Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace OM FRSwas a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection; his paper on the subject was jointly published with some of Charles Darwin's writings in 1858. This prompted Darwin to publish his own ideas in On the Origin of Species. Wallace did extensive fieldwork, first in the Amazon River basin and then in the Malay Archipelago, where he identified the faunal divide now...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth8 January 1823
But I think that a little consideration will show you that belief is quite independent of our will, and our common expressions show it.
Nature seems to have taken every precaution that these, her choicest treasures, may not lose value by being too easily obtained.
I then walk off into the swamp along the path of logs and tree-trunks, picking my way cautiously, now glancing right and left on the foliage, and then surveying carefully the surface of the smooth round log I am walking on.
To expect the world to receive a new truth, or even an old truth, without challenging it, is to look for one of those miracles which do not occur.
The foregoing considerations lead us to the very important conclusion, that matter is essentially force, and nothing but force; that matter, as popularly understood, does not exist, and is, in fact, philosophically inconceivable.
I have since wandered among men of many races and many religions.
I am thankful I can see much to admire in all religions.
Civilisation has ever accompanied emigration and conquest - the conflict of opinion, of religion, or of race
I am decidedly of the opinion that in very many instances we can trace such a necessary connexion, especially among birds, and often with more complete success than in the case which I have here attempted to explain.
Truth is born into this world only with pangs and tribulations, and every fresh truth is received unwillingly.
In my solitude I have pondered much on the incomprehensible subjects of space, eternity, life and death.
Why do some die and some live? The answer was clearly, that on the whole the best fitted live. From the effects of disease the most healthy escaped; from enemies, the strongest, swiftest, or the most cunning; from famine, the best hunters or those with the best digestion; and so on. Then it suddenly flashed upon me that this self-acting process would necessarily improve the race, because in every generation the inferior would inevitably be killed off and the superior would remain-that is, the fittest would survive.