Naturalists In Paradise: 'Wallace, Bates And Spruce In The Amazon'

Product Description

Alfred Russel Wallace Henry Walter Bates & Richard Spruce were English naturalists who went to Amazonia 150 years ago This book is the first to combine all three young mens experiences of the Amazon drawing heavily on their own letters & books All three explored an unknown river & had many thrilling adventures violent attacks of malaria fearful rapids murder attempts encounters with newly contacted indigenous peoples shipwrecks & many other hardships In addition to their huge contributions to knowledge of the Amazonian environment each is particularly famous for one discovery Wallace is acknowledged as a co-discoverer along with Charles Darwin of the theory of evolution Bates discovered protective mimicry among insects a phenomenon named after him Spruce transported the quinine-bearing Cinchona tree the most important medicinal plant of the nineteenth century to India where it saved countless lives from malaria