From T. M. Reade 21 September 1880
Canning Chambers, | 4 South John Street, | Liverpool,
Sept 21st 1880
My dear Sir—
I send you a short paper on “Oceans & Continents” which may interest you as bearing upon some of the problems dealt with in your researches on Coral Atolls &c—1
When in Edinburgh last Autumn I had a conversation with Mr Murray who explained to me his theories of the formation of coral reefs &c as since set forth in this paper republished in Nature but read before the Royal Soc of Edin—2 It appears to me that he goes out of his way very much to account for everything relating to coral reef growth without subsidence & elevation— It all arises from a fixed belief in the permanence of oceans & continents & a consequent desire to limit such movements as much as possible— I think the theory he sets forth that the cones or peaks on which he considers atolls have been formed have been levelled up by pelagic deposits & thus brought within the limits of reef building coral growth, a very far fetched idea—
I remain Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | T. Mellard Reade
Dr. Chas. Darwin—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Coral reefs 2d ed.: The structure and distribution of coral reefs. By Charles Darwin. Revised edition. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1874.
Murray, John. 1880. On the stucture and origin of coral reefs and islands. [Read 5 April 1880.] Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 10 (1878–80): 505–18.
Reade, Thomas Mellard. 1880. Oceans and continents. Geological Magazine n.s. 2d decade 7: 385–91.
Summary
Sends his paper ["Oceans and continents", Geol. Mag. 7 (1880): 385–91].
Thinks John Murray of Edinburgh goes out of his way to deny an elevation/subsidence view of coral reefs ["On the structure and origin of coral reefs and islands", Proc. R. Soc. Edinburgh 10 (1878–80): 505–18].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-12720
- From
- Thomas Mellard Reade
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Liverpool
- Source of text
- DAR 176: 30
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12720,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12720.xml