Alfred Russel Wallace: Inventor of the Theory of Evolution.
A Delicate Arrangement: the Strange Case of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace
Notes on Arnold Backman's book © Rae West 1997, 2014

Review of Brackman's Strange Case of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace

Science fraud, Scientific Priority, Creativity, and History. Arnold C. Brackman: A Delicate Arrangement: The Strange Case of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace First-rate history-of-science detective story but with some flaws, November 27, 2010 [Amazon review removed of course] By Rerevisionist (Manchester, England) Tags: Arnold C Brackman, Alfred Russel Wallace, Bates, Amazon, Indonesia, Lyell, Hooker, Darwin, Wallace line, New Guinea, Timor, selection Brackman was an academic of some sort (West Connecticut State College) who wrote on topics including Nineveh, Tutankhamen (as it was then spelt), Troy, Japanese WW2 War Crimes trials (latter book 1987). He appears to have been married to Aggie, from Surinam, in south America, which I think led to his interest in the Amazon, where Bates the zoologist explored. Brackman was also some sort of correspondent, I think for Time/Life, in the Straits area, where he heard of the 'Wallace Line' just after the Second World War, many years before becoming professionally involved. His author's note at the end gives some details of his methodology. He was published by a Time/Life subsidiary. This book is a reconstruction of the discovery of the theory of evolution. Wallace was an explorer along the lines of Bates 'of the Amazons'. Note that Darwin and T H Huxley were explorers too. Travel by biologists—accustomed to detailed and microscopic examination of specimens—was an important element in discovering evolution, because whole ecological systems thrust themselves on their attention. (Huxley, who went to Antarctica, may have felt he'd drawn the short straw!) In brief, Wallace, in the then Dutch East Indies, wrote papers and letters, for example on the 'succession of species', in the 1850s, to Darwin and others. In 1858 (ill with malaria) Wallace wrote the first complete exposition of descent and diversification through variation and natural selection. On 9 March, 1858 he posted his letter to Darwin, which Brackman estimates to have arrived by 4 June, 1858. The theory of evolution was announced publically on July 1st, the meeting having been brought forward from 17th. The Linnaean Society must have panicked, as Wallace might have sent the same material elsewhere. Darwin, Hooker, and Lyell rigged up the 'joint paper' meeting. From this time forward mythology of Darwin's priority was nurtured: letters and diary entries were missing, for example. The process continued for decades. Wallace himself believed the story, though with increasing doubts, as for example volumes of letters were published, but with gaps where letters had supposedly been destroyed. This book is in three parts—it is essentially three sub-books— 1 The arrival of Wallace's letters to Darwin; 2 early lives and work of both Wallace and Bates in 'the Green Infernos'; 3 the nobility of character of Wallace. Brackman surveys other sceptics on Darwin's life—J L Brooks, Stauffer, Haughton—but none seem to have taken Brackman's uncompromising stand. The famous portrait of Darwin with a long beard, possibly steeped in gloom, is interpreted by Brackman as evidence that Darwin felt guilt for the rest of his life. There is abundant detail in Brackman, but it is unsummarised; I made my own chronology from 1776 (Malay archipelago, 1809 (Lamarck's theory), 1813? (first mentions of the ideas of natural selection and survival of the fittest, latter phrase from Herbert Spencer), 1823 Wallace's birth—right through to 1980, the year of publication. So what? There are several lessons—one being the establishment reaction. Darwin was rich, Wallace struggled all his life. The 'Labor Party' was founded in 1901; aristocrats liked to think one of their number had achieved something of intellectual value (even though it's difficult to believe they'd have had anything to do with barnacles, 'worm stones', and the rest). Educators looked on Darwin as a genius, overlooking the part played by investigative work. (There's a strange parallel with the real Shakespeare—Wallace's ancestry contains a 'Vere'; is it possible he was related to the real Shakespeare?) The book is a bit marred by Americanisms which don't sit very well in an English-topic book. 'Skim ice', 'Wallace lucked out', 'Darwinism ran 494 pages', 'Labor Party' illustrate the sort of thing. He confuses 'disinterest' with 'uninterest', doesn't know 'windfall' refers to fruit blown from trees, calls Lancelot Hogben a 'controversial historian', hasn't heard of Peacock's oran utan Monboddo character 'Lord Oran Haut-Ton'. There are some misprints ('dumfounded') and a few conflicting publication dates. He always says 'Utopian' of socialism. A comment attributes to Wallace a view ascribed widely to Bakunin. However, this is an important book, in its way resembling Looney's work on the Earl of Oxford. Here's a sketchy chronology taken from the book (with page numbers) which may be helpful:---

Timeline of events taken from Brackman's book: Wallace, Darwin, Bates and others

Further Notes on 'A Delicate Arrangement'