Should these views as to
the unique central position of our earth be supported by the results of
further research, it will certainly rank as the most extraordinary and
perhaps the most important of the many discoveries of the past century.
While still working on this section of his "Wonderful Century," he was
asked to write a scientific article, upon any subject of his own choice,
for the _New York Independent_. And as the idea of the unique position
of the earth to be the abode of human life was fresh in his mind, he
thought it would prove interesting to the general public. However,
before his article appeared simultaneously in the American papers and in
the _Fortnightly Review_, a friend who read it was so impressed with
its originality and treatment that he persuaded Wallace to enlarge it
into book form; and it appeared in the autumn of 1903 as "Man's Place in
the Universe."
This fascinating treatise upon the position occupied by the earth, and
man, in the universe, had the same effect as some of his former
writings, of drawing forth unstinted commendation from many religious
and secular papers; whilst the severely scientific and materialistic
reviewers doubted how far his imagination had superseded unbiased
reason.
On one point, however, most outsiders were in agreement--that he had
invested an ancient subject with freshest interest through approaching
it by an entirely new way.
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