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Darwin Correspondence Project

To Archibald Geikie   11 November 1881

Down,| Beckenham, Kent. | ( Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)

November 11th. 1881

My dear Sir

I have been much interested by your account in Nature of the great “find” in the Lower Carboniferous strata. As so many Scorpions were found, one might hope for other terrestrial animals & plants, if some new places were searched by blasting away the overlying rocks.—1 But I daresay you would not think yourself justified in employing the officers of the Survey in such work.2 This leads me to make an offer,—& I hope & trust that you will not think that I am taking a liberty in doing so,—namely to subscribe £100 or £200, if you can find anyone whom you could trust to send, & if you think it worth while to make further search for the chance of fresh & greater palæontological treasures being discovered.—

If my offer seems to you superfluous or presumptuous, pray forgive me & believe me, | My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

Geikie’s article ‘A recent “find” in British palæontology’ was published in Nature, 3 November 1881, pp. 1–3; it included a description of scorpion fossils found in shale deposits on the banks of the River Esk in Dumfriesshire, Scotland.
Geikie was director of the Geological Survey of Scotland (ODNB).

Summary

Interested in the fossil scorpions found by AG in the Lower Carboniferous strata of Scotland. Hopes further searches will yield more land animals and offers to subscribe funds to such a search if it falls outside the Geological Survey’s work.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-13451
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Archibald Geikie
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 185: 134
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13451,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13451.xml

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