My dear Lyell

I am obliged to you for sending me Wallace’s letter, which I have been glad to read.— I did not pretend to form any opinion on Moseley’s or Croll’s papers; but the latter seemed to me very ingenious.² As Mosely has studied mechanics all his life, I cannot suppose that he has overlooked the considerations specified by Wallace. I sh^d. have though that the close, fine & parallel veins in the ice of glacier, along the planes of movement, & the regular & gentle curve, which a straight row of sticks soon & invariably assumes, were opposed to the belief that a glacier descended by a succession of abrupt-fractures first at one point & then at another. But as I have said the subject is quite beyond me.—

What a capital book Wallace has published; his discussions on Geograph. Distrib. are inimitably good— I have not yet finished the book.³ I sh^d. think it w^d have a great success.— I am working very hard at many subjects.—

Ever yours | Most truly | Ch. Darwin