Historical influence on Darwin: --Alfred Russel Wallace

• Alfred Russel Wallace shared the same feelings of evolution as Charles Darwin, he himself even set Darwin a paper of his that shared his theories towards evolution. Much do Darwin’s surprise, it was closely similar to his theory and that was then and there where he knew he had to go ahead and make it known about his theory before someone else gets praise for it and that is where one of Darwin’s greatest work was published, On The Origin of Species.  

•   Alfred Russel Wallace went on to explore the wildlife in South America and Asia. This is where Wallace supplied Darwin with birds for him to conduct his studies on. Through his exploration he began to develop a better knowledge about natural occurrences. This is where it led Wallace wanting to publish his own thoughts and ideas on evolution. He then decided to send Darwin his theory which to Darwin’s astonishment was nearly similar to his own theory of evolution. Wallace too believed that species were a descent of a previous generation of species and the way the current species looked can be credited to the “environmental factors” in which the specie lived in. Wallace also found his inspiration, as Darwin did too, from an English man named Thomas Malthus who published a book in 1797 called Essay on the Principle of Population. When reading Malthus book that is when it occurred to him and Darwin that both “animals and plants should also be experiencing the same population.” Wallace and Darwin both shared the same realization, that if specie was to carry a similar trait from its previous specie generation, which is what, helps influence on how well the specie will be adjusting to its environment whether it is new or old; the specie will be able to adapt. This is what will help lead the breed to be more successful in any environment it comes across. This will also help the specie be successful in breeding more offspring and the traits will “become more common in the following generation, and the generation after that.”     http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/history_14

• I believe that both Wallace and Darwin were influenced off of one another. They both shared the same thoughts and ideas towards evolution. I felt that they both influence one another positively because once Darwin noticed how much of a similarity Wallace’s theory was to his own, it push Darwin to go ahead and put forth his theory to show the world. Darwin wanted to gain recognition for a theory which he put several years of his life into; this is why I believe Wallace was a great and positive influence towards Darwin.  They both gained knowledge off of one another and both concluded to the same thoughts of evolution at the end.

•  Darwin was a part of this establishment which if one was to judge any thought that was different and not of what was supposed to be thought of or said it would put forward a concern. He was associated with these groups of friends that if there was someone who went ahead and proposed questions that threaten their status quo, it will bring worry to them.  So Darwin was afraid to be judge and possibly be looked at differently. If one was to question the great creator, God, those people where to be made a mock of. The church wanted people to only believe one and one thing only, that God is the one who created all things and Darwin challenged that but because of the possible consequences Darwin left his theory of evolution to himself. But then there was another man who shared the same theory as Darwin did, Wallace, which eventually led Darwin to publish his book On the Origin of Species. He wanted to be recognized and credited for the theory of evolution before someone else was.