Alfred Russel Wallace
Wallace's public support of spiritualism, and his defence of spiritualist mediums against allegations of fraud, damaged his scientific reputation. It strained his relationships with friends such as Bates, Huxley and Darwin, who felt he was overly credulous. Others became openly hostile to Wallace over the issue. Wallace and other scientists who defended spiritualism were subject to much criticism from the press, with The Lancet, the leading English medical journal, being particularly harsh. The controversy affected the public's idea of Wallace for the rest of his career, though he was always respected in other ways.