1841—1881] CORAL REE1 



lo I.. von Mojsisovics. Letter 534 



Down, Jan. 29th, 1 

 I thank you cordially for the continuation of your 

 fine work on the Tyrolc.se Dolomites, 1 with its striking 

 engravings and the maps, which are quite wonderful from 

 the amount of labour which they exhibit, and its extreme 

 difficult}'. I well remember more than forty years ago 

 examining a section of Silurian limestone containing many 

 corals, and thinking to myself that it would be for ever 

 impossible to discover whether the ancient corals had formed 

 atolls or barrier reefs ; so you may well believe that your 

 work will interest me greatly as soon as I can find time to 

 read it. I am much obliged for your photograph, and from 

 its appearance rejoice to see that much more good work may 

 be expected from you. 



I enclose my own photograph, in case you should like to 

 possess a copy. 



To A. Agassiz. 2 uttet 



Part of this letter is published in Life and Letters, III., pp. 1S3, 184. 



1 1 An, May 5th, 1SS1. 

 It was very good of you to write to me from Tortugas, as 

 I always feel much interested in hearing what you are about, 

 and in reading your many discoveries. It is a surprising 

 fact that the peninsula of Florida 3 should have remained at 

 the same level for the immense period requisite for the 

 accumulation of so vast a pile of debris. 



You will have seen Mr. Murray's views ' on the formation 

 of atolls and barrier reefs. Before publishing my book, I 

 thought long over the same view, but only as far as ordinary 

 marine organisms are concerned, for at that time little was 

 known of the multitude of minute oceanic organisms. I 

 rejected this view, as from the few dredgings made in the 



1 Dolomitriffe Siidtirols und Venetiens : Wien, 1878. 

 - See note, p. 147. 



3 Alexander Agassiz published a paper on " The Tortugas and Florida 

 Reefs " in the Mem. Amer. . Arts ana . XI., p. 107, 1 8S5. See 

 also his Tliree Cniitcs of the Blake, Vol. 1 .. I 



4 "On the Structure and Origin of Coral Reefs and Islands/' Pt 



A\ See. Edin., Vol. X., p. 505, 1S80. Prof. Bonney has given a summary 

 of Sir John Murray's views in Appendix 11. of the third edition of Darwin's 

 // Reefs, 1889. 



