynlleth, slate quarries at, ii. 362
Macintosh, Mr., on formation of

valleys and cwms of North Wales,

i. 412
Mackay, Charles, his interest in land

nationalization, ii. 257-259 ; the

poetry of, considered, ii. 259-261
Macmillan and Co., Messrs., remaining

copies of "Travels on the Amazon

and Rio Negro," sold by, i. 321 ;

visited at Torquay by A. W. Wallace,

ii. 49 ; " Bad Times," published by,

ii. 105
Macmillan' s Magazine, "Disestablish-
ment and Disendowment," by A.

R. Wallace in, i. 432
Macmillan, Margaret, as socialist,

ii. 272
Maen Llia, ancient " standing stone,"

i. 167
Maescar, i. 165

Magdalene College, Cambridge, ii. 45
Maggiore, Lago, formation of, discussed,

i. 428
Maklay, Dr. Micklucho, adventures of,

ii- 34, 35
Malacca described, i. 338, 339, 340,

350

Malacca, Straits of, i. 336
Malay Archipelago, A. R. Wallace
determines to go to, i. 326 ; sketch of

A. R. Wallace's travels in, i. 337-
384 ; butterflies of, i. 401 ; financial
success of collections from, ii. 360

" Malay Archipelago," by A. R. Wal-
lace, i. 342, 357, 387, 402; popu-
larity of, i. 403 ; at work on, i. 405 ;
publication of, i. 414 ; estimate of
Sir James Brooke in, ii. 52 ; new
edition of, ii. 209, 379

" Malayan Papilionidse, The," by A. R.
Wallace, and read before the Linnean
Society, i. 400

Malta, A. R. Wallace stays at, i. 332,

384
Malthus, his " Principles of Popula-
tion," its influence on A. R. Wallace,

i. 232, 240,7361
Malton, Yorkshire, ii. 65, 292
Malvern Wells, Darwin at, ii. 2
Man, dispersal of races of, i. 421, 422
" Man's Place in the Universe," by

A. R. Wallace, how it came to be

written, ii. 232, 233, 381, 399
Manchester Guardian, The, A. R.

Wallace writes on Transvaal War

for, ii. 220
Manhattan, A. R. Wallace goes to, ii.

151 ; Agricultural College at, ii. 152 ;

interesting plants at, ii. 153
Manitou Springs, ii. 179
"Manual of British Coleoptera,"

Stephens's, i. 237
Marabitanas, anecdote by Dr. Spruce,

ii. 72
Marajo, island of, i. 272 j the birds of,

i. 274
" Marcella," by Mrs. Humphry Ward,

ii. 272
Marey, Mr., on the flight of birds, ii.

26
Margam Abbey, i. 190
Mark Twain, A. R. Wallace's pleasure

in the books of, i. 223
Marlott, Professor, ii. 152
Marryat, novels of, read by A. R.

Wallace, i. 75, 330
Marseilles, i. 384

Marsh, Professor, ii. no; A. R. Wal-
lace visits, ii. 112
Marsh, the Misses, A. R. Wallace

went to school at, i. 31

INDEX

439

Marshall, Mrs., medium, ii. 277
Marshall Pass, Rocky Mountains, ii.

178
Marshman, Mr., seance with, ii. 296
Martigny, i. 325, 413
Martin, builder, i. 14 ; John Wallace

apprenticed to, i. 14
Mascarene Islands, the plants of,

studied by Mr. J. C. Baker, ii.

100
Massey, Gerald, A. R. Wallace on, ii.

261, 262 ; as socialist, ii. 272
" Materialized Apparitions," by E. A.

Brackett, ii. 337
" Mathematics and Evolution," by Mr.

lies, ii. 189
Matthew, Mr. Patrick, Samuel Butler's

exposition of the doctrines of, ii. 83-

85

Matthews, Mr. William, Alpine
climber, i. 413

Matthews, Mr., watchmaker at Leigh-
ton Buzzard, i. 131 ; A. R. Wallace
learns watchmaking with, i. 135,
136 ; goes to a London business, i.
136, 138

Mauritius, the plants of, studied by
Mr. J. C. Baker, ii. 100 ; absence of
mammals in, i. 421

Maw, Mr., his review of "Origin of
Species," in the Zoologist, ii. 2

McGee, Mr., ii. 118; conversation on
Niagara, ii. 1 28

Mears, William, epitaph on, quoted,

i. 7
Mechanics' Institute at Neath, designed

by J. and A. R. Wallace, i. 245 ;

letter from A. R. Wallace to, i. 269-

275
Mechanics' Magazine, i. 1 34
Meiringen, A. R. Wallace stays at, ii.

214
Mellte river described, i. 250
Menado, i. 3671 37^, 382
Menlo Park, residence of Senator

Stanford, ii. 165
Meriden, A. R. Wallace lectures at, ii.

112
" Merrie England," by Robert Blatch-

ford, ii. 268
Mesman, Mr., i. 357

Meta river, i. 320

"Method of Organic Evolution," by
A. R. Wallace, in The Fortnightly
Reviezu, ii. 212, 213
Mexiana, Island of, i. 272 ; the birds
of, i. 274

Miall, i. 432

Mice, distribution of, i. 420

Michigan Agricultural College, ii. 171
A. R. Wallace lectures at, ii. 185

Mill, John Stuart, quoted, i. 176 ;
forms the Land Tenure Reform
Association, ii. 235 ; A. R. Wallace
dining with, ii. 236 ; his letter to
A. R. Wallace, ii. 238 ; reference
to, ii. 254 ; his attitude towards
spiritualism, ii. 283

Miller, Mr. Robert, conference called
by, to discuss " How to cause
Wealth to be more equally Dis-
tributed," ii. 249-255

Miller, Mr., vice-consul at Para,
A. R. Wallace stays with, i. 268 ;
kindness to Herbert, i. 282 ; death
of, i. 282

Milton's advocacy of scientific educa-
tion, i. 430

Milton's " Paradise Lost," read by A.
R. Wallace, i. 75

"Mimicry, and other Protective Re-
semblances among Animals," by A.
R. Wallace, in The Westminster
Review, i. 407 ; ii. 3

" Mimicry in Animals," Bates on, ii. 7 ;
A. R. Wallace's lectures on, ii. 106,
126, 148

Minot, Mr., at the Naturalists' Club
dinner, ii. 115

Miocene period, i. 419
1 " Miracles and Modern Spiritualism,"
by A. R. Wallace, ii. 98, 210; new
edition of, ii. 213, 276, 381

Mirlees, Mr. and Mrs., Mr. and Mrs.
Wallace entertained by, ii. 49

Mischief, the boat in which A. R.
Wallace sailed to Brazil, i. 267

Missouri river, ii. 147, 185

Mitten, Mr. William, of Hurstpierpoint,
i. 411 ; goes botanizing, tour in
Switzerland with A. R. Wallace, ii.
213, 214; excursions to Wales with

440

INDEX

A. R. Wallace described, ii. 401-404;

excursion to the Highlands with A.

R. Wallace, ii. 405 ; visit to Spa,

ii. 405
Mitten, Mrs., anecdote of, ii. 404
Mitten, Miss, marriage of A. R.

Wallace to, i. 412
Mivart St. George, Professor, his atti-
tude towards Darwin, ii. 10, II, 34 ;

A. R. Wallace's reminiscences of,

ii. 43-45 ; on " Utility," ii. 215 ; his

interest in spiritualism, ii. 300, 301 ;

his letter on the cures effected at

Lourdes, ii. 303-3°5> 3*°
Moel Tryfan beds, ice action on, i. 429
Moluccas, Dutch Settlement, i. 326,

340 ; birds of, i. 395, 399
Money, Mr., on Java, i. 382
Mongredien, Mr. Augustus, A. R.

Wallace's connection with, ii. 60, 61
Monk, Mr., medium, manifestations

described, ii. 330, 331
Monkeys of Brazil, described, i. 273; of

the Moluccas, i. 381, 399
Mont Blanc, view of, i. 325
Montanvert, i. 325
Monte Alegre, visit to, i. 278
Montpelier Springs, Fanny Wallace

goes to, i. 223
Montreal, Samuel Butler's visit to, ii.

86 ; A. R. Wallace visits, ii. 189
"More Letters," referred to by A. R.

Wallace, ii. 2, 13, 21
Morgan, Professor Lloyd, i. 408 ; A.

R. Wallace reviews " Animal Life

and Intelligence " by, ii. 210 ;

" Habit and Instinct " by, ii. 220
Morgan, Professor de, ii. 277; convinced

by Mrs. Haydon, ii. 283 ; his letter

to A. R. Wallace, ii. 284 ; quoted, ii.

364

Morgan's Walk described, i. 39-41
Morley, Right Honourable John, Grant

Allen's proposal to, ii. 263 ; asks

A. R. Wallace to write article on

Spiritualism, ii. 295
Morning Advertiser, The, account of

stance at Cox's Hotel, ii. 287, 290
Morning Leader, The, A. R. Wallace

writes " Appreciation of the Past

Century" for, ii. 221

Morris, Professor J., is assistant ex-
aminer in Physical Geography, ii.
406

Morris, Sir Lewis, as socialist, ii. 272

Morris, William, " News from No-
where " by, ii. 267

Morrison-Davidson as socialist, ii. 272

Morse, Professor Edward, biologist, ii.
109 ; A. R. Wallace visits, ii. no

Morton, Mr. Albert, arranges for lecture
on Spiritualism, ii. 160

Morty Island, i. 394

Moseley, Professor, of the Challenger
expedition, i. 357

Moses, Mr. Stainton, his interest in
spiritualism, ii. 330

Moths, ii. 4

Mount-Temple, Lord, writes to A. R.
Wallace, ii. 102

"Mountains of California," by John
Muir, ii. 158

Muir, John, ' • The Mountains of Cali-
fornia" by, ii. 158

Muller, his picture of Charlotte Corday,
ii. 124

Munby, Rev. G. F. W., " Turvey and
the Mordaunts" by, i. 123

"Mungo Park's Travels," A. R.
Wallace's interest in reading, i. 74

Murchison, Sir Roderick, President of
the Royal Geographical Society, i.
327 j obtains free passage for A. R.
Wallace to Singapore, i. 331 ; Duke
of Buccleuch proposed by, ii. 48

" Murphy's Weather Almanack," i.
118-121

Myddleton, Sir Hugh, i. 37

Myers, Dr. and Mrs., A. R. Wallace
visits, at Cincinnati, ii. 145

Myers, F. W. H., ii. 34 ; helps to
found Psychical Research Society,
ii. 49; "Human Personality" by,
»• 33T» 332 > A. R. Wallace's
estimate of, ii. 334-337 ; letter to
A. R. Wallace on Vaccination, ii.
354, 355 ; his letter to A. R. Wallace,
ii. 380

