skip to content

Darwin Correspondence Project

To the Geological Society of London   5 May 1876

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

May 5th 1876

To the President & Council of the Geological Society

Gentlemen

I intend bringing out a new Edition of my Geological Observations on South America, and am anxious to incorporate a very short paper by me on the thickness of the Pampean Formation, which appeared in the Proceedings Dec 3rd 1862 p 68. If permission is granted to me to do so, might I further beg the use of the two wood-blocks given in this paper.1

In the sixth Volume of the Transactions, there is a paper by me on Erratic boulders, & at p 416 there is a wood-cut, & I should be greatly obliged for the loan of the block, if it can be found.2

Gentlemen | Your obliged & obedient | Servant | Charles Darwin

P.S. | If the three wood-blocks are lent, I should be much obliged if they could be sent to:—

Messrs Smith & Elder | Waterloo Place.—3

Footnotes

The new edition included Volcanic islands and South America in a single volume with the title Geological observations on the volcanic islands and parts of South America visited during the voyage of H.M.S. ‘Beagle’ (Geological observations 2d ed.). ‘Pampean formation’ was published in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society in 1863 (Shorter publications, pp. 342–5), and reprinted in Geological observations 2d ed., pp. 363–7, with the two woodcuts from this article reproduced on pages 365 and 366.
CD’s publishers had requested that he provide them with the block of the first figure in his paper ‘Distribution of the erratic boulders’ (see letter from Smith, Elder, & Co., 1 May 1876). This woodcut was reproduced in Geological observations 2d ed., p. 379.
Smith, Elder, & Co. were the publishers of Geological observations 2d ed.

Bibliography

‘Distribution of the erratic boulders’: On the distribution of the erratic boulders and on the contemporaneous unstratified deposits of South America. By Charles Darwin. [Read 5 May 1841.] Transactions of the Geological Society of London 2d ser. 6 (1841–2): 415–31. [Shorter publications, pp. 147–62. For read date, see Proceedings of the Geological Society of London 3 (1838–42): 425.]

Geological observations 2d ed.: Geological observations on the volcanic islands and parts of South America visited during the voyage of H.M.S. ‘Beagle’. By Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1876.

‘Pampean formation’: On the thickness of the Pampean formation, near Buenos Ayres. By Charles Darwin. [Read 3 December 1862.] Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 19 (1863): 68–71. [Shorter publications, pp. 342–5.]

Shorter publications: Charles Darwin’s shorter publications, 1829–1883. Edited by John van Wyhe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2009.

South America: Geological observations on South America. Being the third part of the geology of the voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy RN, during the years 1832 to 1836. By Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1846.

Volcanic islands: Geological observations on the volcanic islands, visited during the voyage of HMS Beagle, together with some brief notices on the geology of Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. Being the second part of the geology of the voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy RN, during the years 1832 to 1836. By Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1844.

Summary

Asking to borrow three wood blocks.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-10496F
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Geological Society of London
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Geological Society of London (GSL/L/R/19/188)
Physical description
LS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10496F,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10496F.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24

letter