Ɛpsilon

To James Geikie   26 October 1876

Down. | Beckenham Kent

Oct 26.— 76.

My dear Sir

I am very much obliged to you for so kindly sending me your “Great Ice Age”  It is a most acceptable present, as I have long intended to read the first Edit: but have never yet found time—1 The Subject is one which fascinates me, chiefly owing to a little incident which I will mention as showing the grand progress of Geology— When I was a boy an acute old Gentleman who had attended to Geology & Natural history showed me a boulder in Shropshire & assured me solemnly that the world would pass away before any one could explain how this great stone came from Cumberland or Scotland—2 This made a deep impression on me & you may believe how delighted I was some 40 years ago, when floating ice action was first broached. to be followed some years afterwards by glacier action—3

With very sincere thanks. | I remain Dear Sir. | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin.

Copy

1
There is an annotated copy of the second edition of Geikie’s Great ice age and its relation to the antiquity of man (J. Geikie 1877) in the Darwin Library–CUL (see Marginalia 1: 299–300). The first edition was J. Geikie 1874.
2
Richard Cotton (see ‘Recollections’, p. 373).
3
Charles Lyell had discussed the role of floating ice in depositing erratic boulders in Principles of geology (C. Lyell 1837, 4: 46–7), and Louis Agassiz had proposed glacier action in Agassiz 1838.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10655,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10655