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.” 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; 80, 
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 Ist, 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. 1. p. 147. 
