'Wallace's reputation is less than his scientific achievements merit.'
'Wallace's reputation is less than his scientific achievements merit.'
Science, before and during the Victorian era (1819 - 1901), was not as we know it today. Then, the Church and its religious beliefs, decided much of scientific progress. Anyone who thought or dwelled on subjects outside of the constraints set by the church, were accused of being a heretic an example of which is Copernicus who, in 1543, decreed that the Earth wasn't the centre of the Universe but was conversely, a planet that orbited the sun.
There was no one body of people who progressed science until 1831 when the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA) was founded by a number of wealthy gentlemen who had until this time called themselves 'philosophers'. These men, Oxbridge dons and rich London friends, worked within the constraints of the Church of England funding friends and family members in the exploration of the sciences. Road shows were conducted annually promoting subjects such as: 'chemistry', 'geology and geography', 'zoology and botany'.'1 In 1833, it was decided that a new title was needed for its members if they were to be accepted as an intellectual and scientific enterprise. The Rev. William Whewell coined, from the Latin scienta meaning knowledge, the phrase 'scientist' as one: 'who studied material nature.'2 (Yeo, 1993, pp.110-111). Some subjects were still deemed unsuitable for study: 'no full-scale cosmogony, no Big-Bang theory, or 'brief history of time'; no science of life's origin and evolution; no psychology or models of the mind.'3 These were seen to be subjects that only the clergy could study as they were deemed to depend on spiritual causes. To subject these topics to 'natural law' could mean the end to a person's career although there were no professional scientists at this time.
There were people outside of the BA, interested in subjects such as phrenology, mesmerism and transmutation, they were seen as radicals and were deemed to: 'spread dangerous knowledge and do-it-yourself research.'4 Some people were slowly changing the BA's views, one of whom was Charles Darwin (1809 - 82). Through his work he slowly: 'solved that 'mystery of mysteries', how living species originate.'5 Darwin had his foes, mainly outsiders, but very few professional rivals. One scientists who did think outside of the BA circle was Alfred Russel Wallace (1823 - 1913).
Wallace had views, and was much published, on many diverse topics including: 'religious studies (Hinduism, Christianity), literature (English poetry), classical studies (Greece and Rome), art history (architecture, design) and philosophy (mind).'6 Having taught himself botany and geology whilst working as a surveyor in Wales, Wallace reflected later in life that this was: 'the turning point' of his life, 'the tide that carried me on, not to fortune but to whatever reputation I have acquired.' (Wallace, 1905, vol. 1, p.196). 7
Spending many years on expeditions, Wallace collected and catalogued plants, birds and animal specimens; 1848 - ...
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Wallace had views, and was much published, on many diverse topics including: 'religious studies (Hinduism, Christianity), literature (English poetry), classical studies (Greece and Rome), art history (architecture, design) and philosophy (mind).'6 Having taught himself botany and geology whilst working as a surveyor in Wales, Wallace reflected later in life that this was: 'the turning point' of his life, 'the tide that carried me on, not to fortune but to whatever reputation I have acquired.' (Wallace, 1905, vol. 1, p.196). 7
Spending many years on expeditions, Wallace collected and catalogued plants, birds and animal specimens; 1848 - 1852 whilst in Amazonian South America and 1854 - 1862 in the Malay Archipelago. The 'Wallace Line'8, a boundary separating the Indo-Malay and Austro-Malay regions was also 'discovered' by Wallace (1856). He stated that either side of this line: 'placental mammals, for instance were found only on Bali's side, in the western 'Indo-Malayan region; marsupials only in the 'Austro-Malayan' zone, stretching eastwards.'9 It appears however, that he didn't back up this theory with any strong investigations. He later wrote an essay, On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely From the Original Type, in which he introduces the idea of natural selection, and sent it to Darwin for publication. Unbeknown to Wallace, Darwin had also been thinking along the same lines for a number of years and had made notes that he had exchanged with a number of people but had not publicly published. Whilst Wallace was still absent his essay and Darwin's paper on the theory of natural selection were jointly presented at a meeting of the Linnean Society in London. The presentation of both men's writings was made in chronological order: 'extracts of the 1884 essay that Darwin had written but not published and which had been read by Hooker; a section of the letter dated September 1857 to the American naturalist Asa Grey which included: 'the part played by the principle of divergence,'10 and Wallace's paper. Because Darwin had written his papers first, he was attributed with discovering the theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin went on to publish Origin of Species in 1859. From what I have read, I believe that Wallace was quite happy to have pushed Darwin into publishing his theories: 'I think, therefore, that I may have the satisfaction of knowing that by writing my article and sending it to Darwin, I was the unconscious means of leading him to concentrate himself on the task of drawing up what he termed an 'abstract' of the great work he had in preparation, but which was really a large and carefully written volume - the celebrated 'Origin of Species', published in November 1859.'11 (Wallace, 1905, pp.193-4). By the time Wallace returned to England: '(and for the rest of his life) he was known as the greatest living authority on the region.'12
Wallace was now seen as an 'insider', well travelled and a respected naturalist. Over the next few years he was elected to a number of posts including Fellow of the Royal Society in 1893, President of the Entomological Society of London 1870 - 1872 and President of the BA in September 1876. In July 1908, he received the Darwin-Wallace Medal of the Linnean Society of London and in December 1908 the Copley Medal from the Royal Society and the Order of Merit from the Crown.
