Geological Chapters in the " Origin " 377 



Among the geological discussions, which so frequently occupied 

 Darwin's attention during the later years of his life, there was one 

 concerning which his attitude seemed somewhat remarkable I allude 

 to his views on "the permanence of Continents and Ocean-basins." 

 In a letter to Mr Mellard Reade, written at the end of 1880, he wrote : 

 "On the whole, I lean to the side that the continents have since 

 Cambrian times occupied approximately their present positions. 

 But, as I have said, the question seems a difficult one, and the 

 more it is discussed the better 1 ." Since this was written, the im- 

 portant contribution to the subject by the late Dr W. T. Blanford 

 (himself, like Darwin, a naturalist and geologist) has appeared in an 

 address to the Geological Society in 1890 ; and many discoveries, like 

 that of Dr Woolnough in Fiji, have led to considerable qualifications 

 of the generalisation that all the islands in the great ocean are 

 wholly of volcanic or coral origin. 



I remember once expressing surprise to Darwin that, after the 

 views which he had originated concerning the existence of areas of 

 elevation and others of subsidence in the Pacific Ocean, and in face 

 of the admitted difficulty of accounting for the distribution of certain 

 terrestrial animals and plants, if the land and sea areas had been 

 permanent in position, he still maintained that theory. Looking at 

 me with a whimsical smile, he said : " I have seen many of my old 

 friends make fools of themselves, by putting forward new theoretical 

 views or revising old ones, after they were sixty years of age ; so, 

 long ago, I determined that on reaching that age I would write 

 nothing more of a speculative character." 



Though Darwin's letters and conversations on geology during these 

 later years were the chief manifestations of the interest he preserved 

 in his " old love," as he continued to call it, yet in the sunset of that 

 active life a gleam of the old enthusiasm for geology broke forth once 

 more. There can be no doubt that Darwin's inability to occupy 

 himself with field-work proved an insuperable difficulty to any 

 attempt on his part to resume active geological research. But, as 

 is shown by the series of charming volumes on plant-life, Darwin had 

 found compensation in making patient and persevering experiment 

 take the place of enterprising and exact observation ; and there was 

 one direction in which he could indulge the "old love" by employment 

 of the new faculty. 



We have seen that the earliest memoir written by Darwin, which 

 was published in full, was a paper On the Formation of Mould 

 which was read at the Geological Society on November 1st, 1837, but 

 did not appear in the Transactions of the Society till 1840, where it 

 occupied four and a half quarto pages, including some supplementary 



1 M. L. ii. p. 147. 



