334 GLACIAL PERIOD. [l887. 



the last chapter of Vol. II., I had occasion to go over the whole 

 question again, with the advantage of some remarkable Greenland 

 observations by the Danes, and all my old heresies revived so 

 strongly that I then and there converted a chapter into a paper, 

 which I have just sent to the Geological Society. I feel more 

 than ever that it is impossible to work on Uniformitarian lines. 

 They cramp and narrow us, and inevitably lead to wrong con- 

 clusions. It is true that they are the right and correct basis to 

 work upon, but the conditions of past times were so different 

 from those of the present day that it is impossible to reason 

 correctly upon them. Let them be taken as the known quantity, 

 but the unknown quantities must just as surely be taken into 

 account if we are to arrive at a just conclusion. Of course 

 we can only do this in most cases approximately. After another 

 careful overhaul I have made up my mind on the matter, and 

 cannot find that there are grounds for extending the Glacial 

 Period beyond 15,000 to 20,000 years, and the post-glacial period 

 from 8,000 to 10,000 or 12,000, while I would carry man back 

 to pre-glacial or rather mid-glacial times. The evidence in the 

 Eastern counties and in the caves of Wales and the North, 

 though not strong enough in any single instance, furnishes as a 

 whole good corroborative testimony. My paper is not a long 

 one, but will serve to put my views on record, and to ventilate 

 the subject. It will of course meet with much opposition, as 

 Croll's views, which are so attractive, have been so generally ac- 

 cepted of late. I shall be glad also to see if I should have 

 occasion to change or modify my views, and to do that before 

 I publish Vol. II. 



We are expecting the Lubbocks to-morrow to stay with us 

 over Sunday. He is to lecture on Savages. My wife joins me 

 in kindest regards to Mrs Evans. . . . 



In another note to Mr Evans, the following passage 

 occurs : 



OXFORD, May 19th [18S7J. 



The first thing, however, is, I think, to get rid of a rigid theory 

 which fixes dates and consequences not in accordance with geo- 

 logical facts, and to find some possible clue to the duration of the 

 glacial period. This has been the main object of my paper. 



