WCP4886

[1]

9, St Mark's Crescent N.W.

Sept^r. 4th. [1869]¹

Dear Sir Charles

I only got your letter yesterday fr on my return from Devonshire.

I am quite satisfied with whatever you think my services worth to you, and accept the addition as a proof that you think them of some value although my knowledge of geological details is so small.

Before leaving town I had written abstracts of pps 164 -166 — on Glaciation of N. America [2], a large passage on Glacial origin of lakes, — and a shorter one on Astronomical Causes affecting Geological Climate, and one on the Arctic Miocene Flora.²

I have to write a report of the Brit[ish]. Ass[ociation]. Meeting for the Quarterly Journal of Science, after which I shall go on with your work.

I have been exploring Dartmoor & have visited the Bovey Tracey lignite beds, but could find no good plants. I have been a few days at Torquay with [3] Mr Macmillan³ who is staying there, and have had the great treat of visiting Kent's Cavern with Pengelly.⁴ What a wonderful history it reveals, & how important it must it be that every cavern in the country should be thoroughly explored. The find this year, of a worked flint below the oldest stalagmite floor, is a grand addition to the evidence for the extreme antiquity of man.

I am glad you are enjoying your tour so much. I should [4] much have liked a good geologist with me on Dartmoor. The Tors are rather puzzling. I saw much of what I thought signs of glacial action, in the distribution of boulders over flat slopes, and the quantity of drift in many places.

Believe me | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Sir Charles Lyell Bart.