Darwin Correspondence Project

Down Bromley Kent

Tuesday

My dear Holland,

I am much obliged for your friendly note and interesting enclosure.— I have by no means forgotten our short but pleasant intercourse at Cambridge & some few rides and excursions together. When I was in Cambridge some five years ago, I made enquiries after Mr Polo & was told he was dead.—

The fossil bones discovered by Mr Isaac will probably prove exceedingly valuable, & I return with thanks the clear account of the district. I shall be curious to see them, though I know nothing on the subject & am only a fossil Resurrectionist. Prof Owen has already worked at so many Australian fossils, that I have no doubt he will be glad to undertake their examination & description,—that is if he has time, for he is overwhelmed with materials from all parts of the world.— Mr Isaac probably knows that heads especially with teeth are very much more valuable than any other bones.— I hope you will urge on him to make a large collection of several specimens of of every shell small & large in the bed which he refers to, marking carefully the relative position of the bed to any bed with bones. The chronology, which must be judged of by shells, of the extinct Australian animals is very imperfectly known & a collection elucidating this point, would be of real interest. Caution him against concluding that the shells are living species: no one can off hand say so, & even if so, they wd not be the less valuable.— I hope if the bone-bed lies near Mr Isaac's present residence, he will send home many treasures. I know of no quarter of the world so likely to afford important discoveries in this line: for instance some single bone or skeleton might throw a surprising light on the relation of the ornithorhynchus with the rest of the creation. Mr Isaac ought to read Lyell's Principles & Elements of Geology, if he has not already done so. it would give him much zest in his pursuits.—

Pray give my kind compliments to Mrs Holland & believe me | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin