To James Geikie 26 October 1876
Down. | Beckenham Kent
Oct 26.— 76.
My dear Sir
I am very much obliged to you for so kindly sending me your “Great Ice Age” It is a most acceptable present, as I have long intended to read the first Edit: but have never yet found time—1 The Subject is one which fascinates me, chiefly owing to a little incident which I will mention as showing the grand progress of Geology— When I was a boy an acute old Gentleman who had attended to Geology & Natural history showed me a boulder in Shropshire & assured me solemnly that the world would pass away before any one could explain how this great stone came from Cumberland or Scotland—2 This made a deep impression on me & you may believe how delighted I was some 40 years ago, when floating ice action was first broached. to be followed some years afterwards by glacier action—3
With very sincere thanks. | I remain Dear Sir. | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Agassiz, Louis. 1838. On the erratic blocks of the Jura. Edinburgh New Journal 24: 176–9.
Geikie, James. 1874. The great ice age and its relation to the antiquity of man. London: W. Isbister.
Geikie, James. 1877. The great ice age and its relation to the antiquity of man. 2d edition. London: Daldy, Isbister & Co.
Marginalia: Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990.
‘Recollections’: Recollections of the development of my mind and character. By Charles Darwin. In Evolutionary writings, edited by James A. Secord. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2008.
Summary
Comments on JG’s book [The great ice age and its relation to the antiquity of man, 2d ed. (1877)]. Recalls erratic boulder he knew in Shropshire as a boy.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10655
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- James Murdoch (James) Geikie
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 144: 330
- Physical description
- C 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10655,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10655.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24