To Charles Lyell   [11 October 1847]1

[Down]

Monday

My dear Lyell

Perhaps you would like to see the final result of the comparison of the Lochaber & Galashiels Terraces, (the latter measured by Mr Kemp):2 it is wonderful.— The upper Glen Roy terraces have been levelled by Mr Stevenson from a lower one, measured by Mr Chambers, & I am quite prepared to believe from my rude measurements that he is accurate & Macculloch quite wrong. There can, I think, then be no “cooking” of results & it is wonderful.

I would have sent Chambers’ last letter, but I thought you wd not have thought it worth the trouble of returning. His last letter is rather flippant & presumptuous: I told him that you, as well as I thought the ice-lake theory worth considering. He answers me that it is a dream & as probable as that Julius Cæsar instituted trial by Jury.

I have heard from Mr Maclaren,3 who says that as he had not inserted any abstract of Mr Milne’s paper,4 my discussion would be unintelligible to his Readers,5 but that Jameson would insert it in the Philosph. Journal;6 I have, however, written to Jameson to beg him to destroy it.

Thanks for your Casteroides paper7 wh. shall be returned with Miller.8 We have the house full of relatives

Ever yours | C. Darwin Final measurements9 Lochaber Tweed–measured by Mr Kemp Glen Gluoy —1202 1203 & Kilfinnin Upper Glen Roy—1170 none Middle Glen Roy—1090 1087 Lower Glen Gluoy— 989 987 Lower Glen Roy 87712 877. & the Spean

Endorsement: ‘Oct 12th | 1847’

2
William Kemp of Galashiels had corresponded with CD about Scottish geology and the vitality of some ancient seeds found in a quarry near Melrose (see Correspondence vol. 2).
3
Charles Maclaren, editor of the Scotsman.
4
Milne 1847b.
5
CD’s letter to the Scotsman, [after 20 September 1847].
6
The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, edited by Robert Jameson.
7
Probably Hall and Wyman 1845–7, on the geological position in which the cranium of Castoroides ohioensis, an extinct, highly specialised beaver-like rodent, had been found. Lyell had recently returned from the United States and may have procured a copy of the paper during his visit.
8
Miller 1847.
9
CD copied these measurements from the table in the letter from Robert Chambers, 5 October 1847.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 upper] interl
1.3 levelled] before del ‘from’
1.3 from] over ‘—’
1.4 rude] interl
1.5 & Macculloch quite wrong.] interl
5.10 989] altered from ‘987’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1126,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1126