LETTERS TO GUYOT 



been to believe that the fiats were the commencement of 

 a series of productions, through force imparted at the 

 time to nature. Is not this the true interpretation of the 

 language ? This is essentially the view taken by Pro- 

 fessor Tayler Lewis of Schenectady, whom I once criti- 

 cised on account of it." 



DANA TO GUYOT 



" NEW HAVEN, Jan. 27, 1881. 



" It was a great pleasure to receive your letter of yes- 

 terday, and to be put into so close communion with you 

 by it. Life is fast slipping by; but under God's good- 

 ness it keeps giving happiness as it passes. 



" All of my household are well, and my own health is 

 good except for the tired head ; and that is not so badly 

 off but that I go through with all college duties, and find 

 pleasure in long walks, and when the snow does not inter- 

 fere, in work with hammer in hand among the rocks. 

 My last geologizing was on the 26th of November, over 

 the upper part of New York island. I have been waiting 

 ever since for another chance three or four days of work 

 being needed to finish another Journal article. I should 

 like exceedingly to see your Museum again with its large 

 collections, triply enlarged. I have no doubt you make 

 a far better show in the way of fossils than we do. You 

 are ahead of us in the Cave bear, and no doubt in many 

 other things. Mrs. Dana would delight to visit your 

 pleasant home again, and the time may come about when 

 we can do it. 



" I have not yet seen Wallace's new book, having de- 

 layed to order it from the hope that the publisher would 

 send the Journal a copy. Your reference to that point 

 about the continents and oceans brings to mind the fact 

 that I have never mentioned your name where I have 

 brought out the idea in my Geology. When did you first 

 publish on the subject ? My first article (part of an 

 article, rather) ' On the Origin of Continents ' appeared 

 in the Journal of Science for 1846 (vol. ii. of the 2d 

 Series, p. 352), and in it I give reasons for the opinion 

 that the continents were always continents, etc. ; and this 

 being quite early, and before you came to America, you 



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