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

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

wallace.online.org
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CHAPTER XVIIIA LECTURE TOUR IN AMERICA(1886-1887)Towards the close of the year 1885 I received aninvitation from the Lowell Institute of Boston, U.S.A.,to deliver a course of lectures in the autumn andwinter of 1886. After some consideration I acceptedthis, and began their preparation, taking for mysubject those portions of the theory of evolution withwhich I was most familiar. At this time I had madethe acquaintance of the Rev. J. G. Wood, the wellknownwriter of many popular works on naturalhistory. He had been twice on lecturing tours toAmerica, and gave me some useful information,besides recommending an agent he had employedand who had arranged lectures for him at variousschools and colleges.I had already lectured in manyEnglish towns on the permanence of the great oceans,on oceanic and continental islands, and on variousproblems of geographical distribution. To these subjectsI now added one on " The Darwinian Theory,"illustrated by a set of original diagrams of variation.I also wrote three lectures on the " Colours ofAnimals (and Plants)," dwelling especially on protectivecolours, warning colours, and mimicry, and forthese I had to obtain a series of lantern slides coloured

"A LECTURE-TOUR IN AMERICA 273from nature, so as to exhibit the most strikingexamples of these curious and beautiful phenomena.I left London on October 9 in a rather slowsteamer, in order to have a cabin to myself at amoderate price, and landed at New York on the23rd, after a cold and disagreeable passage.My tour in America lasted about ten months, andextended from New York, Boston, and Washingtonto San Francisco, and back to Montreal and Quebec.I visited and lectured at many of the great cities, andmet many well-known and intellectual people, includingamongst others Oliver Wendell Holmes, JamesRussell Lowell, and Edward Waldo Emerson, sonof the philosopher. I also had the opportunity oseeing some of the finest scenery and most interestingobjects in North America.Whilst in California I once more had the pleasureof meeting my brother John and his wife, neither ofwhom I had seen for nearly forty years.As American cities have been so frequentlydescribed, I will here only give an account of a fewof the interesting sights or natural objects which mostimpressed me, with some remarks on my generalimpression of the country and people.The first excursion I made in America was a tripup the Hudson River to West Point, passing thecelebrated " Palisades " —a continuous row of cHfifsabout two hundred feet high, and extending fornearly twenty miles on the south bank of the river.They look exactly like a huge fence of enormoussplit trees, placed vertically, side by side, but arereally basaltic columns like those at the Giant'sCauseway, crowning a slope of fallen rock. In placesthe well-wooded country was very beautiful, with theautumnal tints of bright red, purple, and yellow,T

CHAPTER XVIIIA LECTURE TOUR IN AMERICA(1886-1887)Towards the close <strong>of</strong> the year 1885 I received aninvitation from the Lowell Institute <strong>of</strong> Boston, U.S.A.,to deliver a course <strong>of</strong> lectures in the autumn <strong>and</strong>winter <strong>of</strong> 1886. After some consideration I acceptedthis, <strong>and</strong> began their preparation, taking for mysubject those portions <strong>of</strong> the theory <strong>of</strong> evolution withwhich I was most familiar. At this time I had madethe acquaintance <strong>of</strong> the Rev. J. G. Wood, the wellknownwriter <strong>of</strong> many popular works on naturalhistory. He had been twice on lecturing tours toAmerica, <strong>and</strong> gave me some useful information,besides recommending an agent he had employed<strong>and</strong> who had arranged lectures for him at variousschools <strong>and</strong> colleges.I had already lectured in manyEnglish towns on the permanence <strong>of</strong> the great oceans,on oceanic <strong>and</strong> continental isl<strong>and</strong>s, <strong>and</strong> on variousproblems <strong>of</strong> geographical distribution. To these subjectsI now added one on " The Darwinian Theory,"illustrated by a set <strong>of</strong> original diagrams <strong>of</strong> variation.I also wrote three lectures on the " Colours <strong>of</strong>Animals (<strong>and</strong> Plants)," dwelling especially on protectivecolours, warning colours, <strong>and</strong> mimicry, <strong>and</strong> forthese I had to obtain a series <strong>of</strong> lantern slides coloured

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