Mytton, Jack, of Halston, account of,
i. I7I-I74

INDEX

441

N

Xancy, remarkable cures at, ii. 307

Naples, Professor Mivart at, ii. 300

" Narrative of Search after Birds of
Paradise," by A. R. Wallace, i. 387-
394

" Narrative of Travels on the Amazon
and Rio Negro, A," by A R.
Wallace, i. 268

Nation, The, A. R. Wallace reviews
"The Origin of the Fittest" in,
ii. 132, 133

National Academy of Science, meetings
of, at Boston, ii. 1 10

National Anti- Vaccination League, ii.
353

National Deaf-Mute College, Wash-
ington, described, ii. 130-133

National Museum of Washington, ii.
118, 119

" Natural History," Rev. J. G. Wood's,
quoted, i. 22

Natural Science, A. R. Wallace writes
for, ii. 2ii, 212

Natural Selection, A. R. Wallace on,
i. 400 ; differences of opinion with
Darwin on, ii. 16 ; controversy
between Lord Salisbury and Herbert
Spencer on, ii. 32

" Natural Selection and Tropical
Nature," by A. R. Wallace, i. 355,
363 ; coloration of butterflies de-
scribed in, i. 402, 407, 414 ; colora-
tion of caterpillars, ii. 6 ; estimate of
Darwin in, ii. 16 ; W. Wilson on,
ii. 65 ; Dr. Purland's letter on read-
ing, ii. 77 ; new edition of, ii. 210,
383, 384, 385, 386

"Naturalist on the Amazon," by H.
W. Bates, i. 415

"Naturalist in La Plata," by Mr.
Hudson, ii. 71, 158 ; reviewed by A.
R. Wallace, ii. 210

Nature, "The Theory of Natural
Selection " by A. W. Bennett printed
in, ii. 7, 13 and note; Huxley's
obituary notice of Darwin in, ii. 16 ;
account of Dr. Maklay's exploration
published in, ii. 36 ; obituary notice
of Mivart in, ii. 45 ; first founded,

ii. 54 ; reviews by A. R. Wallace in,
ii. 83 ; Huxley quoted, ii. 103 ; A.
R. Wallace writes for, ii. 209 ; re-
views, " Animal Life and Intelli-
gence" in, ii. 210; reviews, "The
Naturalist in La Plata " in, ii. 210 ;
reviews and letter on " Cause of the
Ice Age," ii. 215 ; controversy on
" A Speculation regarding the
Senses," ii. 309 ; discussion on
"homing" instinct of dogs, ii. 391,
392

" Nature's Method in the Evolution of
Life," reviewed by A. R. Wallace,
ii. 212

Neale, Miss Florence, of Penartb, i.
167, 246

Neath, the Wallaces live at, i. 14, 15 ;
W. and A. R. Wallace surveying at ,
i. 178, 186 ; death of William at,
i. 239 ; residence at, i, 241 ; Llantwit
Cottage at, i. 244

Neath river, i. 167

Neath, Vale of, A. R. Wallace and
Mr. Mitten's excursions to, ii. 402

Neaves, Lord, at the meeting of British
Association, ii. 48

Nevada Fall, Yosemite Valley, de-
scribed, ii. 161, 162, 175

Newcastle, A. R. Wallace lectures at,
ii. 201 ; Thomas Spence, school-
master at, ii. 240

Newcastle Chronicle, The, on "Bad
Times," ii. 104

Newcomb, Professor, quoted, ii. 132

New Forest, i. 417

New Guinea, i. 363, 364, 365 ; the
birds of, i. 394, 399 ; Dr. Maklay's
adventures in, ii. 34, 35

New Lanark, Robert Owen's benefi-
cent work in, i. 87, 91 ; account
of Robert Owen's work in, i.
94-103 ; reference to, ii. 237,
270

Newman, Professor Francis W., reads
a paper at the Industrial Remunera-
tion Conference, ii. 253 ; corre -
spondence with A. R. Wallace, ii.
255

New Radnor, A. R. Wallace under-
takes correction of map of, i. 143

442

INDEX

"News from Nowhere," by William
Morris, ii. 267

Newton, Dr., ii. 308

Newton, Professor Alfred, "Dictionary
of Birds " by, ii. 26, 34 ; A. R.
Wallace the guest of, at Cambridge,
ii. 45 ; urges A. R. Wallace to write
a book on the geographical distribu-
tion of animals, ii. 94, 21 1

Newtown, in Montgomeryshire, birth-
place of Robert Owen, i. 91, 148

New York, A. R. Wallace visits, ii.
107, 108, 113

Neiu York Journal, The, A. R. Wallace
writes on " Social Evolution " for,
ii. 220

New Zealand, animals of, i. 421 ; the
plants of, studied by Sir J. Hooker,
ii. 100

Niagara, ii. 125 ; A. R. Wallace stays
at, ii. 127

Nichol, Miss, medium, ii. 278 ; sJances
described, ii. 279, 292, 293

Nichols, Dr., his interest in spiritualism,

ii- 337, 339

Nicholson, Professor J. Shield, on
agrarian distress in the Highlands,
ii. 254

Nineteenth Century, The, " A Sugges-
tion to Sabbath-Keepers," by A. R.
Wallace, in, ii. 212; Romanes'
article on " Physiological Selection "
in, ii. 316, 317, 394

Nolloth, Captain, of the Frolic, i. 329-

331

Nordhoff, Mr., A. R. Wallace dines

with, ii. 119
Norfolk, Duke of, ii. 44
North, Miss, reference to her flower

painting, ii. 147, 161 ; gives A. R.

Wallace a plant of blue Puya, ii. 205
North Platte river, ii. 184
"Notre Dame de Lourdes," by M.

Henri Lasserre, ii. 305-307
Nulty, Bishop, of Meath, a supporter

of land nationalization, ii. 256
Nutwood Cottage, the residence of A.

R. Wallace at Godalming, ii. 103

O

Oastler, Mr. Robert, on the condition

of New Lanark, i. 101
"Oceanic Islands," A. R. Wallace

lectures on, ii. 106, 113, 125, 148
Ogden, ii. 156, 157, 176
Ogilvie, Professor, his " Essay of the

Right of Property in Land," ii.

241
Ohio, ii. 139

Old Bedford canal, Norfolk, experi-
ments to prove convexity of the earth

at, ii. 365
"Old Glaciers of Switzerland and

North Wales, The," by Sir Andrew

Ramsay, i. 412
Old Orchard, residence of A. R.

Wallace, ii. 227
Old red sandstone, i. 164, 170, 249
Olerich, Henry, "Cityless and Country -

less World," by, ii. 268
Omaha, ii. 185
" On the Alcoholic Compound termed

Punch," ii. 47, 48
" On the Evils, Impolicy, and Anomaly

of Individuals being Landlords and

Nation's Tenants," by Robert Dick,

M.D., ii. 241-243
"On the Law which has regulated the

Introduction of New Species," by

A. R. Wallace, i. 355
"On the Zoological Geography of

Malay Archipelago," see note, i. 369
Ongar, A. R. Wallace's first school at,

i. Jl
Ontario, Lake, ii. 187
Ophir, Mount, A. R. Wallace's expe-
dition to, i. 340
Orang utan, i. 343
"Origin of the Fittest, The," A. R.

Wallace's reviews of, ii. 132, 133
"Origin of Human Races under the

Law of Natural Selection," Herbert

Spencer's opinion of, ii. 24
"Origin of Language and of Myths,

The," by Morgan Kavanagh, ii. 80
"Origin of Man as an Intellectual and

Moral Being," differences of opinion

between Darwin and A. R. Wallace

on, ii. 16

INDEX

443

"Origin of Species," Darwin's, i. 255,
358, 372 ; reviews of, ii. 2 ; reference
to, ii. 84

Orinoko, A. R. Wallace's expedition
to, i. 283, 284 ; Count Stradelli's
expedition up, i. 318

Osgood, Mr. Samuel, described, i. 186-
189

" Our Destiny," by Gronlund, ii. 267

Ouse, i. 121, 132

Ouzel, i. 132

Owen, Miss, gives plants to A. R.
Wallace for his Parkstone garden,
ii. 206

Owen, Mr., of San Francisco, ii. 346,
348

Owen, Professor Richard, his review of
" Origin of Species " in The Edin-
burgh Review, ii. 2 ; controversy with
Huxley, ii. 46 ; his visits to Augustus
Mongredien, ii. 61

Owen, Robert, his influence on A. R.
Wallace, i. 87 ; his principles, i. 83 ;
sketch of his life and work, i. 91-105,
128 ; reference to, ii. 237, 270

Owen, Robert Dale, his tract on "Con-
sistency," i. 88; "The Debatable
Land between this World and the
Next," by, ii. 294

" Owen, Robert, and his Social Philo-
sophy," by W. L. Sargant, i. 95

Oxford University confers degree of
D.C.L. on A. R. Wallace, ii. 201

Paine's, Thomas, " Age of Reason,'

i. 87
Palembang, i. 376, 379
Pall Mall Gazette, The, accusations

against mediums in, ii. 282, 291
"Palms of the Amazon and Rio Xegro,"

by A. R. Wallace, i. 321
Pangenesis, differences of opinion

between Darwin and A. R. Wallace

on, ii, 21
Pangerango mountain, i. 376
Panshanger, fine oak in the park of,

i- 35

Para, Herbert Wallace died at, i. 15 ;

A. R. Wallace and H. W. Bates make

voyages to, i. 264 ; the city and

environments described* i- 268-275
"Paradise Lost," i. 75 ; Sunday read-
ings of, i. 227
Paris, Fanny, John, and Alfred Wallace

visit, i. 256 ; A. R. Wallace and

George Silk stay at, i. 325
Parkstone, A. R. Wallace goes to live

at, ii. 203 ; the garden at, ii. 204 ;

orchid growing at, ii. 206, 207 ;

A. R. Wallace leaves, ii. 227
Parrots, A. R. Wallace on, i. 397-400
Peabody Museum of Archaeology, ii.

no
Pears, Messrs., offer prize for essay on

" Depression of Trade," ii. 104
Pearson, Professor Karl, as socialist,

ii. 272
Pengelly, William, geniality of, ii. 49 ;

his personal experience of seeing a

double, ii. 332-334
Pen-y-gwryd, Wales, ii. 403
"Peregrine Pickle," read by A. P.

