Encyclopedia of Evolution.pdf - Online Reading Center

Wallace, Alfred Russel (1823–1913) British Evolutionary
biologist Alfred Russel Wallace is famous principally as
the codiscoverer, along with Charles Darwin (see Darwin,
Charles) of natural selection as the principal mechanism
of evolution. However, he was famous also for his travel
writings, his contributions to the study of what is now called
biodiversity, and his social activism. He was perhaps the
most famous British naturalist of the late 19th century.
Born January 8, 1823, Wallace came from an intellectually
active and sometimes financially challenged family.
He worked with his brother as a surveyor and then taught
surveying skills at a small British college. He found increasingly
more time for the study of local natural history (insects,
plants, geology), especially after he began a friendship with
another young naturalist (see Bates, Henry Walter).
Wallace and Bates decided to travel to South America to
collect plant and animal specimens. Since neither was rich,
they planned to sell the specimens to pay for the expedition.
They went separate ways in South America. Both amassed
large collections. Bates remained many years, studying the
butterflies that were the first and still most famous example of
mimicry, a type still called Batesian mimicry. Wallace spent
four years in South America and traveled further in some of
the river systems of South America than any European had
ever gone. His studies in the Amazon basin formed the basis
of his developing thoughts about biogeography and about
the process of evolution. He lived among, and closely studied,
the ways and languages of the native peoples. In so doing, he
developed an appreciation that tribal peoples have an intellectual
capacity equal to that of civilized peoples, a belief that
few European intellectuals held at that time. As he returned
to England with his collections, the ship caught fire, and he
lost everything except some of his drawings and notes. Upon
returning home, he published and spoke about some of his
observations to scientific societies and the general public.
Wallace’s accomplishments as a naturalist were not yet
famous but were sufficient for him to obtain support from
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the Royal Geographic Society for a journey to Indonesia and
New Guinea (at that time called the Malay Archipelago). He
spent nearly eight years there, from 1854 to 1862. He traveled
14,000 miles and collected 125,660 biological specimens
(including more than a thousand new to science). The book
that he wrote upon his return, The Malay Archipelago, ranks
as one of the most popular pieces of travel writing from the
19th century, partly because he published some of the earliest
information about birds of paradise, orangutans, and the
native peoples of New Guinea.
Wallace’s work in Indonesia would have been sufficient
to guarantee him lifelong fame as a naturalist; he certainly
had a lifetime of work awaiting him, upon his return, just
to analyze and write about his specimens and travels. But it
was an event that occurred at the midpoint of his journey, in
1858, that changed the course of scientific history. He had
contracted malaria, and was lying ill with it, when his fevered
mind came up with an explanation for how the process of
evolution could work, a process that we today call natural
selection. When he was well enough, he wrote his ideas in
an article entitled “On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart
Indefinitely from the Original Type.” It was the word “indefinitely”
(meaning without limit) that made Wallace’s proposal
distinct from orthodox scientific views. Wallace was ready
to send the article back to England for publication. Wallace
knew, but did not much care, that his views might be controversial.
He decided, however, to let another, more experienced,
scientist review his article before publication. He sent
his article to Charles Darwin.
Wallace could not have known what an effect his article
would have. Like Wallace, Darwin had traveled extensively in
tropical regions of the world and had spent much time (while
ill) thinking about evolution. Like Wallace, Darwin had come
up with natural selection as a way of explaining how evolution
could occur. However, Darwin had done all of this
almost exactly 20 years earlier. Darwin had not published
any of his hypotheses on evolution, however, because he