Kayla McLaughlin BHP Life and Origins of the Universe Dr. Bidle & Dr.

Spiegelberg December 7, 2013 Alfred Russell Wallace: The Other Man When we talk about evolution, one name comes to mind, Charles Darwin. He is considered the father of evolution and the brain behind the concept of natural selection. Darwins contributions to the field of evolution were large, however he was not the only one behind this major scientific breakthrough. A much younger naturalist, Alfred Russell Wallace was working on decoding evolution at the same time as Charles Darwin. Although after he passed away, much of his reputation and history disappeared and he was forgotten about. He was just as important to the discovery of natural selection as Darwin was and should be remembered in that way. Wallace was born on January 8, 1823 into a humble, working class family living in Usk, Monmouthshire. At the age of fourteen, he joined his brother in his land-surveying business. He used his free time to explore and observe the Welsh moors and mountains, although this study of the botany and various specimens was just a hobby, for the moment. When there was no longer enough work for both him and his brother, he began working at the Collegiate School of Leicester. He taught reading, writing and arithmetic to the younger boys and showed the older boys how to survey land. While teaching at Leicester he came across two works that had a significant impact on his future and career.

Wallaces exposure to Alexander von Humboldts Personal Narrative on Travels and Thomas Malthuss Essay on the Principle of Population definitely influenced his interest in wanting to travel and observe the way organisms interact with each other. After already reading Darwins Voyage of the Beagle, and then reading Humboldts piece about travelling to South America, Wallaces interest peaked and the Amazon was one of the first places that he explored. Wallace would not realize the significance of Malthuss piece until he began to reflect on his findings from his expeditions later in life. It was also at Leicester that Wallace met his future travelling partner in the Amazon, an entomologist named Henry Walter Bates. Bates was able to introduce Wallace to beetle collecting, which would later be a large part of their expedition together. Wallaces interest grew over his time at Leicester. He attended lectures and read articles on a wide variety of information, from religion to geography to the classification of animals. Furthering his knowledge and expanding his understanding only strengthened his interest in going out and physically studying the material that he had been hearing about. In February of 1845, Wallace faced a major setback when his brother suddenly passed away. He was obligated to leave Leicester and continue his brothers surveying company. He found the work under-stimulating and spent his spare time collecting entomological and botanical samples while continuing to read the works of Charles Lyell, Charles Darwin and James Cowles Prichard, among other names. He was quite the intellectual, despite his humble upbringing. The works he was interested in all addressed in some way, evolution, the geographical distribution of species and the origins of species.

After reading William H. Edwardss Voyage Up the River Amazon, including a Residence at Par, Wallace and Bates were able to pick the location that they would travel to in the spring of 1848. The two explored the areas surrounding Par, Brazil and collected specimens along the Amazon River up until the point where the river splits at Barra. After a two-year excursion, the explorers decided to separate so as to collect the maximum amount of data for their independent research. Wallace travelled on to observe the Rio Negro, Uaups and some of the other smaller rivers. He embarked into an area that was relatively undiscovered and very primitive. He collected thousands of species on this expedition, with the hopes of being able to sell specimens from the New World to European buyers. He was not fussy with where he stayed throughout these journeys. He enjoyed being able to interact with the native tribes and this gave him a new perspective on human intelligence and complexity. Some humans are not as complicated and sophisticated as others because of where they were born and raised. Humans living in a civilized society are considered more complex because they are born into that specific society. Wallace realized that every human had the capability to be a civilized citizen, but some did not get the opportunity. This exposure to the indigenous people of both the Amazon and the Malay Archipelago later contributes to his very anti-racist beliefs. After four years of collecting these specimens, Wallace was ready to go back to England to study his findings. He had already shipped some of his new species discoveries back to England however the majority of them travelling with him aboard the ship Helen in 1852. Just about 200 miles away from Bermuda, the ship caught fire and all of Wallaces collection was lost, with the exception of a few

drawings, some notes and whatever was left in his memory. This was quite a setback for this young naturalist. Once he arrived back in England after approximately eighty days at sea, Wallace was able to write his first piece- Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro- an excellent accomplishment. However, the piece was certainly diminished because of the loss of so many of his specimens. This was particularly a shame because a naturalist had not yet observed the region that he was exploring. This expedition could have been Wallaces claim to fame because of the huge potential for undiscovered species to be in his collection. The impression of this book was very small and didnt give him the credibility that he was expecting from this excursion. Although this was an upsetting event for Wallace, it wasnt long before he was ready to go explore a new area. After only eighteen months, Wallace decided to travel to the Malay Archipelago. His accomplishments thus far were small, but significant enough to get him a grant from the Geographical society for his travel arrangements to Singapore. Little did he know that the setback of his last excursion would lead him to the greatest success of his career. The Malay Archipelago offered the most promising experience to Wallace. It was one of the least explored areas and because Wallace enjoyed the ruggedness of such remote places, he knew it would be a great opportunity for him. He would spend eight years exploring 14,000 miles of land throughout the archipelago. Because he was able to offer up so much time, he could explore so many of the islands and could see the difference in species and plant life within the diverse landscape of Malaysia. Again, he was not particular about his living situation. He was

