LONDON: A Scottish horticulturist proposed the idea of 'evolution by natural selection' 27 years before Charles Darwin , according to a UK scientist who suggests the man should be more widely acknowledged for his contribution.A new paper by King's College London geneticist Dr Michael Weale argues that Patrick Matthew deserves to be considered alongside Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace as one of the three originators of the idea of large-scale evolution by natural selection.Matthew's version of evolution by natural selection captures a valuable aspect of the theory that isn't so clear in Darwin's version - namely, that natural selection is a deductive certainty more akin to a 'law' than a hypothesis or theory to be tested, researchers said.Matthew (1790-1874) was a Scottish landowner with a keen interest in politics and agronomy. He established extensive orchards of apples and pears on his estate at Gourdie Hill, Perthshire, and became adept in horticulture, silviculture and agriculture.Whilst Darwin and Wallace's 1858 paper to the Linnean Society 'On the Origin of Species' secured their place in the history books, Matthews had set out similar ideas 27 years earlier in his book On Naval Timber and Arboriculture.The book, published in 1831, addressed best practices for the cultivation of trees for shipbuilding, but also expanded on his concept of natural selection."There is a law universal in nature, tending to render every reproductive being the best possibly suited to its condition that its kind, or that organised matter, is susceptible of, which appears intended to model the physical and mental or instinctive powers, to their highest perfection, and to continue them so. This law sustains the lion in his strength, the hare in her swiftness, and the fox in his wiles," Matthew wrote in the book.In 1860, Matthew wrote to point out the parallels with his prior work, several months after the publication of 'On the origin of species'.Darwin publicly wrote in 1860 "I freely acknowledge that Matthew has anticipated by many years the explanation which I have offered of the origin of species."Wallace also wrote publicly in 1879 of "how fully and clearly Matthew apprehended the theory of natural selection, as well as the existence of more obscure laws of evolution, many years in advance of Darwin and myself," and further declared Matthew to be "one of the most original thinkers of the first half of the 19th century".However, both asserted their formulations were independent of Matthew's.Even if Matthew did not influence Darwin and Wallace, his writings provide a valuable third point of reference on the notion of macroevolution by natural selection, said Weale.The paper was published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.