154 DOWN. [Ch. VIII. 



the Continent. Darwin, however, conld not receive it as a 

 valid explanation of the facts ; and though he did not share 

 the view of its chief opponents, but ventured to propose a 

 hypothesis of his own, the observations impartially made and 

 described by him in this volume must be regarded as having 

 contributed towards the final solution of the difficulty." Geikie 

 continues (p. 21) : " He is one of the earliest writers to recog- 

 nize the magnitude of the denudation to which even recent 

 geological accumulations have been subjected. One of the 

 most impressive lessons to be learnt from his account of 

 1 Volcanic Islands ' is the prodigious extent to which they have 

 been denuded. . . . He was disposed to attribute more of this 

 work to the sea than most geologists would now admit ; but ho 

 lived himself to modify his original views, and on this subject 

 his latest utterances are quite abreast of the time." 



An extract from a letter of my father's to Lycll shows his 

 estimate of his own work. " You have pleased mo much by 

 saying that you intend looking through my Volcanic Islands : 

 it cost me eighteen months I ! ! and I have heard of very few 

 who have read it.* Now I shall feel, whatever little (and littlo 

 it is) there is confirmatory of old work, or new, will work its 

 effect and not be lost." 



The second edition of the Journal of Researches f was com- 

 pleted in 1845. It was published by Mr. Murray in the Colonial 

 and Home Library, and in this more accessible form soon had a 

 large sale. 



C. D. to Lyell Down [July, 1845]. 



My dear Lyell — I send you the first part J of the new 

 edition, which I so entirely owe to you. You will see that I 

 have ventured to dedicate it to you, and I trust that this 

 cannot be disagreeable. I have long wished, not so much for 

 your sake, as for my own feelings of honesty, to acknowledge 



* He wrote to Herbert : — " I have long discovered that geologists 

 never read each other's works, and that the only ohject in writing a book 

 is a proof of earnestness, and that you do not form your opinions without 

 undergoing labour of some kind. Geology is at present very oral, and 

 what I here say is to a great extent quite true." And to Fitz-Roy, on the 

 same subject, he wrote: "I have sent my South American Geology to 

 Dover Street, and you will get it, no doubt, in the course of time. You 

 do not know what you threaten when you propose to read it — it is purely 

 geological. I said to my brother, ' You will of course read it,' and his 

 answer was, ' Upon my life, I would sooner even buy it.' " 



t The first edition was published in 1839, as vol. iii. of the Voyages of 

 the ' A dventure ' and ' Beagle. 1 



X No doubt proof-sheets" 



