Thoughts of money or women might have filled lesser heads. Alfred Russel Wallace was made of different stuff, however. He began thinking about disease and famine; about how they kept human populations in check; and about recent discoveries indicating that the earth's age was vast. How might these waves of death, repeated over aeons, influence the make-up of different species, he wondered?

Am I right in remembering that both men in opposite places on earth reached the same conclusion.

Darwin delayed decades before publishing what he knew would be for then the most controversial theory and it remains so today.

Great men.

I once read on the net that Wallace wrote to Darwin a letter, giving Darwin the primacy in discovering the theory of natural selection out of respect to Darwin's efforts and scientific prowess. I haven't been able to locate this letter since then, so it is just an anecdote without a reference...

Is this what you are referring to silkweaver?

http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/wallace/S043.htm