Dear Sir.

I have read Prof Geikie’s essay & it certainly appeared to me that he underrated the importance of floating ice. Memory extending back for $\frac{1}{2}$ a century is worth little, but I can remember nothing in Shropshire like till or ground moraine, yet I can distinctly remember the appearance of many sand & gravel beds—in some of which I found marine shells— I think it would be well worth your while to insist (but perhaps you have done so) on the absence of till, if absent, in the Western Counties, where you find many erratic boulders—¹

I was pleased to read the last sentence in Geikie’s Essay about the value of your work.—²

With respect to the main purport of your note I hardly know what to say.— Though no evidence worth anything has as yet in my opinion been advanced in favour of a living being, being developed from inorganic matter, yet I cannot avoid believing the possibility of this will be proved some day in accordance with the law of continuity³ I remember the time above 50 years ago when it was said that no substance found in a living plant or animal could be produced without the aid of vital forces!⁴ As far as external form is concerned Eozoon shows how difficult it is to distinguish between organised & unorganised bodies—⁵ If it is ever found that life can originate on this world, the vital phenomena will come under some general law of nature— Whether the existence of a conscious God can be proved from the existence of the so-called laws of nature (i.e. fixed sequence of events) is a perplexing subject, on which I have often thought, but cannot see my way clearly— If you have not read W. Graham’s “Creed of Science” it would I think interest you, & he supports the view which you are inclined to uphold.—⁶

Believe me | Dear Sir | Yours faithfully. | Ch. Darwin.