I maintain, on the contrary, that all without exception are now proved
to have originated by "descent with modification," but that there is no
proof, and no necessity, that the very same causes which have been
sufficient to produce all the species of a genus or Order were those
which initiated and developed the greater differences. At the same time
I do _not_ say they were not sufficient. I merely urge that there is a
difference between proof and probability.--Yours very truly,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
* * * * *
TO PROF. POULTON
_Broadstone, Wimborne. August 5, 1904._
My dear Poulton,-- ... What a miserable abortion of a theory is
"Mutation," which the Americans now seem to be taking up in place of
Lamarckism, "superseded." Anything rather than Darwinism! I am glad Dr.
F.A. Dixey shows it up so well in this week's _Nature_,[30] but too
mildly!--Yours very truly,
ALFRED R. WALLACE.
* * * * *
TO PROF. POULTON
_Broadstone, Wimborne. April 3, 1905._
My dear Poulton,--Many thanks for copy of your Address,[31] which I have
read with great pleasure and will forward to Birch next mail. You have,
I think, produced a splendid and unanswerable set of facts proving the
non-heredity of acquired characters. I was particularly pleased with the
portion on "instincts," in which the argument is especially clear and
strong.
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