easy going, building huts to keep himself sheltered and finding food based on what the natives were eating. The only thing that mattered to him was what he was collecting. He typically would collect six of every species he found so as to have multiple examples of each specimen. Although, this task became more and more difficult as he realized the large variety that exists even within one species. Species are merely those strongly marked races or local forms which, when in contact, do not intermix, and when inhabiting distinct areas are generally believed to have had a separate origin, and to be incapable of producing a fertile hybrid offspring. (Wallace.) While Darwin had already speculated that a species may change over time, Wallace was realizing that a species can change to a different species, but it could also evolve into multiple species. We continue to use this definition today to describe a species. Through Wallaces explorations, we were able to come to the conclusion that one organism has the potential to evolve into numerous species depending on several environmental influences. He was able to determine the factors that went into this evolution while he was in the archipelago as well. One of Wallaces most significant discoveries was the striking difference between the life forms on the eastern and western sections of the Archipelago. Upon travelling across the South Pacific to Sulawesi, something went awry and he ended up spending several months in Bali and Lombok instead. Although both islands are only 20 miles apart, Wallace noticed a striking difference between the animal life of both islands. Despite their close proximity, he noticed that there was Australian animal life in the south and east and Asian in the north and west. This was a huge

breakthrough in biogeography at the time. He created the Wallace Line, which was drawn as a transitional zone in between Asian and Australian wildlife. He drew the line between Sulawesi and Bornea and between Bali and Lombok. Wallace particularly looked at the birds in these areas, noticing the apparent difference from island to island. Most of the birds did not even cross the smallest stretches of ocean so for the most part they stayed on the island that they were born on. The Wallace Line is still used today to identify different biogeographic regions of the planet. He used the information that he had gathered about species differentiation to write his paper On the Law Which has Regulated the Introduction of New Species that was published in a very prestigious science periodical. He discussed his discovery that when species are closer in proximity they are more likely to be related, most likely due to their similar surrounding environment. A few years after he published that article, while continuing to collect species in the Malay Archipelago, Wallace was weakened when he contracted malaria. However, it appears that the illness worked in his favor because while feverish and resting, a burst of insight came to him. He thought back to Thomas Malthuss paper that he read all those years ago when he was teaching at Leicester. He connected Malthuss concept of the limits of population growth to something that could be occurring in nature to make a long-term change in a species. This is how the them came to the idea of survival of the fittest. The animal with the most favorable traits for a certain ecosystem will thrive in their environment, reproduce, and pass on those favorable traits to their offspring. Organisms whose traits are not favorable to their surrounding environment will, in most cases die before reproducing and

passing on those unfavorable traits. The animals most adapted to their environment have the best chance of survival. Overjoyed with this new discovery, as soon as he was feeling well enough, he wrote out an essay about his new developments. Although he did not call it natural selection, he argued all the same points. An antelope with shorter or weaker legs must necessarily suffer more from the attacks of the feline carnivora; the passenger pigeon with less powerful wings would sooner or later be affected in its powers of procuring a regular supply of food . . . (Wallace.) Once he finished this paper, On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type, instead of sending it off to a publisher, he sent it to Darwin. They had already had a little bit of correspondence and Wallace knew that Darwin was interested and had been investigating similar topics. Thus began the race to the finish, for Darwin at least. Darwin was fourteen years older than Wallace and by the time Wallace contacted him, he had been working on his evolutionary work for twenty years, without ever publishing a major expression of all of his work. Friends that were in this business with Darwin had been telling him for years to publish something so that he would be given the deserved credit for all of the work he did. Seeing that Wallace had written a very cohesive and organized argument on natural selection, Darwin decided it was time to publish his own theory. Charles Lyell and Joseph Hooker created a compromise and decided not to give sole credit to either man. They combined Darwins haphazard notes and correspondence with Wallaces new paper and presented all of the information at the same Linnean Society meeting in London in 1858. Wallace was not even told they were doing this until after the fact.