Wallace, i. 75
Perkins, Mr., i. 3
Pernambuco, i. 264 ; butterflies from,

i. 266
" Personal Narrative of Travels in

South America," by Humboldt, its

influence on A. R. Wallace, i. 232,

256
Peru, Dr. Richard Spruce leaves, i.

411
Pestalozzi, educational system of, i. 99
Philippines, A. R. Wallace writes for

Daily Chronicle on, ii. 220
Phillips, Colonel, A. R. Wallace stays

with, ii. 153, 154
Phrenology, A. R. Wallace's interest

in, i. 234 ; his character delineated

by, i. 257-262
Physical geography, A. R. Wallace on,

i. 404
"Physical History of Man," by Prit-

chard, comment on, i. 255
" Physician's Problems," by Dr. Elam,

ii. 65
"Physiological Selection," paper by

Romanes, ii. 316

444

INDEX

"Pickwick Papers," read by A. R.

Wallace, i. 75
Pierce, " Vital Statistics" by, ii. 351
Pieridse, A. R. Wallace on, i. 403
Pigeons, A. R. Wallace on, i. 397-

400
Pigs, distribution of, i. 420
"Pilgrim's Progress, The," A. R. Wal-
lace's pleasure in reading, i. 74,

227
Pistill Rhaiadwr, waterfall, described,

ii. 403
Plants, distribution of, ii. 98-IOI
Pliocene period, i. 419
" Plurality of Words," by Whewell, ii.

288
Plynlymmon, i. 145
Political Prisoners' Aid Society, Miss

Helen Taylor, president of, ii. 256
Pont-nedd-Fychan, South Wales, i.

179, 249, 251 ; ii. 404
Pont-y-glyn, A. R. Wallace and Mr.

Mitten's walk to, ii. 401
Poole, ii. 227
Pope Clement IV., epitaph on, quoted

i. 8, 9
Pope's « ' Iliad," read by A. R. Wallace,

i- 75

Popenhoe, Professor, botanist, ii. 152,

153
Port Patrick, Ireland, ii. 200
Portman, Lord, Mr. Wilson, agent to,

i- 31

Portrush, Ireland, ii. 200

Porth-yr-Ogof, i. 250

Poughkeepsie, A. R. Wallace visits, ii.
112, 113

Poulton, Professor E. B., ii. 34 ; A. R.
Wallace stays with, ii. 202

Powell, Major, A. R. Wallace's ac-
quaintance with, ii. 118, 119 ; invites
A. R. Wallace to lecture, ii. 129

Praed, W. Mackworth, HerberFWal-
lace's imitation of, i. 283, 289

Prescott, William II., his "History of
the Conquests of Mexico and Peru,"
i. 232

Presteign, i. 144

" Present Evolution of Man," by Dr.
G. Archdall Reid, ii. 215

Price, Mr., i. 186, 188, 190

"Primary Factors of Evolution," by

Cope, ii. 215
"Principles of Biology," by Herbert

Spencer, ii. 26
" Principles of Geology," by Sir Charles

Lyell, i. 133, 162 ; A. R. Wallace

on, i. 406 ; new edition of, i. 420
"Principles of Population," by Mal-

thus, i. 232, 361
" Principles of Sociology," by Herbert

Spencer, ii. 27
Pritchard's " Physical History of Man "

commented on, i. 255 ; ii. 128
"Problem of Instinct, The," article by

A. R. Wallace, ii. 220
" Problem of Utility, The," read by

A. R. Wallace to the Linnean

Society, ii. 215
Proctor, Richard, editor of Knowledge,

ii. 105
"Progress and Poverty," by Henry

George, Darwin on, ii. 14 ; Herbert

Spencer on, ii. 29
" Progress of the Working Classes in

the last Half Century," by Sir Robert

Giffen, i. 81
Provo, ii. 176
"Psalm of Montreal, A," by Samuel

Butler, ii. 86
"Psychic Factors in Civilization," by

F. Lester Ward, ii. 117
Psychical Research, A. R. Wallace's

first interest in, i. 232
Psychical Research Society founded, ii.

49, 294 ; the work of, ii. 335, 337
Pugh, Miss, i. 6
Pugh, Stephen, i. 142 ; verses to A. R.

Wallace quoted, i. 143
Pulo Penang, i. 335
Purfleet, powder magazine at, ii. 395
Purland, Dr. T., dentist, A. R. Wal-

lace's reminiscences of, ii. 75-82 ;

anecdotes of his dog, ii. 391
Purus river, explored by Count Stra-

delli, i. 317
Pyramids, i. 334

Quebec, A. R. Wallace's impressions
of, ii. 190

INDEX

445

Quincy House, Boston, A. R. Wallace
stays at, ii. 108

Quarterly Journal oj Science, The,
A. R. Wallace's " Ice-marks in North
Wales" printed in, i. 412; A. R.
Wallace's article on " Man " in, i.
427 ; Mr. Mivart's criticism of Dar-
win in, ii. 10

Quarterly Review, The, " Geological
Climates and the Origin of Species,"
published in, i. 406

R

Rabelais, i. 227

" Races of Man and Natural Selection,"
Darwin's opinion of, i. 418

Radnorshire, i. 140

Ramage, Dr., cures A. R. Wallace of
consumption, i. 146

Rambler, The, read by A. R. Wal-
lace, i. 75

Ramsay, Sir Andrew, "The Old
Glaciers of Switzerland and North
Wales," by, i. 412

Randi, Signor, seances at, ii. 327

Ranklin, Professor, geniality of, ii. 46

Ravensburgh Castle, i. 107

Rawdon Cottage, residence of Wal-
laces at Hoddesdon, i. 74

Rayleigh, Lord, supports Professor
Barrett's paper on thought-reading,
ii. 49

Reader, The, Herbert Spencer, editor
of, ii. 24; "How to Civilize
Savages," by A. R. Wallace in, ii.
52

Reclus, M. Elisee, visits A. R. Wal-
lace at Parkstone, ii. 207 ; discussion
on "How to Model the Earth," ii.
214

"Red Lions," A. R. Wallace admitted
to the fraternity of, ii. 48

Rees, David, W. and A. R. Wallace
lodge with, i. 179, 193, 194; A. R.
Wallace revisits, i. 253

Reeve, Mr. Lovel, " Travels on the
Amazon and Rio Negro," published
by, i. 321
Regan, Mr. C. Tate, of the British
Museum, i. 286

Reichenbach, Baron, Professor Tyn-

dall's comments on, ii. 280
Reid, Dr. G. Archdall, " Present

Evolution of Man," ii. 215
Reid, Mayne, Soda springs mentioned

by, ii. 179
Rendall, Mr. E. A., letters written by,

i. 11
Reno, ii. 175
"Representative House of Lords, A,"

by A. R. Wallace in The Contem-
porary Review, ii. 212
Rhaidr-Gwy (Rhayader), W. and A. R.

Wallace surveying at, i. 145, 148
Rhone Glacier, ii. 213
Richard, Mr. John, " How it can be

done," by, ii. 272
Rievaulx Abbey, visit to, ii. 50
Riley, Professor, A. R. Wallace stays

with, ii. 117, 119
Rio, Darwin at, ii. 20
Rio Negro, A. R. Wallace's collecting

expeditions up the, i. 281, 283, 284 ;

animal life on the, i. 324
Ripon, Lord, his connection with Beth-

nal Green Museum, i. 415 ; ii. 90
Roaring Meg, origin of name, i. 108
Roberts, Miss, portraits of the Greenell

family given to, i. 5 ; mourning ring

given to A. R. Wallace by, i. 6 ; her

gift of j£iooo to A. R. Wallace, ii.

378
Roberts, Mr. John, i. 5
Robertson, William, his " History of

Charles V.,"and Historyof America,"

i. 232
Robinson, E. W., illustrations by, i.

403. 405

Robinson, in Alabama, Fanny Wallace

has a school at, i. 223
Rocky Mountains, ii. 175, 178, 184
" Roderick Random," by Smollet, read

by A. R. Wallace, i. 75
Rogues, Dr., of Toulouse, ii. 303, 304
Rolleston, Professor George, A. R.
Wallace's letter on Christianity to,
ii. 52
Romanes, Professor G. J., his corre-
spondence with Darwin on Spiritual-
ism, ii. 125 ; on Utility, ii. 215 ;
beginning of acquaintance with A. R.

446

INDEX

Wallace, ii. 309, 310; his letters to
A. R. Wallace on Spiritualism, ii.
311-314; his correspondence with
Darwin on Spiritualism, ii. 315; his
difference with A. R. Wallace and
attack upon him, ii. 316, 317 ; corre-
spondence thereon, ii. 317-326
" Rookwood," by Harrison Ainsworth,

i- 75

Ross, Mrs., medium, manifestations
described, ii. 338, 339 ; attempt to
seize spirit forms at, ii. 340

Royal Geographical Society, A. R.
Wallace read a paper on the Uaupes
before, i. 316 ; Sir Roderick Mur-
chison, president of the, i. 326, 371,
380 ; H. W. Bates becomes assistant
secretary of the, i. 415 ; Hampden's
tract distributed at exhibition of, ii.

375

Royal Society, The, A. R. Wallace re-
ceives royalmedal of, ii. 36 ; Huxley,
president of, ii. 374

" Rudder Grange," by F. R. Stockton,
read by A. R. Wallace, ii. 135

Rumball, Mr. James Quilter his de-
lineation of the character of A. R.
Wallace, i. 260

Ruskin, John, on equality of oppor-
tunity, i. 177

Russell, Richard, mourning ring in
memory of, i. 6

Sacramento, California, ii. 171
Sadong river, collecting expedition on

the, i. 341
Salem, A. R. Wallace visits Professor

Morse at, ii. 1 10
Salida, ii. 178
Salina, A. R. Wallace stays at, ii. 154,

155
Salisbury, Dr., his treatment and cure

of asthma, ii. 229, 230, 234
Salisbury, Lord, Herbert Spencer's con-
troversy on natural selection with, ii.

32

Salt, II . S., as socialist, ii. 272
Salt Lake City described, ii. 156, 157,
176

San Carlos, incident at, ii. 66

Santa Cruz, John and A. R. Wallace

go to, ii. 169, 170
Sanderson, Mark, epitaph on, quoted

i. 8
" Sandford and Merton," i. 20 ; A. R.

Wallace's childish recollections of, i.

20, 22
Sandwich Islands, ii. 100
San Francisco, John Wallace settles in,

i. 263 ; ii. 155 ; seances at, described,

ii. 346-348
San Jeronymo, i. 284
Santarem, Brazil, i. 276 ; vegetation

of, i. 279 ; Herbert's verses on, i.

