“ On June 18, 1858, Charles Darwin wrote in his journal: “interrupted by letter from AR Wallace.†As he read Wallace’s paper, he realized with mounting dread that the self-taught naturalist, thirteen years his junior, had independently arrived at the same theory he’d been quietly nurturing for decades. Johnson, Kirk Wallace. The Feather Thief (p. 32). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. “So all my originality, whatever it may amount to, will be smashed,†Darwin wrote, confessing that while he hadn’t been planning on publishing his own theory yet, he felt compelled to by the appearance of Wallace’s paper. Then again, he did not want to be accused of intellectual theft. “It seems hard on me that I should be thus compelled to lose my priority of many years’ standing,†he wrote, but “I would far rather burn my whole book, than that he or any other man should think that I had behaved in a paltry spirit.†Johnson, Kirk Wallace. The Feather Thief (p. 32). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. ”
