Natural Selection and Beyond: The Intellectual Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace

509 Pages·2009·4.92 MB·English

by  Charles H. Smith

NATURAL SELECTION AND BEYOND
WoodcutofWallace.FromEdwardDrinkerCope’sworkAlfredRusselWallace(1891).Out
ofcopyright.
Natural Selection
and Beyond
The Intellectual Legacy of
Alfred Russel Wallace
Edited by Charles H. Smith
and George Beccaloni
1
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp
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ISBN 978–0–19–923916–0
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Contents
Foreword vii
PeterBowler
Preface ix
EarlofCranbrook
ListofFigures xx
ListofPlates xxii
ListofTables xxiii
ListofContributors xxiv
Introduction 1
1. HomesSweetHomes:ABiographicalTourofWallace’sMany
PlacesofResidence 7
GeorgeBeccaloni
PART I. IN THE WORLD OF NATURE
2. ‘‘ArdentBeetle-Hunters’’:NaturalHistory,Collecting,andthe
TheoryofEvolution 47
AndrewBerry
3. TheoryandPracticeintheField:Wallace’sWorkinNatural
History(1844–1858) 66
MelindaBonnieFagan
4. Wallace’sAnnotatedCopyoftheDarwin-WallacePaperon
NaturalSelection 91
GeorgeBeccaloni
5. WallaceandtheSpeciesConceptoftheEarlyDarwinians 102
JamesMallet
6. DirectSelectionforReproductiveIsolation:TheWallaceEffect
andReinforcement 114
NormanA.Johnson
7. TheColoursofAnimals:FromWallacetothePresentDay.I.
CrypticColoration. 125
TimCaro,SamiMerilaita,MartinStevens
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vi:: Contents
:
:
8. TheColoursofAnimals:FromWallacetothePresent
Day.II.ConspicuousColoration. 144
TimCaro,GeoffreyHill,LeenaLindstrçm,MichaelSpeed
9. AlfredRusselWallace,Biogeographer 166
BernardMichaux
10. WallaceandtheGreatIceAge 186
KeithTinkler
11. Wallace,Conservation,andSustainableDevelopment 201
SandraKnapp
PART II. IN THE WORLD OF MAN, AND WORLDS BEYOND
12. The‘‘FinestButterfly intheWorld?’’:WallaceandHisLiteraryLegacy 223
PeterRaby
13. WallaceandOwenism 235
GregoryClaeys
14. Wallace,Women,andEugenics 263
DianeB.Paul
15. Outof‘‘theLimboof‘UnpracticalPolitics’’’:TheOriginsand
EssenceofWallace’sAdvocacyofLandNationalization 279
DavidA.Stack
16. AlfredRusselWallaceandAnti-VaccinationismintheLate
VictorianCulturalContext,1870-1907 305
MartinFichman
17. TheUniverseandAlfredRusselWallace 320
StevenJ.Dick
18. Wallace’sUnfinishedBusiness 341
CharlesH.Smith
19. WallaceinWonderland 353
JamesMoore
20. Wallace’sDilemmas:TheLawsofNatureandtheHumanSpirit 368
TedBenton
21. Wallace,Spiritualism,andBeyond:‘‘Change,’’or‘‘NoChange’’? 391
CharlesH.Smith
ReferencesCited 425
WorksbyAlfredRusselWallace 425
WorksbyOtherAuthors 433
Index 467
Foreword
Peter Bowler
A lfred Russel Wallace is often depicted as a ‘‘forgotten’’ figure—although he
hasbeenrediscoveredmany times byauthors whohavecontrivedtoignore
their predecessors’ efforts. He is known to the general public, if at all, as the co-
discoverer of natural selection, and several biographers have used this point as a
means of trying to undermine Darwin’s reputation, suggesting that Wallace was
deliberately marginalized by Darwin’s supporters and by the scientificelite. Des-
pitehisachievementsinscienceWallaceisoftenportrayedasanoutsider,someone
devoted to eccentric ideas and beliefs including spiritualism, an opposition to
vaccination,andathendeeplyunfashionablesupportofsocialism.Yettheseviews
should not be dismissed as mere eccentricities. They link Wallace to a broader
currentofoppositiontothematerialismofmainstreamVictorianculturewhichis
now increasingly acknowledged by historians. His accounts of his expeditions to
SouthAmericaandtheFarEastwerewidelypraisedatthetimeandstillappealto
modern travel writers. Like his political and philosophical works, they reveal his
remarkablehumanityaswellashisloveofnature.
Providing alternatives to the triumphalist story of Darwinism is laudable
enough in this age of obsessive celebrity-worship, but Wallace deserves better
than the routine use of his name by iconoclasts seeking to undermine Darwin’s
position in the pantheon of science. He deserves our attention for two very
different reasons. First, he made major contributions to evolutionary biology,
probingthelogicoftheDarwiniantheoryandextendingtherangeofitsapplica-
tions in areas such as the explanation of the geographical distribution of species
andtheevolutionofanimalcoloration.Second,hecanbeseen,notasanoutsider,
butasanoriginalthinkerwhoquestionedmanyoftheassumptionsonwhichthe
ideologies of Victorian progressionism and scientific naturalism were based. His
apparent eccentricities followed from his efforts to create an alternative philoso-
phyoflife,andweoweittohimtorediscoverthecoreofhisvision.Thisbookwill