279-281.
Sarawak, Sir James Brooke, Rajah of,

i. 326 ; A. R. Wallace's expedition

to, i. 341, 347, 382; Sir James

Brooke's nephew appointed Rajah

of, ii. 51, 52
Sargasso Sea described, i. 268
Sargant, W. L., his book on "Robert

Owen and his Social Philosophy,"

i- 95

Sargent, Colorado, ii. 177

Sarn Helen, old Roman road, i. 251

Satirist, The, character of, i. 127

Sauba ants, ii. 66-69

Savage, Rev. Minot J., author of " Can
Telepathy explain?" ii. 337.

Sayce, Messrs., land surveyors, William
Wallace articled to, i. 24, 136 ;
William and A. R. Wallace obtain
work with, i. 141, 142

vSchopenhauer, quoted, see note, ii. 3S6

" Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural,
The," by A. R. Wallace, ii. 280;
Huxley's, TyndalPs, and Lewes' com-
ments on, ii. 280, 281, 295

Scientific Opinion, John Hampden's
challenge in, ii. 365

Sclater, Dr., ii. 34; urges A. R.
Wallace to write book on the geo-
graphical distribution of animals, ii.
94, 211

Scott, Sir Walter, works of, read by
A. R. Wallace, i. 75 ; Charles Mac-
kay in comparison with, ii. 260

Scudder, Mr., biologist, ii. 109 ; at the
Naturalists' Club dinner, ii. 115

INDEX

447

"Security of the Home," address de-
livered by A. R. Wallace to the
Land Nationalization Society, ii. 264,
265

Seeley, Professor H. G., assistant ex-
aminer in Physical Geography, ii.
406

Seitz, Mr., ii. 154

Seneca lake, New York, ii. 125

Senhor Lima, described, i. 311

Senni, surveying at, i. 165, 166

Serpa, Herbert Wallace goes to, i. 281

Severn, crossing the, in ferry boat, i.
3o, 132

Sexual Selection through Female
Choice, differences of opinion between
Darwin and A. R. Wallace on, ii. 17

Sheffield, A. R. Wallace, lectures at,
ii. 209

Shenandoah Valley, ii. 136

Shorter, Mr. Thomas, editor of The
Spiritual Magazine, ii. 286

Sidgwick, Professor, helps to found
Psychical Research Society, ii. 49 ; his
investigation of spiritualism, ii. 334,

337
Sierra Guadarama, plants from, ii. 68
Sierra Nevada, i. 332 j ii. 158 ; trees of,

ii. 161, 170
Silk, George, beginning of his friend-
ship with A. R. Wallace, i. 32, 73 ;
quotation from A. R. Wallace's letter
to, i. 142 ; extract from A. R.
Wallace's letter to, i. 268; his tour
in Switzerland with A. R. Wallace,
i. 325 ; A. R. Wallace's letter de-
scribing Alexandria to, i. 332 ; letter
from A. R. Wallace, i. 365 ; letter
from A. R. Wallace, i. 371 ; intro-
duces A. R. Wallace on his return
home to his friends, L 409 ; ii. 51
Silsoe, i. 107, 114; W. and A. R.

Wallace surveying at, i. 129
Simcox, Miss Edith, on rents, i. 85
Sims, Mr. Thomas, of Neath, i. 15, 224 ;
marriage to Fanny Wallace, i. 263 ;
removal to London, i. 313 ; letter
from A. R. Wallace to, i. 367 ; A. R.
Wallace besides with, L 385 ; A. R.
Wallace's exhibition at studio of,
i. 404

Simon, Sir John, on Vaccination, ii.

352
Singapore, A. R. Wallace's passage to,

i- 329» 332> 336 J Me at, described, i.

337 ; vegetation and animal life of, i.

338, 348
Sioux City, ii. 146 ; A. R. Wallace

lectures at, ii. 147 ; visit to Mr.

Talbot's zoological farm, ii. 148 ;

pork-curing at, ii. 149, 150
Skinner, Mr. J. R., A. R. Wallace's

acquaintance with, ii. 141, 142
Sleigh, Frances, i. 2
Smith, Mr., of Veterinary College,

Toronto, ii. 126
Smith, Professor Goldwin, A. R.

Wallace dines with, ii. 127
Smith, Mr. J. G., his collection of

butterflies from Pernambuco, i. 267
Smith, John, of Malton, present at

seance, ii. 292
Smithsonian Institute at Washington,

ii. 117
Smollett, Tobias, works of, A. R.

Wallace reads, i. 75
Snowdon, i. 165 ; effects of glacial

epoch to be seen at, i. 412 ; ascent

of, i. 412 ; ii. 403, 404 ; A. R. Wal-
lace and Mr. Mitten's excursions to,

ii. 402, 403, 404
Soar river, i. 238
" Social Economy versus Political

Economy," lecture given by A. R.

Wallace, ii. 129
"Social Evolution in Twentieth Cen-
tury— An Anticipation," by A. R.

Wallace in the New York Journal,

ii. 220
" Social Evolution," by Benjamin Kidd,

reviewed by A. R. Wallace, ii. 212
" Social Statics," by Herbert Spencer,

ii. 27 ; its influence on A. R. Wallace,

"- 235

Soda Springs described, ii. 179
Solovyoff, V. S., visits at Grays, ii. 93
Soubirous, Bernadotte, of Lourdes, ii.

305

Soulbury, land survey of, i. 131
Sourabaya in Java, i. 376
Southey, curse of Kehama, i. 75, 113
South Kensington Museum, ii. 60

448

INDEX

"South Wales Farmer, The," article
by A. R. Wallace, i. 207-222

Spa, Belgium, A. R. Wallace and Mr.
Mitten stay at, ii. 405

Spalding, Mr., ii. 392

" Specifications for Practical Archi-
tecture," Bartholomew's, i. 189

Spectator, The, read by A. R. Wallace,

i- 75

Spence, Thomas, his lecture on land
nationalization, treatment he received,
ii. 240, 241

Spencer, Herbert, philosophy of, i.
104; on "equality of opportunity,"
i. 175, 177, 422 ; A. R. Wallace's re-
miniscences of, ii. 23 ; discussion on
flight of birds, ii. 25 ; letter to Wal-
lace on Land Nationalization Society,
ii. 27 ; letter to A. R. Wallace on
"Progress and Poverty," ii. 29 ; on
"Bad Times," ii. 31 j controversy
with Lord Salisbury on natural
selection, ii. 32 ; in society, ii. 33 ;
on land nationalization, ii. 235, 238,
240, 266 ; reference to his "Justice,"
ii. 272 ; on Vaccination, ii. 351.

Spenser's " Faerie Queene," read by
A. R. Wallace, i. 75

Spiritual Magazine, The, founded by
William Howitt, ii. 286, 291

Spiritualism, A. R. Wallace, lectures
on, ii. 160 ; discussed, ii. 275-350

Spithead, in ship of war at, i. 329

Spriggs, Mr., ii. 308

Spruce, Dr. Richard, his meeting with
A. R. Wallace in Brazil, i. 276 ; on
new species at Santarem, i. 279 ;
Herbert Wallace's letters to, i. 289 ;
letter from A. R. Wallace describing
his voyage home, i. 302-309, 311;
his return home and residence at
Hurstpierpoint, i. 41 1 ; A. R. Wallace
visits, ii. 50 ; letter from W. Wilson
to, ii. 262 ; letter to A. R. Wallace,
ii. 64 ; his letter on odours of leaves
quoted, ii. 65 ; letter on coloration
of edible fruits, quoted, ii. 71-73

St. Albans, Duke of, property of, at
Hanworth, i. 3

St. Andrews, geological excursion to,
ii. 286

St. Andrew's churchyard, Hertford,
family tomb of William Greenell in,
i. 4 ; Thomas Vere Wallace buried
in, i. 223

St. Andrew's Street, Hertford, home
of the Wallaces in, i. 32, 47, 63, 73

Stanfield, Senator and Mrs., their
interest in spiritualism, ii. 341

Stanford's " Compendium of Geography
and Travel," ii. 101, 210, 390

Stanford, Senator and Mrs., ii. 119;
sketch of, ii. 165, 166 ; university
founded by, 167, 168

Stanner Rocks, i, 140

Stanzerhorn, A. R. Wallace ascends
the, ii. 213

Statistical Society, Sir Robert Giffen's
Presidential Address to, i. 81, 85

St. Bernard hospice on pass, i. 413,
414

Stephen's " Manual of British Coleop-
tera," i. 237

Stevens, Mr. Samuel, A. R. Wallace's
agent when in Brazil, i. 266 ; his
assistance to A. R. Wallace on his
return, i. 313 ; A. R. Wallace's
collections sent to, i. 338 ; letter to
A. R. Wallace, i. 355, 385 ; manages
A. R. Wallace's money affairs during
the Malay Archipelago expedition,
ii. 360, 361

Stevenage, i. 116

St. George's, Southwark, the Wallace
family went to live at, i. 12

St. Helena, ii. 100

St. John, Sir Spencer, A. R. Wallace's
friendship with, ii. 51

St. Lawrence, Lake, ii. 188, 189

St. Louis, A. R. Wallace visits the
Trelease Botanic Garden at, ii. 146

St. Mark's Crescent, Regent's Park,
A. R. Wallace takes a house in, i.
411 ; Sir Charles Lyell's visits to, i.
434 ; Darwin's visits to, ii. I ; Her-
bert Spencer's visits to, ii. 33 j social
evening at, ii. 75

Stirling, James Hutchinson, A. R.
Wallace's review of, ii. 212

Stockton, Frank, A. R. Wallace's
comments on the books of, ii. 135

Stockton, San Francisco, A. R. Wallace

INDEX

449

visits his brother John at, ii. 159, 160,

165, 169; fourth of July celebrations

at, ii. 170

Stone, Mr. E. H., of Sioux City, ii. 147

Stonehenge, A. R. Wallace on the

importance of preserving, ii. 238
" Story of a Great Delusion," by Wil-
liam White, ii. 354
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, ii. 121
Stradelli, Count Ermanno, South
American explorations of, i. 317 ;
his map of the Uaupe's compared
with A. R. Wallace's, i. 318-320
Strange, Lieut. -Colonel, on Govern-
ment aid to science, ii. 54
Strasburg, i. 326

Strauss, "Life of Jesus " by, i. 227
St. Sever, ii. 68
"Substitute for Militarism, A," by A.

