ty."
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 delude