Is slaving at South America – ¾ finished.
Has discovered geologists never read each other’s works – "the only object in writing a book is a proof of earnestness … Geology is at present very oral".
Has completed descriptions of S. American fossil shells [for South America]. Proposes to name a Nautilus after A. D. d’Orbigny.
Comments on forthcoming edition [7th (1847)] of CL’s Principles. Mentions other books relevant to CL’s needs by Hooker, H. G. Bronn, Edward Forbes, and J. G. Kölreuter. Discusses his own books on volcanoes and the geology of S. America.
Mentions expected visit to Down by the Lyells.
Thanks RM for "Dynamics of earthquakes" [Trans. R. Irish Acad. 21 (1848): 50–106]. It has cleared up his ideas on undulations. Now wishes he had said nothing about them in Journal of researches. Sends his paper ["Certain volcanic phenomena in S. America", Collected papers 1: 53–86]. Wishes RM would investigate Chile. Speculates whether earthquakes coincide with moon or tides.
Discusses proposed survey of Glen Roy. Mentions Glen Roy theories of Agassiz and William Buckland. Includes a memorandum calling for a careful survey of the parallel roads of Glen Roy. Mentions M. A. Bravais ["On the lines of ancient level of the sea in Finmark", Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 1 (1845): 534].
Has done Edmondston’s Galapagos plants.
Dispute between Edward Forbes and H. C. Watson.
Returns corrected proof of his descriptions of S. American fossil shells [South America, appendix].
Has nearly finished South America.
Pleased to hear JDH has worked out identical and representative species of N. Temperate and Antarctic regions.
Geoffroy Saint Hilaire’s "loi du balancement" as applied to plants.
CD jaded by, but has nearly completed, South America.
Cannot come to Down to meet B. J. Sulivan as W. H. Harvey is calling.
Plant distribution and soil nature.
Forbes’s modification of Watson’s types of vegetation.
JDH will write comparison of representative plant species of the N. and S. Hemispheres.
CD sends a copy [of South America] to Gardeners’ Chronicle and refers to a passage on Patagonian salt; asks for backing and specific information supplementing his suggestion that an added chloride would increase the salt’s preserving power.
Asks for assistance investigating raised beaches on the river Tweed around Galashiels.
Thanks for the observations WK has sent.
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