Wells (William Charles) An Essay on Dew, first edition, presentation copy inscribed by the author, a few marginal tears, a couple of small ink library stamps, uncut in original boards, rebacked, corners worn, 8vo, 1814.
⁂ Presentation copy to Henry Cline (1750-1827) surgeon. Wells, an expatriate American physician resident in England, was considered by Darwin to have been the first person to state the theory of natural selection. In 1813 he delivered a paper before the Royal Society on a white woman with patchy brown discolouration of the skin, which contained an almost complete anticipation of Darwin's theory almost 50 years later.
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