My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

LYELL AND DARWIN 233" Down, January 2, 1881."My dear Wallace," The case which you give is a very strikingone, and I had overlooked it in Natiire ; ^ but I remainas great a heretic as ever. Any supposition seems tome more probable than that the seeds of plants shouldhave been blown from the mountains of Abyssinia, orother central mountains of Africa, to the mountains ofMadagascar. It seems to me almost infinitely moreprobable that Madagascar extended far to the southduring the glacial period, and that the S. hemispherewas, according to Croll, then more temperate ;andthat the whole of Africa was then peopled with sometemperate forms, which crossed chiefly by agency ofbirds and sea-currents, and some few by the wind,from the shores of Africa to Madagascar subsequentlyascending to the mountains." How lamentable it is that two men should takesuch widely different views, with the same facts beforethem ; but this seems to be almost regularly our case,I am fairly well, but alwaysand much do I regret it.feel half dead with fatigue.I heard but an indifferentaccount of your health some time ago, but trust thatyou are now somewhat stronger." Believe me, my dear Wallace," Yours very sincerely,"Ch. Darwin."It is really quite pathetic how much he feltdifference of opinion from his friends. I, of course,should have liked to be able to convert him to myviews, but I did not feel it so much as he seemed to* Nature, December 9, 1880. The substance of this article by Mr.Baker, of Kew, is given in " More Letters," vol. iii. p. 25, in a footnote.