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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 25. Wallace And The 'Physical Environment'., Charles H. Smith
Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 25. Wallace And The 'Physical Environment'., Charles H. Smith
Faculty/Staff Personal Papers
Alfred Russel Wallace’s natural selection essay of 1858 has been held to frame a greater role for the physical environment in forcing selection regimes than we find in Darwin’s writings, but here that verdict is challenged by a re-examination of both the essay itself, and period usage of the term ‘physical.’
Wallace And Incipient Structures: A World Of "More Recondite" Influences, Charles H. Smith
Wallace And Incipient Structures: A World Of "More Recondite" Influences, Charles H. Smith
DLPS Faculty Publications
Alfred Russel Wallace is well-known for his co-discovery of the principle of natural selection. Natural selection is usually considered a process, but it is not clear that Wallace regarded it in exactly these terms. In fact he more likely thought of the relationships involved as representing what we would now term a “state space,” a negative feedback loop wherein populations are maintained at healthy levels through elimination of the unfit. Both before and after the advent of natural selection Wallace clung to the idea that “more recondite forces” were shaping the nature and direction of evolution; this is especially evident …