Hoping that you are in good health, and wishing you the compliments of the season, I remain yours very faithfully,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

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Down, Beckenham, Kent.  January 2, 1881.

My dear Wallace,—­The case which you give is a very striking one, and I had overlooked it in Nature.[115] But I remain as great a heretic as ever.  Any supposition seems to me more probable than that the seeds of plants should have been blown from the mountains of Abyssinia or other central mountains of Africa to the mountains of Madagascar.  It seems to me almost infinitely more probable that Madagascar extended far to the south during the Glacial period, and that the southern hemisphere was, according to Croll, then more temperate; and that the whole of Africa was then peopled with some temperate forms, which crossed chiefly by agency of birds and sea-currents; and some few by the wind from the shores of Africa to Madagascar, subsequently ascending to the mountains.

How lamentable it is that two men should take such widely different views, with the same facts before them; but this seems to be almost regularly our case, and much do I regret it.

I am fairly well, but always feel half dead with fatigue.  I heard but an indifferent account of your health some time ago, but trust that you are now somewhat stronger.—­Believe me, my dear Wallace, yours very sincerely,

CH.  DARWIN.

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Down, Beckenham, Kent.  January 7, 1881.

My dear Wallace,—­You know from Miss Buckley that, with her assistance, I drew up a memorial to Mr. Gladstone with respect to your services to science.  The memorial was corrected by Huxley, who has aided me in every possible way.  It was signed by twelve good men, and you would have been gratified if you had seen how strongly they expressed themselves on your claims.

The Duke of Argyll, to whom I sent the memorial, wrote a private note to Mr. Gladstone.  The memorial was sent in only on January 5th, and I have just received a note in Mr. Gladstone’s own handwriting, in which he says:  “I lose no time in apprising you that although the Fund is moderate and at present poor, I shall recommend Mr. Wallace for a pension of L200 a year.”  I will keep this note carefully, as, if the present Government were to go out, I do not doubt that it would be binding on the next Government.

I hope that it will give you some satisfaction to see that not only every scientific man to whom I applied, but that also our Government appreciated your lifelong scientific labour.—­Believe me, my dear Wallace, yours sincerely,

CH.  DARWIN.

I should expect that there will be some delay before you receive an official announcement.

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Pen-y-bryn, St. Peter’s Road, Croydon.  January 8, 1881.