title: The Heretic in Darwins Court: The Life of Alfred Russel Wallace
author: Ross Slotten
description: In 1858, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), a self-educated British naturalist collecting specimens in the Malay Archipelago, sent a brief manuscript to Charles Darwin outlining the concept of natural selection and explaining its important role in the creation of new species. Darwin, who had been working on this topic for 20 years but had not yet published anything, feared that Wallace's paper would take precedence over all of his own earlier work. In fact, Darwin's scientific allies arranged for a joint presentation of his ideas alongside Wallace's to the Linnean Society of London while Darwin rushed to complete <i>On the Origin of Species</i>. Physician and amateur historian Slotten does a very good job of contextualizing this critical moment in the history of biology within the life and times of Wallace. He demonstrates that Wallace was a brilliant, complex man and argues persuasively that Wallace never resented Darwin's receiving much more credit for the theory of natural selection than he did. Wallace, perhaps more than Darwin, took on all comers and was an articulate and forceful spokesman for natural selection. But, as Slotten shows, he was very much interested in other causes as well. As a socialist, he was an ardent proponent of social justice, working for land reform (he was himself from the lower classes). He believed in spiritualism, was against smallpox vaccination and, to the chagrin of many scientists, claimed that human intelligence was divinely inspired. Slotten's enjoyable exposition provides insight into the scientific process and the role of class structure in Victorian England. Illus., maps. <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  # Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 1
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### James Marchant
  
  
  This page formatted 2005 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
  PREFACE
  
  
  INTRODUCTION
  
  
  
  
  
  PART I
  
  
    
  I.—Wallace and Darwin—Early Years
  
  
  PART I (Continued)
  
  
    
  II.—Early Letters
  
  
  PART II
  
  
    
  I.—The Discovery of Natural Selection
  
  
    
  II.—The Complete Extant Correspondence between
  
  
  Wallace and Darwin
  
  
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  Produced by Digital &Multimedia Center, Michigan State
  
  
  University Libraries., Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Josephine
  
  
  Paolucci, Joshua Hutchinson and the Online Distributed
  
  
  Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
  
  
  
  
  
  [Transcriber's note: Footnotes moved to end of book.]
  
  
  [Illustration]
  
  
  
  
  
  Alfred Russel Wallace
  
  
  Letters and Reminiscences
  
  
  By
  
  
  James Marchant
  
  
  _With Two Photogravures and Eight Half-tone Plates_
  
  
  IN TWO VOLUMES
  
  
  Volume I
  
  
  CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD
  
  
  London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
  
  
  1916
  
  
  
  
  
  To 