WCP2241

Letter (WCP2241.2131)

[1]

Edinburgh

21st March 1870

Dear Sir, —

An attack of an old complaint, pain in the head, has prevented me from being able to answer your letter1 till today.

On looking over my stock I find that all my separate copies of the paper on Geol[ogical]. Time2 are gone with the exception of one or two copies of the last part.

I read your able article [2] on Geol[ogical]. Time in "Nature" with great pleasure and interest[.]3

With the exception of a small point of little or no importance whatever, which you will find alluded to in the last page of a paper on Ocean Currents which was written some months ago,4 I agree with you out and out on all the points.

I feel satisfied that your estimate of the age of our stratified formations is much nearer the truth then the one I gave in my paper on Geol[ogical]. Time.

Thanks for the very complimentary way in which you speak [3] of my labours in your article.

I have just read a letter by Mr. Dawkins5 in Nature on your article.6 He seems to have got into the mud in regard to real pith of your argument.

I am, Dear Sir | Yours very truly | James Croll [signature]

Alfred R. Wallace, Esq

1
See ARW to James Croll, 14 March 1870 (WCP3353.3321).
2
Croll, J. 1868. On Geological Time, and the Probable Date of the Glacial and the Upper Miocene Period. Philosophical Magazine. 36(244), 362–386.
3
Wallace, A. R. 1870. The Measurement of Geological Time. I. Nature 1: 399-401 (17 Feb. 1870) / II. Nature 1: 452-455 (3 March 1870).
4
Croll, J. 1870. On ocean currents in relation to the distribution of heat over the globe. Philosophical Magazine. 39: 259, 81-106.
5
Dawkins, William Boyd (1837-1929). British geologist and archaeologist.
6
Dawkins, W. B. 1870. The Geological Calculus. Nature 1(20), 505-506.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP2241.2131)]

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Revision history

Transcription checked by Benny, Ruth [2014-12-02] Transcribed by Hamburger, Esther [2015-01-22] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10] Transcription checked by Beros, Matt [2020-09-15]

Please cite as “WCP2241,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 20 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP2241