They passed away,
one in 1911, one in 1912, and one in 1913. They were all men of
singularly modest character. As is so often observable in true
greatness, there was in them an entire absence of that vanity and
self-advertisement which are not infrequent with smaller minds. It is
the little men who push themselves into prominence through dread of
being overlooked. It is the great men who work for the work's sake
without regard to recognition, and who, as we might say, achieve
greatness in spite of themselves.
[Illustration: THE WALLACE AND DARWIN MEDALLIONS IN THE NORTH AISLE OF
THE CHOIR OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY]
"Alfred Russel Wallace was a most famous naturalist and zoologist. He
arrived by a flash of genius at the same conclusions which Darwin had
reached after sixteen years of most minute toil and careful
observation.... It was a unique example of the almost exact concurrence
of two great minds working upon the same subject, though in different
parts of the world, without collusion and without rivalry.... Between
Darwin and Wallace goodwill and friendship were never interrupted.
Wallace's life was spent in the pursuit of various objects of
intellectual and philosophical interest, over which I need not here
linger. All will agree that it is fitting his medallion should be placed
next to that of Darwin, with whose great name his own will ever be
linked in the worlds of thought and science.
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