R. Wallace, quoted, ii. 223-226
" Studies Scientific and Social," by A.
R. Wallace, i. 158 ; True Indi-
vidualism in, i. 175 ; article on
Epping Forest reprinted in, i. 417,
426 j ii. 24, in; reference to, ii.
163, 220; article on "Human Se-
lection " in, ii. 267
Suez, journey to, described, i. 335 ;

home by, i. 384
"Suggestion to Sabbath-Keepers, A,"
by A. R. Wallace in The Con-
temporary Jteview, ii. 212
Sula, birds of, i. 395
Sumatra, i. 376, 381
Superior, Lake, Lyell on origin of, i.

428
Sutro, Mr., his breakfast to A. R.

Wallace, ii. 158
Swallow Falls, North Wales, ii. 404
Swansea, i. 244, 248
Swainson, i. 354

Swinton, Mr. A. C, his connection
with Land Nationalization Society,
ii. 240; A. R. Wallace's acquaint-
ance with, ii. 255
Switzerland, A. R. Wallace's tour in,
with George Silk, i. 325 ; Mr. and
Mrs. A. R. Wallace's tour in, i.
412-414 ; A. R. Wallace and Mr.
Mitten go botanizing tour in, ii. 213,
214
VOL. II.

Sylvester, Professor, anecdotes of, ii.

114
"Synthetic Philosophy," by Herbert

Spencer, ii. 33
"Systematic Morality," by William

Jevons, i. 246

TafF river, i. 252

Tahoe, Lake, Miss Bird's account of, ii.

174

Talbot, Mr., of Margam Abbey, I 190
Talbot, Dr. D. H., A. R. Wallace
stays with, ii. 1 47 ; his zoological
farm, ii. 148 ; takes A. R. Wallace
over pork-curing establishment, ii.
149
Tasmania, plants of, studied by Sir. J.

Hooker, ii. 100
Taylor, Miss Helen, step-daughter of
John Stuart Mill, ii. 236 ; President
of Political Prisoners' Aid Society, ii.
256 ; a supporter of land nationaliza-
tion, ii. 256
Taylor, Dr. J. M., President of Vassar

College, ii. 113
Tebb, Mr. William, converts A. R.
Wallace to anti-vaccination, ii. 351 ;
publishes pamphlet by A. R. Wal-
lace on Vaccination, ii. 352
Tennyson, Alfred, A. R. Wallace

lunches with, ii. 298, 299
Ternate, A. R. Wallace at, i. 359, 360,
363 ; A. R. Wallace gave an exhibi-
tion of his birds at, i. 364, 367, 369,
370, 371, 376
Thackeray, William Makepeace, " First
Day in the East," by i. 335; Professor
Tyndall's letter about, ii. 281
Thames, A. R. Wallace builds house
near, i. 416 ; sewage discussed, ii. 91
" Theory of Birds' Nests, A," by A. R.

Wallace, i. 407 ; ii. 384
"Theory of Natural Selection from a
Mathematical Point of View, The,"
by A. W. Bennett, ii. 7
Thompson, Sir W., Darwin's reference

to, ii. 11
Thomson, J. A., of Aberdeen, ii. 34
2 G

45Q

INDEX

Three Sisters Islands, Niagara, ii. 127

Timor, i. 357, 367, 369 ; the birds of,
i. 396, 420

Tinker of Turvey, the, origin of the
name, i. 123, 124

Tocantins river, Brazil, i. 265, 271

Toddington, abundance of springs at, i.
108

Tollemache, Lord, his experience in
small holdings, i. 154; ii. 254

Tolstoi, Count, ii. 19

"Tom Jones," Fielding's, read by A.
R. Wallace, i. 75

Tonquin, Catholic missions in, i. 349

Toronto, A. R. Wallace lectures at, ii.
125, 126

Toronto, Bishop of, ii. 126

Torquay, A. R. Wallace visits, ii. 49

Trallong, W. and A. R. Wallace sur-
veying at, i. 161, 165

Transactions of the Entomological
Society, "The Malayan Papilioni-
dse," published in, i. 400 ; paper on
" Pieridse," published in, i. 403

Transcript, The, quoted, ii. 109

Transvaal War, A. R. Wallace wrote
for Manchester Guardian on, ii. 220

" Travels," Hue's, read by A. R. Wal-
lace, i. 349

" Travels on the Amazon and Rio
Negro," by A. R. Wallace, i. 316,
321, 379, 415

"Treatise of Ammunition," ii. 395

Trees of California described, ii. 161,
163, 164, 169

" Trees and Shrubs for English Gar-
dens," by Augustus Mongredien, ii.
60

Trelease, Dr., of St. Louis, ii. 146

Tring, railway to, in 1838, i. 116

" Tristram Shandy," in New Guinea,
i. 367

Trollope, Mrs., present at stance, ii.
287

Trollope, Mr. T. Adolphus, present at
stance, ii. 289

" Tropical Nature," by A. R. Wallace,
ii. 98

Truckee, A. R. Wallace stays at, ii.

173. 174. 175
Turner, Captain, of the Helen, which

was burnt on its way home, i. 303 ;

behaviour of, i. 309, 310
Turvey Abbey, i. 122, 123
"Turvey and the Mordaunts," by G.

F. W. Munby, i. 123
Turvey, William and A. R. Wallace

land surveying at, i. 118; Turvey

Abbey, i. 122 ; the inn at, i. 123,

126
Tylor, Professor E. B., urges A. R.

Wallace to investigate spiritualism,

ii. 282 ; A. R. Wallace's criticism of

" Anthropology " by, ii. 388
Tyndall, Professor, i. 435 ; anecdote

of, ii. 33, 34 ; his interest in Dr.

Purland, ii. 76 : his attitude towards

spiritualism, ii. 278-280, 282, 285 ;

A. R. Wallace's letter to, ii. 291-293,

3SO

U

Uaupes, A. R. Wallace's expedition up
the, i. 288 ; savages on, i. 288 ; map
of, i. 314 ; Count Stradelli's expe-
dition up the, i. 317 ; comparison of
maps, i. 318-320; Dr. Koch's expe-
dition up the, i. 320

Umbrella bird described, i. 314

Usk, the Wallace family removed to,
i. 12 ; A. R. Wallace's childish
recollections of, i. 20-29, 161

" Usk Bridge," poem by T. V. Wal-
lace, i. 18

Vaccination, A. R. Wallace on, ii.
105 ; Royal Commission on, ii. 352,

353

" Vaccination a Delusion," by A. R.

Wallace, ii. 353

Val Savaranches, i. 414

Van Voel, i. 164

Varley, Mr. Cromwell F., ii. 278,
282 ; evidence of, in the Report of
the Dialectical Society, ii. 291 ; his
letter on spiritualism, ii. 292, 294 ;
tries electrical test, ii. 323

INDEX

45i

Vassar College, America, A. R. Wal-
lace lectures at, ii. 112, 113

Venezuela, A. R. Wallace visits, i. 285

Verdi, description of railway journey
to, ii. 175

Vergez, Dr., of Bareges, ii. 304

" Vestiges of the Natural History of
Creation," correspondence on, i. 254,
355. 362

■ Vicar of Wakefield, The," read by
A. R. Wallace, i. 74

Villeneuve, i. 414

"Vision of Judgment," William Wal-
lace's opinion of, i. 1 13

" Vital Statistics," by Pierce, ii. 351

Volckman, Mr. W., ii. 277

Voorst, Mr. Van, " Palms of the
Amazon and Rio Negro," published
by, i. 321

«• Voyage up the Amazon, A," by
W. H. Edwards, i. 264

W

Waghorn, Lieut., route from Alexandria
to Suez made by, i. 335

Waigiou Island, i. 370, 371, 372

Walker, General Francis, A. R. Wal-
lace makes the acquaintance of, ii.
109, 116

Wallace, Alfred Russel : Child-
hood and Youth, i. 1-78 —
relatives and ancestors of, i. 1-6 ;
account of the life of his father, i.
6-14 ; account of lives of his brothers
and sisters, i. 14-16 ; his description
of his father's appearance and cha-
racter, i. 16-19 > earliest recollec-
tions of Usk, i. 20 ; fishing for
lampreys, i. 22 ; memories of Usk
Castle, i. 23 ; psychological peculi-
arity of, i. 24 ; childish dream of, i.
27 ; removal of the family to Hert-
ford and recollections of the journey,
i. 30 ; first school, i. 31 ; beginning
of friendship with George Silk, i. 32 ;
description of Hertford and surround-
ings, i. 33-45 ; attends Grammar
School, i. 46 ; first serious illness, i.
46 ; visit to Norfolk, i. 47 ; account of

life at school, i. 48-58 ; feelings of
shame and misery at having to help
teach, i. 58-62 ; home life described,
i. 63 ; occupations, 64-69 ; boarded
with Miss Da vies, i. 69 ; family
affairs, i. 72 ; influences, i. 74 ; daily
routine, i. 76; religious training, i. 77
London, i. 79-105 —
goes to his brother John in London,
i. 79 » on the condition of working
men, i. 80-86 ; evening occupations,

86 ; influence of Robert Owen on,

87 ; religious views of, i. 88 ; political
views of, i. 89 ; on the principles of
Robert Owen, i. 89-91 ; sketch of
the life and work of Robert Owen, i.
91-105

Surveying, i. 106-198 —
goes to his brother William in
Barton, and begins education as
land surveyor, i. 106 ; interest in
geology, i. 108 ; interest in natural
history, i. 1 1 1 ; description of Barton
and its inhabitants, i. in— 115 ; goes
to Hoddesdon, i. 116 ; life at Turvey
described, i. 1 18-128 ; life and work
at Silsoe, L 129, 130 ; survey of
Soulbury, i. 131 ; goes to Leighton
Buzzard, i. 134 ; learns watchmaking
with Mr. Matthews, i. 135-139 ;
journey to Kington, i. 140 ; returns
to land surveying and enters the office
of Messrs. Sayce, i. 141 ; fellow-
clerks, i. 142 ; Stephen Pugh's verses
to, 1. 143 ; goes to New Radnor for
correction of map, i. 143 ; surveying
with William at Rhaidr-Gwy, i. 145 ;
narrow escape and serious illness, i.

146 ; returns to office at Kington, i.

147 ; surveying at Llanbister, i. 148 ;
reminiscences, i. 149 ; criticism of
the "General Inclosure Act," i. 151—
158; "Land Nationalization: its
Necessity and its Aims," and " Studies
Scientific and Social," written by, i.
158 ; surveying in Brecknockshire, i.
160-167 ; interest in Welsh language,
i. 167-169 ; back again at the King-
ton office, i. 170; account of Jack
Mytton of Halston, i. 171-174; on
inequality of inheritance, i. 175-177 ;

452

INDEX

surveying in Glamorganshire, i. 178 ;
lodging at David Rees described, i.
179 ; life at Crynant, i. 180 ; account
of Mr. Worthington, i. 183-186 ; life
at Bryn-coch, i. 183 ; interest in
architecture, i. 189 ; interest in
astronomy, i. 191 ; study of botany,
i. 192-197 ; first literary efforts,
botany, i. 199 ; on u The Advantages
of Varied Knowledge," i. 201-205 5
article on "The South Wales
Farmer," i. 207-222 ; death of his
father, i. 223 ; on his own character,
i. 224 ; on his religious views, i. 226-

228 ; seeks position as master, i.

