I.--Wallace and Darwin--Early Years


As springs burst forth, now here, now there, on the mountain side, and
find their way together to the vast ocean, so, at certain periods of
history, men destined to become great are born within a few years of
each other, and in the course of life meet and mingle their varied gifts
of soul and intellect for the ultimate benefit of mankind. Between the
years 1807 and 1825 at least eight illustrious scientists "saw the
light"--Sir Charles Lyell, Sir Joseph Hooker, T.H. Huxley, Herbert
Spencer, John Tyndall, Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace and Louis
Agassiz; whilst amongst statesmen and authors we recall Bismarck,
Gladstone, Lincoln, Tennyson, Longfellow, Robert and Elizabeth Browning,
Ruskin, John Stuart Blackie and Oliver Wendell Holmes--a wonderful
galaxy of shining names.

The first group is the one with which we are closely associated in this
section, in which we have brought together the names of Charles Darwin
and Alfred Russel Wallace--between whose births there was a period of
fourteen years, Darwin being born on the 12th of February, 1809, and
Wallace on the 8th of January, 1823.

In each case we are indebted to an autobiography for an account of their
early life and work, written almost entirely from memory when at an age
which enabled them to take an unbiased view of the past.

The autobiography of Darwin was written for the benefit of his family
only, when he was 67; while the two large volumes entitled "My Life"
were written by Wallace when he was 82, for the pleasure of reviewing
his long career. These records are characterised by that charming