Download Unique WCP identifier: WCP1696.1577 Letter from Lyell, Charles to

Unique WCP identifier: WCP1696.1577
Letter from Lyell, Charles to Wallace, Alfred Russel
Dated: 21 December 1868
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[[1]] 1
73 Harley Str[eet]. [London] W.
21. December 1868
My dear Sir
I find on referring to the last edition of the "Principles"
2
that I
entirely omitted the passage cited by Owen & given by me at p[age].
599. 9 th . ed[itio] n . 3 and in all previous editions 4 about the
Simia Carpolegus 5 [sic] . For this very reason the Professor 6
observing that I wished to suppress it, has taken the opportunity
of revising it. He knew well from what I have said at p[age]. 266
and p[age]. 274 last edition, that I was desirous of doing justice
to Lamarck 7 , and that I had distinctly stated that I had [[2]]
erred in not more fully appreciating his merit. He Owen 6 might,
if he pleased, have pointed out the inconsistency of my former
opinions and those which I now hold, but it was quite dishonest
to drag such a passage into the light, without alluding to my
discontinuance of such carpings.
What Darwin 8 says of Owen is at p[age]. 17 of his historical
Sketch, prefixed to the 4 th . ed[ition]. of the "Origin" 9 .
It [sic] is exceedingly good, and I remember when I first read it, I
looked up the original passages, and wrote to Darwin saying that
if anything, he had understated the case against Owen. The
audacity of the latter is truly astounding to those who being in
social [[3]] intercourse with him knew the line which he took, and
had for some years, he allowed himself to be complimented as a
defender of the faith because he was opposed to any theory
which would prove the alliance, for kinship of man with the lower
animals. The suddenness of his conversion when he saw that
natural selection &
the "Origin of Species" were beginning to take,
was unmistakeable. He must not forget that Darwin's Papers
and yours on "Natural Selection" published by the Linnean
Society 10 , preceded the "Origin" and also your Paper on
"Species" 11 in 1855.
No one can doubt that if these matters had been left entirely to
Owen, the opinion of the public at large in regard to Species [[4]]
would have remained here as more [1 word illeg.] than as it has
done in the Lecture-rooms of almost all the leading Teachers in
Paris. It is Owen's consciousness that he has had so little
influence on the progress of opinion here which nettles him.
The question of whether something like Lamarck's monads 12 ,
the advantages of which I have alluded to at p[age]. 275, can be
embraced, as Owen would I suppose advocate, without
destroying almost all the benefit to Geology of your Theory and
Darwin[']s over that of the Special Creation of Species 13 . It is
well to look carefully at Lewes's 14 arguments in the June
number of the Fortnightly Review 15 , 1868 in order to see how
difficult it is to draw the line between Creative Fiats 13 and
Evolution, when once we [[5]] grant that simple cells are always
coming into existence, or if not, cells, microscopic lumps of jelly,
which and that these are destined to be developed into certain
distinct orders, or classes.
He naturally concludes that only some of these microscopic
germs are to become plants, others animals, some vertebrate,
others invertebrate, but that among the vertebrate see p[age].
616 that fish are not developed into the reptile, the reptile into
the bird, and the bird into the mammal. I confess, I do not attach
much importance to the one who talks of polarities p[age]. 623,
[and] compares the ramification of nerves to crystals p.p. [pages]
75. 76. 77. 80, but still, the extent to which he is able to argue
against Darwin's grand Theory of Kinship 16 see p[age] 787 part
3 p[age]. 75 [[6]] disturbs me. His initial diversity and creation on
distinct foundations and the extent to which analogous
structures, instincts &c may be due to similar laws of change, or
of similar conditions instead of ancestral community, or kinship,
see p[age] 78, makes me feel that if we have no means of
drawing th the line, or knowing where to stop, it is difficult to
avail ourselves of Natural Selection in Geology. "Orders and
Classes["], says Lewes, p[age]. 79 ["]have no nearer link of
relationship than community of organic substance and their
common history". If you can manage to show how such a theory
may be consistent with my argument in my chapter on "Insular
Faunas and Floras", I [[7]] shall be very glad.
Of course our knowledge must stop somewhere, and we cannot
expect to be able to devine define all such things mysteries. But
when one is making a free confession of our inability, it is well to
try if one can set some limits to one['] s conjectures. Where the
monotremata[,] marsupialia [sic] and placental mammalia
derived from one initial starting point [unidentified symbol]. As
As I am engaged for some months in the reading for a chapter
on the origin of Mountain chains I shall put off the investing [of]
£3 or £4 in Owen[']s 3 volumes 17 and try not to think too much
of a subject with which I am not concerned in writing a new, or 7
th
. ed[ition] and recast of my "Elements" 18 .
[No valediction or signature]
<Charles Lyell 19 >
ENDNOTES
1. "Copy to M r Wallace (underlined)" and "(36)" written in ink
across top LH corner of page.
2. Lyell, C. (1866-1868) Principles of Geology: being an attempt
to explain the former changes of the Earth's surface, by
reference to causes now in operation Vols. 1-2 10 th Edition.
London, John Murray.
