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Darwin Correspondence Project

To Leonard Horner   27 April [1855]

Down Farnborough Kent

Ap. 27th

My dear Mr Horner

I was regretting a year ago that I had not published a fuller account of the superficial beds,1 which I cd. have done from my M.S. but not being able to give any explanation, I cut the very little which I had to say to one paragraph at p. 143 of my Geolog. Obser. on Volcanic Isld.—2 I see I have not used the word vitrified, but I often have in conversation. I stated to you that one officer described the appearance as a stream of lava.— Another on coast of Australia said that the whole country seemed to have been fused by a flash of Lightning. These expressions will show what the appearance is.— You will see that my cases are in contact with Granite.— Rely on it, there is not, as Haidinger says, anything on earth to do with Heat.3

Pray forgive this hurried note: for it has chanced I have had to write several this morning.—

Believe me | My dear Mr. Horner | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin

Footnotes

The superficial ferruginous beds at King George’s Sound, south-western Australia, as mentioned in letter to Leonard Horner, 18 [March 1855].
In his notes on the geology of places visited during the Beagle voyage, CD attributed the origin of these beds to mechanical violence at the time of deposition (DAR 38.1: 867 v.), a view which he repeated in Volcanic islands, p. 143. His point is that although the appearance might indicate some previous chemical fusion under the influence of heat, the origin was actually mechanical.
Wilhelm Karl Haidinger, director of the mineralogical collection in Vienna, had described the minerals collected on Joseph Russegger’s expedition (Russegger 1841–8, 3: 281). See letter to Leonard Horner, 18 [March 1855].

Bibliography

Russegger, Joseph. 1841–8. Reisen in Europa, Asien und Afrika, mit besonderer Rücksicht auf die naturwissenschaftlichen Verhältnisse der betreffenden Länder, unternommen in den Jahren 1835 bis 1841. 4 vols. in 6. Stuttgart.

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

Regrets that he has not published his information on superficial beds except in abbreviated form, on p. 143 of Volcanic islands.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-1676
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Leonard Horner
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Kinnordy MS (private collection) (Sold at Sotheby’s (dealers), 9 July 2018, lot 373)
Physical description
ALS 4pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1676,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1676.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 5

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