Following his return to England in 1862, Wallace became increasingly interested in spiritualism. On publishing The Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural: Indicating the Desirableness of an Experimental Enquiry by men of Science into the Alleged Powers of Clairvoyants and Mediums in 1866, T H Huxley's view was that: 'being 'scientific' meant investigating natural subjects in suitable ways.'13 Huxley didn't believe spiritualism to be a natural subject and therefore shouldn't be studied. Wallace's view was that to be scientific: 'all phenomena, even those deemed impossible or absurd'14 should be investigated. He approached spiritualism with the same enthusiasm and investigations as he had with all his other scientific work.
Over the next few years, Wallace also became increasingly involved with subjects outside of science also. From 1880 - 1913 he was vocal on various topics: 'rent assessment (1880); establishment of greenbelts (1882); minimum wages (1885): suggests manufactured goods carry labels specifying components (1885); use of paper money as the standard value (1898); employees setting aside money for company buy-outs that would otherwise be lost to strikes (1899); use of fire hoses as a means of riot control (1899) and support of double-time pay for overtime (1913).'15
By the time of his death in 1913 Wallace, although one of the best known naturalists of his time, science was moving on and he was seen as somewhat old fashioned. In 1917, the Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society wrote a letter to the Rev. St John Thorpe: 'He was a regular paradoxer in astronomy, and his opinions on vaccination, vivisection and such like matters were utterly opposed to the whole body of scientific thought.... Outside his special subject of Natural History Dr Wallace's judgement was not to be relied on.'16 Wallace made many great contributions to the scientific world and society as a whole; as a traveller, naturalist, bio-geographer and anthropologist, as a socialist campaigning for the rights of the poor and unprivileged not only in Wales and London but also in the Amazon and Papua new Guinea.'17 Wallace has been honoured as the great naturalist he was by the Linnean Society of London in many ways in the modern past. In April 2000, a wreath was laid on Wallace's grave in Broadstone cemetery when the Wallace family formally entrusted the lease of the grave to the Linnean Society. Wallace had finally received the merit he deserved.
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References
Moore, James, An Introduction to The Humanities, Block 4: Here's History of Science p.91
2 Moore, James, An Introduction to The Humanities, Block 4: Here's History of Science p.91
3 Moore, James, An Introduction to The Humanities, Block 4: Here's History of Science p.92
4 Moore, James, An Introduction to The Humanities, Block 4: Here's History of Science p.93
5 Moore, James, An Introduction to The Humanities, Block 4: Here's History of Science p.106
6 Moore, James, An Introduction to The Humanities, Block 4: Here's History of Science p.87
7 Raby, Peter, A Life, p.20
8 An Introduction to The Humanities, Illustration Book, plate 162
9 Moore, James, An Introduction to The Humanities, Block 4: Here's History of Science p.124
0 Raby, Peter, A Life, p.139
1 Raby, Peter, A Life, pp.141-2
2 Smith, Charles, Travels in the Amazon and Malay Archipelago (1848 - 1862) www.victorianweb.org/science/wallace/wallace2.htm 23/06/2004
3 Moore, James, (2003) third ed., An Introduction to The Humanities, Block 4: Here's History of Science p.145
4 Moore, James, (2003) third ed., An Introduction to The Humanities, Block 4: Here's History of Science p.145
5 Smith, Charles, Wallace's Accomplishments: A Summary List www.victorianweb.org/science/wallace/wallace5.htm 23/06/2004
6 Raby, Peter, A Life, p.286
7 Raby, Peter, A Life, p.294
Bibliography
An Introduction to The Humanities, Illustration Book, Open University.
An Introduction to The Humanities, Resource Book 3, Open University.
Darwin, Charles (1859) On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. London, John Murray.
Moore, James, (2003) third ed., An Introduction to The Humanities, Block 4 Religion & Science in context, Open University, Milton Keynes.
Raby, Peter, (2001), Alfred Russel Wallace A Life, Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford
Smith, Charles, Arthur Russel Wallace www.victorianweb.org/science/wallace 23/06/2004.
Wallace, A.R. (1905) My Life: A Record of Events and Opinions, 2 vols, London, Chapman & Hall.
Yeo, R. (1993) Defining Science: William Whewell, natural Knowledge and Public debate in Early Victorian Britain, Cambridge University Press.
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