3. Lyell, C. (1853) ibid. Vol. 1 9 th Edition. London, John Murray.
4. The first edition of Principles ( see Endnote 2) was published
in 3 volumes: Vol. 1, 1830; Vol. 2, 1832 and Vol. 3, 1833.
5. In his Systema Naturae of 1758, Linnaeus divided the Order
Primates into four genera: Homo (humans), Lemur (lemurs),
Vespertilio (bats, since moved to Chiroptera) and Simia (the
rest). Homo , Lemur , and Vespertilio have survived as generic
names, but Simia has not. All the species have since been
moved to other genera. Simia carpolegus Raffles 1821 is now
Macacus nemestrinus or "pig-tailed monkey", native to Borneo.
6. Owen, Richard (1804-1892). English biologist, comparative
anatomist and palaeontologist. He was appointed Hunterian
professor in the Royal College of Surgeons in 1836 but moved
to the natural history department of the British Museum in 1856,
where his unrivalled knowledge of comparative anatomy
facilitated his researches on the remains of extinct animals. He
was not always popular with his fellow scientists and was feared
and even hated by some contemporaries such as Thomas
Henry Huxley. This conflict was brought to a head when Owen
rejected the theory of evolution by natural selection as proposed
by Darwin, which created much bitterness towards him and
alienated a younger generation of naturalists.
7. Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier
de ("Lamarck") (1744-1829). French naturalist. His contribution
to evolutionary theory was that of the inheritance of acquired
characteristics in which one "complexifying" force drove
organisms to greater complexity, and a second "adaptive" force
adapted them to local environments through use and disuse of
characteristics, which differentiated them from other organisms.
8. Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882). English naturalist and
writer, originator of the theory of evolution by natural selection.
9. Darwin, C.R. (1859) On the Origin of Species by Means of
Natural Selection, 1 st Edition, London, John Murray. The third
edition was published in1861, with a number of sentences
rewritten or added and an introductory appendix, An Historical
Sketch of the Recent Progress of Opinion on the Origin of
Species. The 4 th edition (also with the introductory Sketch ),
was published in 1866, with further revisions.
10. Charles Lyell and Joseph Hooker agreed that a joint paper
on evolution by natural selection should be presented by ARW
and Darwin at the Linnean Society of London. The title of the
presentation on 1 July 1858 was On the Tendency of Species to
form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species
by Natural Means of Selection. The two papers read were by
ARW On The Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from
the Original Type and Extract from an unpublished Work on
Species from an essay of 1844, which Darwin had disclosed
privately to Hooker, together with an Abstract of a Letter Darwin
had written to Asa Gray in 1857. This was the first
announcement of the Darwin-Wallace theory of evolution by
natural selection, but drew little attention. The papers appeared
in print on 20 August 1858. After the meeting, Darwin decided to
write "an abstract of my whole work". On the Origin of Species
was first published on 24 November 1859 ( see Endnote 9).
11. Wallace A.R. (1855) On the Law Which Has Regulated the
Introduction of New Species Annals and Magazine of Natural
History Vol. 16 (2 nd series) pp. 184-196.
12. Simple organism assumed as first term in genealogy of living
things.
13. Special creation is a theological doctrine which states that
the universe and all life in it originated in its present form by
unconditional fiat or divine decree.
14. Lewes, George Henry (1817-1878). English philosopher and
critic of literature and theatre. He became part of the middle
Victorian ideas movement which encouraged discussion of
Darwinism, positivism and religious scepticism.
15. Lewes, G. H. (1868). Mr. Darwin's hypotheses. Fortnightly
Review No. 3, p. 611-28.
16. Kin selection is the evolutionary strategy that favours the
reproductive success of an organism's relatives, even at a cost
to the organism's own survival and reproduction. Charles Darwin
discussed the concept in the Origin of Species , exemplified by
sterile social insects, arguing that a selection benefit to related
organisms would allow the evolution of a trait that confers a
benefit, but destroys an individual at the same time.
17. Owen, R. (1866) On the Anatomy of Vertebrates Vol. 1
Fishes & Reptiles Vol. 2 Birds & Mammals, Vol. 3 Mammals ,
London, Longmans, Green & Co.
18. Lyell, C. (1838) Elements of Geology Vol. 1, 1 st Edition.
London, John Murray. The 6 th edition was published in 1
volume in 1865, but the next edition appeared as The Student's
Series , in 1871.
19. Lyell, Charles (1797-1875). British lawyer and the foremost
geologist of his day. A close friend of Charles Darwin, who
contributed significantly to his thinking on the evolutionary
process. He popularised the doctrine of uniformitarianism; the
central argument in Principles ( see Endnote 2) was that "the
present is the key to the past", i.e. that geological remains from
the distant past could be explained by reference to geological
processes now in operation and thus directly observable. Lyell
helped to arrange the simultaneous publication in 1858 of
papers by Darwin and ARW on natural selection ( see Endnote
10).
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Copyright of text: Charles Lyell Literary Estate.
Transcribed by: O'Dell, Sandra on 07/05/2015
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Lyell, Charles. (1868). [WCP1696.1577: Letter to Alfred Russel
Wallace, dated 21 December 1868]. In : Beccaloni, G. W. (Ed.).
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