Wallace and Darwin grew up on opposite sides of the track. Wallace's youth was spent amongst the abject poverty of the rural Welsh. These were the people furnishing the likes of Darwin (a Cambridge graduate, and the son of a doctor,) with taxes and tithings whilst they could barely put food on their own table. This gave rise to Wallace's socialist political values. It also influenced his attitude towards science. "This land (Wales,) equipped Wallace with the basic skills of insights he would need for a career in science." (A103 TV16"Wallace in Wales.")

Where Darwin perceived native people from other lands as "barbarians," Wallace was less negative, seeing in these people more positive attributes. He saw them as well adapted to their environment. (An Introduction to Humanities, Resource Book 3, B2 and B3.)

Darwin only knew about hardship and the survival of the fittest, Wallace had experienced it...