229 ; obtains post at the Collegiate
School at Leicester, i. 230 ; interest
and experiments in mesmerism, i.
232-236 ; first meeting with Henry
Walter Bates, i. 237 ; interest in
entomology, i. 237 ; prologue written
by, i. 238 ; death of his brother
William, i. 239 ; leaves school to
take up his brother's business at
Neath, i. 240

At Neath, i. 241-263 —

settling his brother's affairs, i. 241 ;
railway surveying, i. 242 ; John joins
him in business, i. 244 ; lectures at
the Mechanics' Institute, i. 246 ; ex-
cursions round Neath described, i.
247-253 ; extracts from correspond-
ence with H. W. Bates, i. 254 ; visits
Paris, 256 ; character delineation by
phrenology, i. 257-262

The Journey to the Amazon, i.
264-288—
preparations for expedition to the
Amazon, i. 264 ; the voyage out, i.
267 ; the city of Para and its environ-
ments described, i. 268-275 ; is
joined by his brother Herbert, and
goes collecting expedition up the
river Amazon, i. 275 ; poems by
Herbert, i. 276; stay at Santarem,
i. 278 ; finding of new species, i.
279 ; Herbert's verses to Santarem,
i. 280 ; expedition to the Upper Rio
Negro, i. 281 ; death of Herbert at
Para, i. 2S2 ; expeditions up the Rio
Negro and Uaupes, i. 283 ; difficulties

encountered, i. 284 ; specimens col-
lected, i. 285 ; impressions of the
Amazon, i. 286-288 ; his letter to
Dr. Spruce describing his dangerous
voyage home, i. 302-309 ; comments
on the voyage, i. 310; Senhor Lima
described, i. 311 ; arrival in London,
i- 313 > writing account of travels, i.
314 ; the umbrella bird, i. 314 ; map
of Uaupes, i. 316 ; account of Count
Stradelli's explorations, i. 317 ; com-
parison of maps, i. 318 ; visitor at
scientific meetings, i. 320 ; publica-
tion of " Palms of the Amazon and
Rio Negro," and " Travels on the
Amazon and Rio Negro," i. 321 ;
helps Dr. Latham in native models
for Crystal Palace, i. 322 ; first meet-
ing with Huxley, i. 323 ; his paper
on monkeys to the Zoological Society,
i. 324 ; tour in Switzerland with
George Silk, i. 325 ; plans an expe-
dition to the Malay Archipelago, i.
326 ; collector's need of good hand-
book, i. 327 ; granted a passage on
the brig Frolic for Singapore, i. 329 ;
after many weeks waiting the Frolic
goes to the Crimea, and A. R.
Wallace returns to London, i. 331 ;
obtains ticket by overland route to
Singapore, i. 332 ; description of
Alexandria, i. 333 ; ride to Suez, i.
335
The Malay Archipelago, i. 337-
384-
life at Singapore, i. 337 ; goes to
Malacca, i. 338 ; returns to Singapore,
i- 34° >' goes to Sarawak, i. 341 ;
care of an orphan baby, i. 343 ; Sir
James Brooke described, i. 345 ; re-
marks on the Crimean war, i. 347 ;
at Bukit Tima, i. 348 ; letter to H.
W. Bates, i. 350-354; article "On
the Law which has regulated the
Introduction of New Species," i. 355 ;
goes to Lambok and Macassar,
l 356 ; collecting in Aru Islands,
i- 357 J at Amboyna, i. 357 ; letters
to H. W. Bates on origin of species,
i. 358 ; on the origin of species,
i. 360 ; residence at Ternate, i. ^6^ ;

INDEX

453

goes to Batchian, i. 365 ; letter to
George Silk, i. 365 ; letter to Thomas
Sims, i. 367 ; goes to Menado,
Amboyna, and Ceram, i. 369 ; voyage
back to Teraate, i. 370 ; letter to
George Silk, i. 371 ; letter to Bates,
'• 373 > S0^ to Timor and Cajeli in
Bouru, i. 375 ; Sourabaya and
Sumatra, i. 376 ; letter to H. \V.
Bates, i. 377 ; letter to George Silk,
i. 379 ; journey home, i. 383 ; back
in London, i. 384 ; at work on col-
lections, i. 385 ; "Narrative of Search
after Birds of Paradise," i. 387-
394 ; at work on various papers
dealing with birds, etc., of the Malay
Archipelago, i. 394 ; on parrots and
pigeons, i. 397 ; on butterflies, i. 400 ;
exhibition of birds and butterflies,
i. 404; at work on "Malay Archi-
pelago," i. 405 ; on natural selection,
i. 406 ; presidential address to the
Entomological Society, i. 408 ; home
life in London, i. 409 ; goes to Hurst-
pierpoint, i. 41 1 ; marriage to Miss
Mitten, i. 412 ; excursions in Wales
and Switzerland, i. 413 ; returns to
Hurstpierpoint, 414 ; tries for the
assistant secretaryship of the Royal
Geographical Society, i. 415 ; applies
for directorship of the Bethnal Green
Museum, i. 415 ; applies for superin-
tendentship of Epping Forest, i. 416 ;
reminiscences of Sir Charles Lyell,
i. 417 ; on the rate of change in
insects, i. 418 ; on the antiquity of
man, i. 419 ; on distribution, i. 420 ;
on dispersal of races of man, i. 421 ;
on pangenesis, i. 422 ; letter from
Sir Charles Lyell on glacial epoch,
on lake basins, i. 426 ; on origin of
solar system, i. 427 ; letter to Sir
Charles Lyell on " Fuel of the Sun,"
i. 429 ; letter to Sir Charles Lyell on
freedom of thought as essential to
intellectual progress, i. 430 ; on dis-
establishment, i. 432 ; friendship with
Sir Charles Lyell, i. 433.
Friends and Acquaintances, ii. 1-

89-
reminiscences of Darwin, ii. I j corre-

VOL. II.

spondence, ii. 2 ; on colour of cater-
pillars, ii. 3 ; letter to The Field on
" Caterpillars and Birds," ii. 4 ; dis-
cussion on natural selection, ii. 7 ;
on meaning of origin of species,
ii. 8 ; Darwin's opinion of " Island
Life," ii. 12 ; discussion on influence
of glacial epoch, ii. 12 ; letters from
Darwin, ii. 13, 14, 15 ; differences of
opinion between Darwin and, ii. 16-
22 ; first meeting with Herbert
Spencer, ii. 23 ; discussion on flight
of birds, ii. 25 ; address on origin
of insects, ii. 26 ; letter from Herbert
Spencer on Land Nationalization
Society just formed, ii. 27 ; letter
from H. Spencer on " Progress and
Poverty," ii. 29 ; Herbert Spencer
on " Bad Times," ii. 31 ; letters from
H. Spencer on Lord Salisbury, ii. 32 ;
scientific friends, ii. 33 ; reminiscences
of Huxley, ii. 34 ; meets Dr. Mik-
lucho Maklay, ii. 34 ; misunderstand-
ing with Huxley, ii. 36 ; on Arthur
J. Bell's works, ii. 37 ; feeling of
inferiority to Huxley, ii. 39 ; on
degrees of latitude, ii. 40 ; remini-
scences of Dr. Carpenter, ii. 42 ;
reminiscences of Mivart, ii. 43-45 ;
reminiscences of the meetings of the
British Association, ii. 45-50 ; friend-
ship with Sir James Brooke, ii. 51 ;
his letter to Professor Rolleston on
Christianity, ii. 52; on "Govern-
ment Aid to Science," ii. 55-59 J his
connection with Mr. Augustus Mon-
gredien, ii. 60 ; W. Wilson's letter
to, ii. 62 ; letter from Dr. Spruce on
the modifications in plant structure
produced by the agency of ants,
ii. 64 ; letter from Dr. Spruce on
aromatic leaves, ii. 65 ; on leaf-
cutting ants, ii. 69 ; letter from Dr.
Spruce on coloration of edible fruits,
ii. 71 ; reminiscences of Dr. Purland,
ii. 75-83 j his connection with Mr.
Samuel Butler, ii. 83-86 ; his criticism
of Mr. Houghton, ii. 87-89 ; goes to
live at Barking, ii. 90 ; the purchase
of land at Grays, ii. 91 ; building the
bouse and laying out garden, ii. 92 ;
2 G 3

454

INDEX

visitors at Grays, ii. 93 ; at work on
the "Geographical Distribution of
Animals," ii. 94, 95 ; summary of
chapters of, ii. 96, 97 ; sells the
house at Grays and removes to
Dorking, and afterwards to Croydon,
ii. 98 ; articles for the " Encyclo-
paedia Britannica," ii. 98 ; at work
on the distribution of plants for
"Island Life," ii. 99-101 ; writes
book on Australia, ii. 101 ; on " Land
Nationalization," ii. 102 ; degree of
LL.D. conferred on, by Dublin Uni-
versity, ii. 102 ; death of Darwin, ii.
102 ; goes to live at Godalming, ii.
103 ; writes essay on " Depression of
Trade," and its treatment by the
press, ii. 104 ; undertakes lecturing
tour in America, ii. 105 ; list of sub-
jects, ii. 106
American Lecture Tour, ii. 107-
199—
arrival in New York, ii. 107 ; ex-
cursion up the Hudson river, ii. 108 ;
goes to Boston, ii. 108 ; first lecture,
ii. 109 ; acquaintances, ii. 109 ; occu-
pations in Boston, ii. 1 10 ; lectures
in Williamstown, ii. 1 1 1 ; lectures at
Meriden, ii. 112; Vassar College
described, ii. 1 13 ; goes to Balti-
more, ii. 113; anecdotes of Professor
Sylvester, ii. 114 ; returns to Boston,
receives hospitality, ii. 115 ; goes to
Washington, ii. 117; social life at
Washington, ii. 118, 119 ; on Irish in
America, ii. 120 ; Mr. Allen, ii. 121 ;
visit to the Treasury, ii. 123 ; visit
to House of Representatives and
Naval Observatory, ii. 124 ; goes to
New York to lecture, ii. 125 ; lecture
tour in Canada, ii. 125 ; Toronto, ii.
126 ; describes Niagara, ii. 127 ;
returns to Washington and lectures
to Women's Anthropological Society,
ii. 128; lectures on Social Economy,
ii. 129; visit to the National Deaf-
Mute College, ii. 130-132; reviews
Professor Cope's "The Origin of the
Fittest," ii. 132; visits President
Cleveland, ii. 133 ; comments on
Washington, ii. 134 ; books read by,