goalongwaytoprovidingthesympatheticbutsophisticatedreassessmentofhis
lifewesobadlyneed.
Inscience,WallacebecameoneofDarwin’sstaunchestsupporters—yetalsoone
ofthefewwhocouldbetrustedtounderstandandevaluatethetheory’sstructure
andimplications.HedifferedfromDarwinonseveralkeyissues,neveraccepting
the analogy between artificial and natural selection, and remaining suspicious of
the extension of the model into the area of sexual selection. Even here, their
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viii:: Foreword
:
:
debateshelpedbothofthemtorefinetheirthinking,whileinotherareasWallace’s
knowledge of distribution and the complexities of adaptation allowed him to
explore the theory in ways which considerably extended its range. His work on
animalcolorationandongeographicalspeciationwasofmajorsignificancetothe
debate.Equallysignificantwastheprojectwhichledtothepublicationofhistwo-
volumesurveyTheGeographicalDistributionofAnimalsin1876.HereWallacedid,
for once, interact with the scientific community in a coordinated way as he
gathered information on the distribution of species. And this book, along with
his Island Life, seems to have triggered an explosion of research into historical
biogeographyinthelaternineteenthcentury.
Outsideofscience—yetinmanywaysthereisnoseparation—wearebeginning
to see how Wallace’s so-called eccentricities fitted together to make a coherent
philosophy of life. His much commented-on rejection of the material origins of
thehumanmind,linkedtohisgrowingenthusiasmforspiritualism,identifyhim
with a major strand of Victorian thought which resisted the rise of scientific
naturalism. His socialism—along with his various other campaigns on social
issues—marks him out also as a member of a small but ultimately influential
bodyofopinioncriticaloftherushintofree-enterprisecapitalism.Herewasaman
whosawtheworldasawholewithaspiritualpurpose,andforallhisendorsement
of natural selectionwe should remember that his last book, The World of Life of
1911,depictedthewholesweepofevolutionastheunfoldingofadivineplan.This
book explores many aspects of Wallace’s work, including his views on the possi-
bilityof extraterrestrial life, and his adventures into awide range of cultural and
social debates ranging from spiritualism to land nationalization. It reveals that
behind the apparent diversity lies a unified world view, a view withwhich many
willwanttosympathize.
PREFACE
Alfred Wallace,
Field Collector
Earl of Cranbrook
A lfredRusselWallacebecamemyguideandmentorwhen,inJuly1956,alittle
over a century after he began his epic travels in the Malay Archipelago, a
smallvesseloftheBlueFunnellinenegotiatedthedocksofLiverpool,embarking
meonapassageoftwenty-eightdaystoSingapore,gatewaytothelandsoforang-
utans and birds of paradise. Like Wallace, I was duly befuddled by the donkey
driversandgully-gullymeninEgypt,spentadayat‘‘desolate,volcanicAden’’and,
inthemonsoonrollersoftheIndianOcean,foundmyselfabadsailor.I,too,made
landfall at ‘‘Pulo Penang,’’ with its picturesque mountains, its spice trees, and its
famous waterfall (S729 1905a, 1:333–35). I have subsequently followed his trail to
Malacca,Java,andBali.Ultimately,inPapuaNewGuinea,likethe‘‘nativesofAru’’
(S715 1883, plate 34), Iclimbed a tree and watched entranced as birds of paradise
(Paradisaea raggiana in my case) performed in its branches. For me in many
aspects, as for Wallace, this easternventure ‘‘constituted the central and control-
lingincidentofmylife’’(S7291905a,1:336).
In Singapore, Wallace met Rajah James Brooke (who was then enduring an
officialCommissionofInquiryintohisactivitiesandstatus)and,withtheRajah’s
offerofeveryassistance,rearrangedhisplans.ThusBorneobecamethefirstisland
oftheMalayArchipelagothathevisited,andhisbaseKuching(thenstillgenerally
called‘‘Sarawak’’).Kuchingwasalreadymydestination,butinSingaporeImetmy
future employer at a curry tiffin. Arrangements settled, I shipped onwards and,
after three more days at sea, reached Muara Tebas, the eastern mouth of the
Sarawak delta. From there, as in Wallace’s day, the river meandered a dozen
muddy milestothedockatKuching.
Wallaceeventuallyspentalongercontinuousperiodinwhatwasthenthesmall
territory of Sarawak than at any other location in the Archipelago (1 November
1854 to 25 January 1856). Sarawak provided his most exciting catches of insects:
‘‘during my whole twelve years’ collecting in the western and eastern tropics,
I never enjoyed such advantages in this respect as at the Simunjon coal-works’’
(S7151883,36),and(ofnight-flyingmoths)‘‘duringthesixsucceedingyearsIwas
neveronceabletomakeanycollectionsatallapproachingthoseatSarawak’’(S715
ix