Survival of the Fittest: Darwin and Wallace

The tour through the Natural History Museum rare books collection was really amazing—I am always slightly embarrassed by how much I enjoy seeing a book that was annotated by so-and-so or printed in such-and-such a year, and this was a veritable treasure trove. Who knew there was a copy of On the Origin of Species printed in Braille? What I found most interesting, however, (and what this post is really focused on) was the presentation of Wallace to the group. He was discussed as a man who was unfairly treated by historians and one who constantly was left in the shadow of Darwin. Taking into account the facts that I am a product of those same historians (could I even say one of them?) and that I have never taken a course exclusively on Wallace but have taken a few concerning Darwin, I don’t think that Wallace has been treated quite as unjustly as it was made to seem the other day. Surely, Wallace should have every claim to co-discoverer, or even discoverer, of the theory of natural selection. He did publish the article first and Darwin’s somewhat questionable tactics to get around this fact are often skimmed over or ignored. Yet, what is said is just as important as what is not said and it was the latter that I was thinking of during our talk.

Yes, Wallace’s paper was published in 1858 and Darwin’s book in 1859, but what happened after that? Wallace remained on the outskirts of society, at times even of the world, and to my knowledge did not publish again on the subject. What Wallace did do, however, was become involved in some strange and mystical aspects of 19^th century science, including spiritualism, mesmerism, and phrenology. These might have been seen as scientific at the time, but they were certainly a far cry from his work in evolution. Meanwhile, Darwin spent the remaining years of his life publishing work after work delving deeper into various aspects of natural selection only touched upon in Origin. For all intents and purposes, Darwin was branding himself, if you’ll forgive the 20^th century language. He found a niche in the scientific realm and was able to thrive and specialize in it. Darwin has become the great figure in the field not because he founded it (although this should not be totally taken from him when crediting Wallace), but because he made himself into the expert on the subject. In not discussing the period of Wallace’s life between 1858 and his death in 1913, much was left out of our presentation which would help explain the one-sided history that we know now.