ii. 135 ; starts for Cincinnati,
stopping first at Luray to visit caves,
ii. 136, 137 ; stays at Clifton Forge,
ii. 138 ; describes journey to Coal-
burg, ii. 138 ; stays with Mr.
Edwards, ii. 139, 140 ; arrives at
Cincinnati, ii. 141 ; excursions, ii.
142 ; visit to Mr. Dury, ii. 143-
145 ; lectures at Cincinnati, ii. 145 ;
goes to St. Louis, 146 ; describes
journey to Sioux City, ii. 147 ; gives
three lectures, ii. 147 ; drives to Mr.
Talbot's zoological farm, ii. 148 ;
visits pork-curing establishment, ii.
149 5 goes to Lawrence, Kansas, ii.
I5° > Soes to Manhattan, ii. 151 j
sees over the college, ii. 152 ; goes
to Salina, ii. 153 ; difficulty in procur-
ing a magic lantern, ii. 1 54 ; drive to
M. Henry, ii. 154; goes to Denver,
ii. 155 ; journey to Salt Lake City,
ii. 156; city described, ii. 157; goes
to San Francisco and stays with his
brother John, ii. 158 ; drive to Red-
wood Forest, ii. 158; goes to his
brother's house at Stockton, ii. 159 ;
lectures on "Spiritualism," ii. 160 ;
excursion to the Yosemite Valley, ii.
160-162 ; describes the gigantic trees
of California, ii. 163, 164 ; visit to
Senator Stanford, ii. 165-168; goes
to Santa Cruz, ii. 169 ; returns to
Stockton and witnesses fourth of
July celebrations, ii. 170 ; goes
botanizing tour to the Sierra Nevada
and Rocky Mountains, ii. 171 ; de-
scribes railway journey, ii. 171, 172;
exploring, ii. 173 ; goes to Lake
Tahoe, ii. 174 ; by rail to Reno, ii.
175; describes railway journey,
176-178 ; visits Colorado Springs and
Garden of the Gods, ii. 179, 180;
botanizing expedition to Gray's Peak,
ii. 180-184 ; leaves for Chicago, ii.
184 ; impressions of Chicago, ii. 185 ;
lectures at Michigan, ii. 186 ; goes
to Kingston to stay with the Aliens,
ii. 187 ; by steamer to Alexandria Bay
and Montreal, ii. 188 ; slays with Mr.
lies, ii. 189 ; visits Quebec and leaves
for England, ii. 190 ; impressions

INDEX

455

of America — its land and people, ii.
191-199 ; returns to England, ii.
200 ; curious incident on the drive
home, ii. 200 ; writes book on
"Darwinism," and gives several
lectures, ii. 201 ; honorary degree of
D.C.L. of Oxford conferred on, ii.
202 ; leaves Godalming and removes
to Parkstone, ii. 203 ; reminiscences
of garden at Godalming, ii. 203 ; the
garden at Parkstone, ii. 204, 205 ;
his experience in orchid growing, ii.
206 ; visit of M. Elisee Reclus,
ii. 207, 208 ; new edition of " Malay
Archipelago," ii. 209 ; article on
" Human Selection," ii. 209 ; new
edition of "Natural Selection and
Tropical Nature, ii. 210 ; literary
work, ii. 210 ; on distribution of
animals, ii. 211 ; review articles, ii.
212 ; botanizing tour in Switzerland,
ii. 213 ; article "How best to Model
the Earth," ii. 214; on "The
Problem of Utility," ii. 215 ; reviews,
ii. 215, 126 ; invited by Dr. Lunn to
go to Davos, ii. 216 ; genial company,
ii. 217 ; lecture by Mr. Le Gallienne,
ii. 218 j lecture on "Scientific Pro-
gress," ii. 219 ; leaves Davos for
Adelboden, ii. 220 ; articles and
reviews by, ii. 220 ; " Anticipations
and Hopes for the Immediate
Future" quoted, ii. 221-223; "A
Substitute for Militarism" quoted,
ii. 223-226 ; leaves Parkstone and
builds house near, ii. 227 ; suffers
from asthma, ii. 228 ; cured by
Dr. Salisbury's treatment, ii. 229,
230 ; writes " Wonderful Century,"
ii. 231 ; writes " Man's Place in the
Universe," ii. 232, 233 ; his first
interest in Land Nationalization, ii.
235 ; becomes member of the Land
Tenure Reform Association, ii. 235 ;
dining with John Stuart Mill and
discussion on God, ii. 236 ; on the
origin of evil, ii. 237
Land Nationalization*,!!. 235-274 —
on land nationalization, ii. 238 ;
"Land Nationalization Society"
founded, ii. 240; forerunners of land

nationalization, ii. 240, 241 ; proposi-
tions of Robert Dick, ii. 241-243 ;
writes "Land Nationalization : its
Necessity and its Aims," ii. 243 ; his
paper on " The Morality of Interest "
quoted, ii. 244-249 ; correspondence
with Robert Miller, ii. 249 ; con-
ference called by R. Miller on " How
to cause Wealth to be more equably
distributed," ii. 250 ; abstract from
Report quoted, ii. 251-253; result
of conference, ii. 253, 254 ; supporters
of land nationalization, ii. 255 ; visits
Mr. Boyd-Kinnear at Guernsey, ii.
256 ; on Professor Stuart Blackie, ii.
257 ; visits Mr. and Mrs. Cox in
Edinburgh, ii. 257 ; on Charles
Mackay, ii. 25S-261 ; on Gerald
Massey, ii. 261, 262 ; on Grant
Allen, ii. 262, 263 ; " Security of
the Home," delivered to meeting of
Land Nationalization Society, ii.
264, 265 ; influence of "Looking
Backward " on, ii. 266 ; socialism,
ii. 267 ; on E. Bellamy's " Equality,"
ii. 268-272 ; urges Grant Allen to
write socialistic novel, ii. 272, 273
Spiritualism, ii. 275 — 400

Herbert Wallace's power of mesme-
rising, ii. 275 ; on physical phe-
nomena, ii. 276, 277 ; Dr. Carpenter's
and Professor Tyndall's attitude to-
wards spiritualism, ii. 278, 279 ; writes
"The Scientific Aspect of the Super-
natural," ii. 280 ; Huxley's and Tyn-
dall's comments on, ii. 280 ; G. H.
Lewes' and John Stuart Mill's attitude
towards spiritualism, ii. 28 1 -283 ; letter
from Professor De Morgan, ii. 284 ;
describes stance, ii. 285 ; letter from
Robert Chambers, ii. 285 ; describes
stance at Miss Douglas', ii. 286 ; con-
troversy on Sir David Brewster and
Home's manifestations, ii. 287-290 ;
writes to Professor Tyndall, ii. 291 ;
letter from Mr. Varley, ii. 293, 294 ;
writes "A Defence of Modern
Spiritualism," ii. 295 ; Samuel Butler's
attitude towards spiritualism, ii. 296,
297 ; lunches with Tennyson, 298,
299 ; Mivart's interest in spiritualism,

456

INDEX

ii. 300, 301 ; Mivart's letter on the
miracles of Lourdes, ii. 302-305 ;
other remarks about Lourdes, ii. 305-
309 ; how his acquaintance with
Romanes began, ii. 309, 310; letter
from Romanes on spiritualism, ii.
311-313; anecdote of Professor
Ansted, ii. 314 ; correspondence
between Romanes and Darwin, ii.
315 ; differences between Romanes
and, ii. 316 ; Romanes' attack on,
ii. 317 ; correspondence thereon, ii.
317-326 ; describes cases of materiali-
zation, ii. 327-331 ; Mr. Pengelly's
experience of " doubles," ii. 332-334 ;
estimate of F. W. H. Myers, ii. 334-
337 ; spiritualistic experiences in Bos-
ton, describes seances at Mrs. Ross', ii.
338 ; attempt made to seize spirit-
forms, ii. 340, 341 ; describes seances
at Washington, ii. 341, 342 ; receives
messages from William Martin, ii.
343 ; other messages received, ii. 344 ;
General Lippitt's experiences, ii. 345,
346 ; describes seance at San Fran-
cisco, ii. 346-348 ; comments on. ii.
349) 35° 5 first inquiries into vacci-
nation, ii. 351 ; as witness to the
Royal Commission on Vaccination,
ii. 352, 353 ; publication of essay on
Vaccination published in "Wonderful
Century," ii. 354 ; Lord Grimthorpe's
letter to, ii. 355-357 I Lord Grim"
thorpe's letter to Dr. Bond, ii. 357 ;
writes pamphlet on vaccination, ii.
358, 359 ; money affairs, ii. 360 ;
unfortunate investments, ii. 361 ; takes
shares in slate quarries and lead mines
that fail, ii. 362 ; worries over the
building at Grays, ii. 364 ; ending
in law-suit, ii. 365 ; accepts John
Hampden's challenge to prove the
convexity of the earth, ii. 365 ; first
test, ii. 365, 366 ; second test, ii. 367-
369 ; Mr. Hampden's behaviour on
losing his wager, ii. 370-372 ; legal
proceedings against Mr. Hampden,
ii. 372, 373 ; Mr. Hampden's con-
tinued libels on, ii. 374, 375 ; the
British Museum's manner of purchas-
ing, ii. 376, 377 ; money difficulties,

ii. 378 ; receives Civil Service pension,
ii. 378 ; reflections on his life's work,
ii. 379-381 ; character of, ii. 382 ;
summary of new ideas of, ii. 383-390 ;
on bees' cells, ii. 390 ; on "homing "
instinct of dogs, ii. 391 ; on migratory
birds, ii. 392, 393 ; on Sunday
observance, ii. 394 ; on gunpowder
explosions, ii. 395 ; on fulfilled pre-
dictions, ii. 396-400

Wallace, A. R., excursions to Wales
with Mr. Mitten, described, ii. 401-
404 ; excursion to the Highlands with
Mr. Mitten, ii. 405 ; is appointed
assistant examiner in Physical
Geography, ii. 406 ; examples of
candidates' answers to questions, ii.
407-416 ; system of these examina-
tions discussed, ii. 416-418

