From Daniel Mackintosh 8 December [1867]1
20 Sussex Street, | Winchester
8th Dec.
Sir
I am truly obliged by your kind letter received a few days ago, and am looking forward with great pleasure to reading your work at the Geol. Society.2
I am glad to find there are “inclined terraces” in South America.3 The inclination of the terraces of many parts of the Chalk downs, is one of the principal objections to their having been made for agricultural purposes.4
I can never give in to the escarpments of Sussex & Kent having been formed by Rain & Streams. The plains at their bases, in many places cutting equally through the gault & chalk, are inexplicable by an agent which can only act by deepening; and making V-shaped valleys5
Kent, near Maidstone6
Your definition of the distinctive offices of the sea (widening) & freshwater (deepening) seems to me to furnish the Key to the whole subject7
Near Royston & elsewhere in the E. Central Counties the valleys at the base of the chalk escarpments have been cut down, through chalk, to the Gault, not excavated along the Gault (Mr. Searles Wood.)8
In the number of the Geological Magazine for the present month there are three letters on Denudation in answer to Mr. Whitaker, which shew the present state of the Controversy.9
With many thanks for your kindness, I beg to remain, | Sir, Your very faithful & | obliged Sert., | D. Mackintosh.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Challinor, John. 1978. A dictionary of geology. 5th edition. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
Collected papers: The collected papers of Charles Darwin. Edited by Paul H. Barrett. 2 vols. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 1977.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
‘Elevation on the coast of Chili’: Observations of proofs of recent elevation on the coast of Chili, made during the survey of His Majesty’s ship Beagle, commanded by Capt. FitzRoy, R.N. [Read 4 January 1837.] By Charles Darwin. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London 2 (1838): 446–9. [Shorter publications, pp. 32–5.]
Greenwood, George. 1866. Rain and rivers; or, Hutton and Playfair against Lyell and all comers. 2d edition. London: Longmans, Green, & Co.
Hull, Edward. 1867. Mr Whitaker on ‘subaerial denudation’. Geological Magazine 4: 567–9.
Kinahan, George Henry. 1867. On cliffs and escarpments. Geological magazine 4: 569–70.
Mackintosh, Daniel. 1869. The scenery of England and Wales: its character and origin. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
South America: Geological observations on South America. Being the third part of the geology of the voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy RN, during the years 1832 to 1836. By Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1846.
Whitaker, William. 1867. On subaërial denudation, and on cliffs and escarpments of the chalk and lower Tertiary beds. [Read 8 May 1867.] Geological Magazine 4: 447–54, 483–93.
Summary
Thanks CD for information on inclined terraces in S. America, which DM thinks applies to the chalk downs of S. England. CD’s definition that the sea widens and fresh water deepens is key to the subject.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5711
- From
- Daniel Mackintosh
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Winchester
- Source of text
- DAR 171: 6
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5711,” accessed on 24 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5711.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 15