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

264 MY LIFEsystematic groundwork, and study of the principlesand laws of distribution, to the mammalia and birds,and to apply the principles thus arrived at to anexplanation of the distribution of other groups, suchas reptiles, fresh-water fishes, land and fresh-watershells, and the best-known insect orders. The work,entitled " The Geographical Distribution of Animals,"was published in 1876, in two thick volumes, and itoccupied a good deal of my time during the fouryears I lived at Grays.No one is more aware than myself of the defectsof the work, a considerable portion of which are dueto the factthat it was written a quarter of a centurytoo soon—at a time when both zoological and palaeontologicaldiscovery were advancing with great rapidity,while new and improved classifications of some ofthe great classes and orders were in constant progress.But though many of the details given in thesevolumes would now require alteration, there is noreason to believe that the great features of the workand general principles established by it will requireany important modification. Its most severe criticsare our American cousins, who, possessing a " region "of their own, have been able to explore it veryrapidly ; while from several references made to it, Ithink it is appreciated on the European continentmore than it is in our own country.While this work was in progress I wrote a considerablenumber of reviews and articles, publishedmy book on " Miracles and Modern Spiritualism,"and wrote the articles " Acclimatization " for the" Encyclopaedia Britannica."In 1876 I sold the house at Grays and removed toDorking, where we lived for two years. But finding