and before long found himself something of an expert in giving mesmeric demonstrations before small audiences.  Phrenology, he believed, proved of much value in determining his own characteristics, good and bad, and in guiding him to a wise use of the faculties which made for his ultimate success; while his introduction to mesmerism had not a little to do with his becoming interested and finally convinced of the part played by spiritualistic forces and agencies in human life.

The most important event, however, during this year at Leicester was his meeting with H.W.  Bates, through whom he was introduced to the absorbing study of beetles and butterflies, the link which culminated in their mutual exploration of the Amazon.  It is curious that Wallace retained no distinct recollection of how or when he met Bates for the first time, but thought that “he heard him mentioned as an enthusiastic entomologist and met him at the Library.”  Bates was at this time employed by his father, who was a hosiery manufacturer, and he could therefore only devote his spare time to collecting beetles in the surrounding neighbourhood.  The friendship brought new interests into both lives, and though Wallace was obliged a few months later to leave Leicester and return to his old work of surveying (owing to the sudden death of his brother William, whose business affairs were left in an unsatisfactory condition and needed personal attention), he no longer found in it the satisfaction he had previously experienced, and his letters to Bates expressed the desire to strike out on some new line, one which would satisfy his craving for a definite pursuit in the direction of natural science.

Somewhere about the autumn of 1847, Bates paid a visit to Wallace at Neath, and the plan to go to the Amazon which had been slowly forming itself at length took shape, due to the perusal of a little book entitled “A Voyage up the River Amazon,” by W.H.  Edwards.  Further investigations showed that this would be particularly advantageous, as the district had only been explored by the German zoologist, von Spix, and the botanist von Martins, in 1817-20, and subsequently by Count de Castelnau.

During this interval we find, in a letter to Bates, the following allusion to Darwin, which is the first record of Wallace’s high estimate of the man with whom his own name was to be dramatically associated ten years later.  “I first,” he says, “read Darwin’s Journal three or four years ago, and have lately re-read it.  As the journal of a scientific traveller it is second only to Humboldt’s Narrative; as a work of general interest, perhaps superior to it.  He is an ardent admirer and most able supporter of Mr. Lyell’s views.  His style of writing I very much admire, so free from all labour, or egotism, yet so full of interest and original thought."[6]