The impact of A. R. Wallace's Sarawak Law paper reassessed

Abstract

This article examines six main elements in the modern story of the impact of Alfred Russel Wallace's 1855 Sarawak Law paper, particularly in the many accounts of Charles Darwin's life and work. These elements are: Each of these are very frequently repeated as straightforward facts in the popular and scholarly literature. It is here argued that each of these is erroneous and that the role of the Sarawak Law paper in the historiography of Darwin and Wallace needs to be revised.

Keywords: Alfred Russel Wallace; Charles Darwin; Evolution; Historiography; Natural selection; Sarawak Law.