He continued his study in the Malay Archipelago and a year later, Darwin published one of the most highly regarded documents on evolution today, On the Origin of Species. Ironically, this is the piece we read most often in schools and refer to most often when discussing evolution, although Wallace published a piece so similar to it before Darwin. It seems as though after Darwin made his publication, we forgot that Wallace had come to the same conclusion about natural selection independent of Darwin. If nothing else, Wallace forced Darwin to stop waiting until he had all of the information he wanted and organize his work to create a thorough and cohesive argument. Although he did not acquire all the fame and recognition of Darwin, Wallace was content with his work because he became well respected in the world of evolutionary biology. He was an extremely gracious man and was happy that he had made some impact on science by doing what he loved, which was collecting organisms from various areas of the world. He was even quoted saying My greatest achievement was prompting Darwin to publish his own theory. He respected that Darwin had been diligently developing his theory for twenty years and did not want to just pop in as a young naturalist and discredit all of Darwins work. There is a lot to be said for the type of person that Wallace was. Wallace had many other interests outside of biology. He was an extremely spiritual man. This was rare for an evolutionist because often times they look to science to disprove some of the statements made in the Bible about creation. SO much of evolutionary science is considered controversial, especially in the time that he was living. It is believed that Wallaces spirituality is related to the untimely

death of his eldest son. He attempted to communicate with him through a medium, as so many families do when a loved one passes away. Unlike Darwin, Wallace believed that the human mind continued to function even after death. He thought the human mind developed outside of evolution and the spirit lived on in the afterlife. Racism was thriving in the time that Wallace lived. However, Wallace was much more progressive in the way that he thought about people of color than most people. This ideology was most likely due to the time that he spent in both the Amazon and the Malay Archipelago. He spent so much of his time living with and observing natives and tribes who lived a very primitive life. Wallace believed that with the proper education anyone could read Shakespeare or play an instrument, just some people were never given the opportunity to do so because of where they lived. Wallace did not relate natural selection to the evolution of the human mind because he believed too many people werent given the opportunity to see their full potential. Despite the lack of credit that he received, Wallaces achievements and contributions to science were huge. Over his lifetime he wrote twenty books and over 700 articles and published letters. He was elected into the Royal Society and awarded the Societys Royal Medal in 1868. Today we are seeing Wallace being recognized more and more for his work. On January 24, 2013, the Natural History Museum of London opened up an online database of Wallaces correspondence. Anyone can access this. Finally on the anniversary of his death, November 7, 2013, the Natural History Museum of London announced the discovery of a tiny parasitoid

wasp. They called it Wallaceaphytis to honor Wallace and his vast number of contributions. Alfred Russell Wallace was extremely dedicated to his work. He braved undiscovered territories, lived in the wilderness with the natives and survived various fevers including malaria, all for the work that he enjoyed so much. It is a shame that we dont give him more credit today for his contributions to such important studies. However, with more people gaining access to the internet and information being readily available to the general public, we can only hope that great people, like Wallace are given the credit that they deserve.

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Bibliography The Animated Life of A. R. Wallace. Dir. Flora Lichtman; Sharon Shattuck. Narr. Dr. George Beccaloni; Dr. Andrew Berry. New York Times. 4 November 2013. Web Video. 19 November 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000002534565/theanimated-life-of-a-r-wallace.html> Beccaloni, George. Alfred Russel Wallace and Natural Selection: the Real Story. The Alfred Russel Wallace Website. March, 2013. Web. 22 November 2013. <http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/tv/junglehero/alfred-wallace-biography.pdf> Berkeley University. Natural Selection: Charles Darwin & Alfred Russel Wallace. Understanding Evolution. Web. 22 November 2013. <http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_14> Fichman, Martin. (1944). Alfred Russel Wallace. Boston: Twayne Publishers. Kutschera, U. (March 2003). A Comparative Analysis of the Darwin-Wallace Papers and the Development of the Concept of Natural Selection. 19 November 2013. <http://www.blc.arizona.edu/courses/schaffer/449/DarwinWallace%20Comparison.pdf> Marchant, James. (1916). Alfred Russel Wallace: letters and reminiscences. London: Harper & Brothers Publishers. Scott, Michon. Alfred Russel Wallace. Strange Science: The Rocky Road to Modern Paleontology and Biology. 7 November 2013. Web. 20 November 2013. <http://www.strangescience.net/wallace.htm> Smith, Charles H. Alfred Russel Wallace: A Capsule Biography. Alfred Russel Wallace. November 2013. Web. 22 November 2013. <http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/BIOG.htm>

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