" ...
It must also be noticed that for the detailed history given above
there is no documentary evidence beyond what Francis Darwin has
produced in the "Life and Letters." There are no letters from
Lyell relating to it, not even answers to Mr. Darwin's of the
18th, 25th, and 26th of June; and Sir Leonard Lyell has at my
request very kindly but vainly searched his uncle's correspondence
for any relating to this subject beyond the two above mentioned.
There are none of my letters to either Lyell or Darwin, nor other
evidence of their having existed beyond the latter's
acknowledgment of the receipt of some of them; and, most
surprising of all, Mr. Wallace's letter and its enclosure have
disappeared. Such is my recollection of this day, the fiftieth
anniversary of which we are now celebrating, and of the fortnight
that immediately preceded it.
It remains for me to ask your forgiveness for intruding upon your
time and attention with the half-century-old real or fancied
memories of a nonagenarian as contributions to the history of the
most notable event in the annals of Biology that had followed the
appearance in 1735 of the "Systema Naturae" of Linnaeus.
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