Wallace, Eliza, buried in St. Andrew's
churchyard, Hertford, i. 4, 15, 72

Wallace, Emma, birth of, i. 12 ; early
death of, i. 15

Wallace, Fanny, i. 2, 3 ; quoted, i. 7,
9 ; an account of her life, i. 14,
15 ; at school at Lille, i. 72 ; gives
up her school at Hoddesdon and
goes to Georgia, i. 223 ; returns
home, i. 256 ; her marriage to
Thomas Sims, i. 263

Wallace, Herbert, account of the life
of, i. 15, 73 ; A. R. Wallace's letter
to, i. 178 ; joins his brother in Brazil
and goes with him up the Amazon,
i. 275 ; his verses " From Para to
Santarem," 276 ; stay at Santarem,
i. 278 ; " A description of Santarem,"
i. 279; "Farewell to Santarem,"
i. 280 ; went to Serpa, 281 ; died of
yellow fever at Para, i. 282 ; "In
Memoriam " to and verses by, i. 289-
301 ; his power of mesmerism, ii.
275

Wallace, Admiral Sir James, i. 2

Wallace, James, i. 2

Wallace, John, account of, i. 3, 12,
14 ; height of, i. 3 ; birth of, i. 12 ;
education and life of, i. 14, 15 5
childish anecdotes of, i. 22 ; his boy-
hood at Usk, i. 22, 23 ; educated
at Hertford Grammar School, i. 46 ;

INDEX

457

home occupations of, i. 65-69 ; A. R.
Wallace goes to London to live with,
i. 79 ; on the condition of working
men, i. 81-84 ; evenings in London,
i. 86, 87 ; goes to Neath to settle
William's affairs, i. 141 ; A. R.
Wallace goes to, i. 229 ; sets up
business with Alfred in Neath, i.
244 ; tries farming, i. 262 ; leaves
England and settles in California,
i. 263 ; meets A. R. Wallace in San
Francisco, ii. 158; A. R. Wallace
stays with, ii. 159 ; excursion to
Yosemite Valley, ii. 160-162;
goes to Santa Cruz, ii. 169 ; A. R.
Wallace leaves, ii. 170; present at
siance, ii. 346-348
Wallace, Mary, i. 2
Wallace, Mary Anne, early death of,

i. 15
Wallace, Mary Anne, mother of A.
Russel Wallace, oil paintings of the
Greenell ancestors in the possession
of, i. 5, 61
Wallace, Thomas Vere, father of
A. Russel Wallace, i. 1, 3 ; his burial-
place, i. 4 ; an account of the life of,
i. 6 ; his marriage, i. 10 ; starts an
illustrated magazine, i. 1 1 ; money
difficulties and removal with family
to Usk, i. 12 ; and afterwards to
Hertford and to Hoddesdon, i. 12 ;
more money difficulties and death,
i. 13 ; his appearance and character,
i. 16-18; Shakespeare, readings
from, L 17 ; verses by, quoted, i. 18 ;
received pupils, i. 46 ; life at Hert-
ford, i. 71, 74, 75 ; religion of, i. 77
Wallace, William, grandfather of A.

Russel Wallace, i. 2, 3
Wallace, William, brother of A. Russel
Wallace, i. 1 ; his height, i. 3 ;
his education and start in life,
i. 14-16; A. R. Wallace's childish
recollection of, i. 24 ; land-surveying
at Barton, and A. R. Wallace goes
to live with, i. 106-114 ; obtains
survey of Turvey, i. 117; life at
Turvey, i. 119-127 ; survey at Silsoe,
i. 129 ; survey of Soulbury, i. 131 ;
returns to Hoddesdon for holiday, i.

135 ; returns to office of Messrs.
Sayce, i. 136, 140; land-surveying
at Rhaidr-Gwy, i. 145 ; at Llanbister
surveying, i. 148-150; surveying in
Brecknockshire, i. 160, 165 ; back
again at Kington, i. 170 ; surveying
in Glamorganshire, i. 178, 191 ; dis-
approves of A. R. Wallace's scientific
studies, i. 195 ; religious opinions
of, i. 227, 228 ; difficulty in finding
work, i. 229 ; death of, i. 230, 239
Walsh, Mr. J. H., editor of The Field,
acts as umpire in the contest between
John Hampden and A. R. Wallace,

»• 365-373
Walton's " Angler " read by A. R.

Wallace, i. 76
Ward, Mrs. Humphry, as socialist,

ii. 272
Ward, Professor F. Lester, A. R.

Wallace's friendship with, ii. 117,

118
Warder, R. H., at Cincinnati, ii. 141,

142
Ware, i. 35, 37

Warren's " Diary of a Physician," i. 75
Warwick, Countess of, as socialist,

ii 272
Warzewickz, M., new species of

umbrella bird discovered by, i. 315
Wasatch mountains, ii. 176
Washington, ii. 115; A. R. Wallace

goes to, ii. 117 ; social life at, ii. 118-

124; lectures at, ii. 128; National

Deaf-Mute College at, ii. 130-132 ;

A. R. Wallace's comments on, ii.

134; seances at, described, ii. 341-

346

Washington Post, The, quoted, ii. 129

Water-break-its-neck, i. 144

Watson, Mr. C. H., his botanical
studies in the Azores, ii. 100

Watson, William, Charles Mackay in
comparison with, ii. 260

Waynesboro' Junction, ii. 137

Webb, Sydney, as socialist, ii. 272

Webster, Miss, married John Wallace,
i. 15 ; marries and goes to Cali-
fornia, i. 263

Webster, Mr., builder, John Wallace
apprenticed to, i. 14, 79 ; A. R.

458

INDEX

Wallace goes to live with, i. 79,

263
Wedderburn, Sir David, writes to A.

R. Wallace, ii. 102 ; on India, ii.

262
Wedgwood, Mr. Hensleigh, ii. 279 ;

present at stances at Miss Douglas',

ii. 328 ; his connection with Mr.

Monk the medium, ii. 330, 331
Weir, Jenner, visits Darwin, ii. 1 ; on

white moths, ii. 4 ; observations on

caterpillars, ii. 6
Weismann, Professor, theories of, i.

422, 423 ; ii. 22, 24
Welburn, residence of Dr. Spruce at,

ii. 50, 64
Welney Bridge, experiment at, ii. 365
Wengern Alp, i. 414 ; A. R. Wallace

stays at, ii. 214
West, Mr. Thomas, mining engineer,

ii. 181-183.
Westminster Abbey, verses on Byron

and, i. 112; funeral of Darwin at,

ii. 102
Westminster Review, The' " Mimicry

and Other Protective Resemblances

among Animals," by A. R. Wallace,

in, i. 407 ; ii. 3
Weston-super-Mare, residence of Mr.

and Mrs. Sims at, i. 263
Westwood, Professor, illustrations by,

i. 400
Wheatstone, Sir Charles, i. 435
"Whence comes Man, from ' Nature ' or

from 'God ' ?" by Arthur J. Bell, ii. 37
"Whence, Where, and Whither," by

Dr. Nichols, ii. 338
Whewell, " Plurality of Worlds " by,

ii. 288
White, Mr. William, author of " Story

of a Great Delusion," ii. 354
White Sulphur Springs, ii. 138
Whittern, i. 170
" Why does Man exist ? " by Arthur

J. Bell, ii. 37
" Wild Wales," by George Borrow, i.

159; account of Welsh literature in,

i. 168 ; quotation from, ii. 403
Williams, Miss, botanizing expedition

of, ii. 175
Williams, Mr., medium, ii. 318; his

manifestations, ii. 320 ; Romanes'
statements concerning, ii. 321 ; dis-
cussed, ii. 322, 324, 325

Williams, W. Mattieu, "Fuel of the
Sun," by, i. 429

Williamsport, ii. 125

Williamstown, A. R. Wallace lectures
on " Colours of Animals " at, ii.
in

Willowhole, A. R. Wallace's ad-
ventures at, i. 34

Wilson, Dr., of Toronto, ii. 126

Wilson, Rev. Percy, cousin of A. R.
Wallace, i. 1, 150

Wilson, Thomas, married Martha
Greenell, i. 4, 5 ; A. R. Wallace's
visit to, i. 31 ; bankruptcy of, i. 72

Wilson, W., his letter on Wallace's
" Natural Selection," quoted, ii. 62

Winchester, A. R, Wallace's visit to,
ii. 92

Windsor, Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Wallace's
stay at, i. 412

Wirksworth, i. 238

Wohlmann, Mr. J. B., i. 5

Wokan, island of, i. 357

Wolf, frontispiece to " Malay Archi-
pelago " by, i. 405

" Woman who Did, The," by Grant
Allen, ii. 273

"Wonderful Century," by A. R. Wal-
lace, i. 235 ; account of Phrenology
in, i. 262 ; how suggested, ii. 231,
233 ; pamphlet on Vaccination pub-
lished in, ii. 352, 354

Wonnacott, Mr., architect, ii. 92

Wood, Rev. J. G., quoted on lam-
preys, i. 22 ; 'A. R. Wallace's
acquaintance with, ii. 105, 108 ; his
lectures in America, ii. 115

Wood, Miss, medium, manifestations
of, ii. 322, 323, 334

Woodford, epitaph on William Mears
at, i. 7

Woodley Park described, ii. 117

Woodward, Dr. Henry, of the Natural
History Museum, ii. 406

Worcester, i. 140

"Worms," by Darwin, ii. II

Worthington, Mr., an account of, i.
183-186

INDEX

459

Wrest Park, seat of Earl de Grey, i.

107, 129
Wright, Professor, of Dublin, ii. 34
Wright, Professor, of Toronto, ii. 126
Wright, Mr. and Mrs., described, i.

140, 141
Wyld's great globe in Leicester Square,

ii. 215

York, meeting of British Association
at, ii. 50 ; A. R. Wallace lectures
at, ii. 201

Yosemite Valley, excursion to, de-
scribed, ii. 160-162

Young, Arthur, quoted, ii. 140

Ysgwd Einon Gam, waterfall, i. 249,
251

Ysgwd Gladys, waterfall, i. 249, 251
Ystrad-fellte, i. 251 ; described, i. 251,

252
Ystwith river at Aberystwith, i. 1, 161

Zollner, Professor, on spiritualism, ii.
336

Zoological Society, i. 313, 320 ; Huxley
at meeting of, i. 323 ; A. R. Wallace
reads a paper on Monkeys at the, i.
324 ; A. R. Wallace attends meet-
ings of, i. 386 ; A. R. Wallace reads
paper on Birds of Paradise to the, i.
387-394, 396, 397

Zoologist, The, Mr. Maw's review of
" The Origin of Species " in, ii. 2

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