To T. F. Jamieson 24 January [1863]1
Down, Bromley, Kent, S.E.,
Jan. 24th,
My Dear Sir,
I have just received your Glen Roy paper in MS., and it seems to me not only conclusive but admirably done and most interesting. I heartily congratulate you on having solved a problem which has puzzled so many and which now throws so much light on the grand old glacial period. As for myself, you let me down so easily that, by Heavens, it is as pleasant as being thrown down on a soft hay-cock on a fine summer’s day. There are other men who would have had no satisfaction without hurling us all on the hard ground and then trampling on us. You cannot do the trampling at all well—you cannot even give a single kick to a fallen enemy!
My seeing your MS. shows that I am referee, which ought to be a secret; but, as there can be no doubt about my report, there can be no wrong in my want of secrecy.2
With the most sincere admiration, pray believe me, | Yours sincerely, | Ch. Darwin.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Jamieson, Thomas Francis. 1863. On the parallel roads of Glen Roy, and their place in the history of the glacial period. [Read 21 January 1863.] Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 19: 235–59.
‘Parallel roads of Glen Roy’: Observations on the parallel roads of Glen Roy, and of other parts of Lochaber in Scotland, with an attempt to prove that they are of marine origin. By Charles Darwin. [Read 7 February 1839.] Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 129: 39–81. [Shorter publications, pp. 50–88.]
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3941F
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Francis Jamieson
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- , pp. 236–7
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3941F,” accessed on 21 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3941F.xml