admitting the main principle as self-evident and as actually operating in the case of animals and plants, denies that it ever has operated or can operate in the case of man, still less that it has any bearing whatever on the vast social and political questions which have been supported by a reference to it.  He illustrates and supports his views with a wealth of illustrative facts and a cogency of argument which I have rarely seen equalled, while his style is equal to that of Buckle, and thus his book is delightful reading.  The title of the book is “Progress and Poverty.”  It has gone through six editions in America, and is now published in England by Kegan Paul.  It is devoted mainly to a brilliant discussion and refutation of some of the most widely accepted maxims of political economy, such as the relation of wages and capital, the nature of rent and interest, the laws of distribution, etc., but all treated as parts of the main problem as stated in the title-page, “An Enquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth.”  It is the most startling novel and original book of the last twenty years, and if I mistake not will in the future rank as making an advance in political and social science equal to that made by Adam Smith a century ago.

I am here settled in my little cottage engaged in the occupation I most enjoy—­making a garden, and admiring the infinite variety and beauty of vegetable life.  I am out of doors all day and hardly read anything.  As the long evenings come on I shall get on with my book on the “Land Question,” in which I have found a powerful ally in Mr. George.

Hoping you are well, believe me, yours most faithfully,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

* * * * *

The following is the last letter Wallace received from Darwin, who died on Wednesday, April 19, 1882, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.

Down, Beckenham, Kent.  July 12, 1881.

My dear Wallace,—­I have been heartily glad to get your note and hear some news of you.  I will certainly order “Progress and Poverty,” for the subject is a most interesting one.  But I read many years ago some books on political economy, and they produced a disastrous effect on my mind, viz. utterly to distrust my own judgment on the subject and to doubt much everyone else’s judgment!  So I feel pretty sure that Mr. George’s book will only make my mind worse confounded than it is at present.  I, also, have just finished a book which has interested me greatly, but whether it would interest anyone else I know not:  it is “The Creed of Science,” by W. Graham, A.M.  Who and what he is I know not, but he discusses many great subjects, such as the existence of God, immortality, the moral sense, the progress of society, etc.  I think some of his propositions rest on very uncertain foundations, and I could get no clear idea of his notions about God.  Notwithstanding this and other blemishes, the book has interested me extremely.  Perhaps I have been to some extent deluded, as he manifestly ranks too high what I have done.