Sir

I cannot venture to express any decided opinion whether Prof. Haughton’s paper is worth publishing in the Proceedings.¹ It is desirable that geologists, who are now freely speculating about the displacement of the Poles, should see that if this be granted the presence of tropical & sub-tropical remains in the Arctic regions is not thus easily explained; & in so far Prof. Haughtons paper might be advantageously published. On the other hand the estimation of geological time is to the best of my judgment extremely wild: it is assumed that we have discovered the oldest sedimentary beds containing fossils: no allowance is made for great breaks in the series, as between the Cretaceous & Tertiary formations: towards the close of the paper it apparently is assumed that sediment is deposited over the bed of the whole Ocean; & various other objections could be raised. The conclusion which follows from his estimate, namely that a greater interval of time separates us from the miocene epoch than that between the commencement of the Secondary period & the miocene, seems almost monstrous, & is strongly opposed by other evidence.—²

I cannot but doubt whether this part of the paper is worth printing; though as a general rule it seems to me desirable that the views of an author who has studied any subject should be judged by the general public

Sir | Your obedient servt | Ch. Darwin

To the Sec. | R. Society

P.S. | On still further reflexion, so many objections & difficulties arise, which if they could be answered, anyhow are not noticed in the paper, that I am inclined to advise that the paper sh^d not be published in its present form. The subject seems to require much fuller elaboration.—

C.D.