From William Buckland to the Geological Society of London 9 March 1838
Report on Mr Darwyns Paper on the formation of Mould.
I consider the above paper & note appended to it, to be sound in all its views, excepting that which refers the origin of Chalk, to the digestive powers of animals that had fed on corallines
I should strongly recommend its publication in the Transactions as establishing a new & important theory to explain Phenomena of universal occurrence on the surface of the Earth—in fact a new Geological Power— Altho nearly the whole paper has been printed in the abstract of Proceedings I think the subject of sufficient importance to be printed in the Transactions, with a lithograph of the drawing annexed to it—1
I wd recommend that the Author be advised to withdraw the passage relating to the origin of Chalk—as introducing very disputable matter into a paper that is otherwise unexceptionable, & which if established, would be well deserving to form the Subject of a separate Communication2
Wm Buckland
March 9. 1838
I wd advise the author to be requested to add a Section of the 2 very decisive Cases mentioned in his appendix— they might all vy. well be contained in one quarto plate
Footnotes
Summary
Recommends CD’s paper on "Formation of mould" [Collected papers 1: 49–53; read 1 Nov 1837] be printed in Transactions. Praises it as establishing a new "geological power".
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-404
- From
- William Buckland
- To
- Geological Society of London
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- Geological Society (P4/2)
- Physical description
- 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 404,” accessed on 21 April 2018, http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/DCP-LETT-404
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 2