To A. C. Ramsay 3 February [1869]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
Feb. 3d
Dear Ramsay
I am very much obliged for your note.— You did send me a copy, & I read it with greatest interest, & I marked the very discussion to which you refer.2 I had already put you, of course, at the head of the subaerial denudationists, but I am ashamed to say that from having read Mr Whittaker’s excellent article on escapement subsequently to yours, I confounded the facts together & thought that Mr Whittaker had first brought this most important & to my mind quite conclusive evidence to bear.3 Now I shall be able to rectify this.— I struck out in 2d or 3d Edit. all the rubbish which I wrote about the weald, & now I am adding a paragraph on the importance of sub-aerial denudation.—4
Believe me | Dear Ramsay | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Origin 5th ed.: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 5th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1869.
Whitaker, William. 1867. On subaërial denudation, and on cliffs and escarpments of the chalk and lower Tertiary beds. [Read 8 May 1867.] Geological Magazine 4: 447–54, 483–93.
Summary
Received and read ACR’s Physical geology. Places him at head of the subaeria denudationists. Unfortunately CD confounded William Whitaker’s article with ACR’s views and gave Whitaker credit for first producing the evidence. Will rectify it now. Has eliminated the rubbish he wrote on the Weald and will add a paragraph on importance of subaerial denudation.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6598
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Andrew Crombie Ramsay
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 261.9: 4 (EH 88205977)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6598,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6598.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17
