Alfred Russel Wallace , Ll

OF THE DISCUSSION. DB. MARTIN L. HOLBROOK: In listening to the able and interesting lecture of Prof. Cope, I could not help wishing that he had given us more detailed information about the personal life of Mr. Wallace. Knowledge of the personal characteristics of a writer often greatly helps us to an understanding of his thought and to a due appreciation of the value of his opinions. From a friend who knows Mr. Wallace well, I have obtained some facts concerning him which may be of interest. This friend describes him as a tall man, of distinguished appearance, and excellent balance of temperament. He is a good listener, but not gifted in conversation. When he speaks, however, his words carry conviction, on account of his evident sincerity and intelligence. Mr. Wallace became a spiritualist, as Dr. Cope has intimated, through the influence of a very intimate friend, who is possessed of mediumistic powers, so called, and he is now as firm as a rock in his belief in the general truth of the spiritualistic doctrine. As a scientific observer, he was as accurate and painstaking as Mr. Darwin, and, with him, is entitled to the honor of the discovery of the law of natural selection. EX-SURROGATE ABRAM H. DAILEY: I think I was invited here this evening under a misapprehension. I have no personal acquaintance with Mr. Wallace. I only know him through his writings. I have fallen on a similar line of investigation in the phenomena of spirit-communication with Dr. Wallace, and have come to similar conclusions. It is greatly to be regretted that a condition of society exists which deprecates such investigations, and that it requires moral heroism in a man like Mr. Wallace to proclaim his belief in the spiritualistic phenomena. I have no reason to doubt that he has exercised the same care in these investigations that he has in his biological studies. MR. THADDEUS B. W AKEHAN: The lecture of the evening is an able and valuable contribution to the literature of evolution. In his personal character Mr. Wallace stands as high as Darwin. Evolutionists have nothing to apologize for in the characters of the leading advocates of this doctrine. All men, however, have their limitations. Darwin was a great observer Alfred Russel Wallace, LL. D. 17 and discoverer, but not a theorist or philosopher. The development of a consistent philosophy based upon the facts of evolution was impossible to him. Mr. Wallace is more inclined to philosophical speculations, but he has never been trained in the scientific study of mind, and has therefore fallen a prey to the false theories and conclusions of spiritism. This is his limitation. For myself, I believe that Prof. Haackel, about whom I am hereafter to speak to you, stands high and clear above all the other advocates of this doctrine as a philosophical