To W. C. Williamson 12 February [1848]
Down Farnborough Kent
Feb. 12 th
My dear Sir
I am much obliged for your letter. I am sorry to say I cannot find the lagoon-island calc. mud & suppose I must have sent all to Ehrenberg.—1 I enclose a specimen of the calc. encrustation from Ascension: larger specimens are infinitely more frondescent.2
The coarse rounded & glazed particles of corals &c which you sent me from the Gold Coast resemble the matter thrown up on the shores of Ascension. Beautiful the sand from Devonshire.— As you are interested in the disintegration of shells &c, I send some specimens from K. George Sound in Australia of fine winnowed particles of shells passing into white impalpable powder & afterwards becoming half crystalline by rain water. The facts are given in my vol. on Volcanic Islands.3 I also send a crystal of gypsum from one of the great natural salt-lakes in N. Patagonia:4 within this crystals there is some mud, & very likely infusoria, as animals inhabi[t] this lake of brine.—
Wishing you every success in your interesting labours | I beg to remain | dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | C. Darwin
Do not trouble yourself to acknowledge this.—
Footnotes
Bibliography
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.
Volcanic islands: Geological observations on the volcanic islands, visited during the voyage of HMS Beagle, together with some brief notices on the geology of Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. Being the second 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. 1844.
Summary
CD cannot find the lagoon-island mud that WCW asked about, but he sends other geological specimens he hopes will be interesting.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1156
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Crawford Williamson
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1156,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1156.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 4
