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In 1852, after four years'
collecting, Wallace was returning home with a vast collection of specimens
and notes, with which he hoped to make his scientific reputation. |
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But fate struck,
and the ship caught fire and sank. He escaped with just a single box of
drawings, of fish and palm trees, which are remarkable in their delicacy.
They are a teasing taste of the turn that Wallace's career might have taken
if he had not lost all of his animal collections in the fire. |
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