WCP2756

[1]

Darent-Hulme

Shoreham,

Sevenoaks.

Telegraph & Rail,

Shoreham, Kent.

L.C. & D.RLT.

14 June [Pencilled note: (Not later than 1896)]

Dear Dr. Wallace,

I know of Mr. Davison's paper. It is I think very good so far as it supplements Richthofen's¹ hypothesis of the Loess of China but inapplicable to the Loess of Europe which I take it is a water deposit & <arranged> by water action. The <position?> <condition?> [2] & character of the animal remains is against their entombment in <snow drifts>. But it is too long a chapter for a letter. The Loess of China also belongs to two causes — the winds <on> the hills & the river floods in the lower grounds. These should be separated. No one who reads [illeg.], & other accounts of ^the high mountains of China & Thibet [sic] can doubt the effectiveness [3] of the wind and snow storms.

Ice & snow & rain were no doubt most powerful agents in glacial and post-glacial times but alone they will not explain the "[4words illeg.]" in the Loess. Whatever the hypothesis, it must <embrace> not only England but [also] Southern Europe & the North Coast of Africa. I [3 words illeg.] look at geological phenomena from different standpoints. You I think hold to the [4] doctrine of Uniformity. I look upon it as applied to geological times as an <impossibility>. I cannot give any reasons here. You will find them in an article I published in the XIXth Century² of Oct. 1893 and recently published in my "Collected Papers on some Controverted Questions of Geology" of which you will find copies in the libraries of the Royal & Geographical Societies. It is time that my hypothesis is <opposed> [5] <to all> the prevailinggeological theories <but> I consider them to be in accordance with all the ^known geological facts so far as I can judge.

I am however thankful for any criticism that may enable me to correct any weak points in the argument & I am <most truly going> [2 words illeg.]

Please excuse the [6] writing — my hand is not very steady, & my sight is not very good.

[unsigned. The author is Sir Joseph Prestwich]