390 MISCELLANEA. [1876. 



angular gravels, &c, in the South of England will, I believe, 

 come to be accepted as the truth. This question has a much 

 wider bearing than might at first appear. In point of fact 

 it solves one of the most difficult problems in Quaternary 

 Geology — and has already attracted the attention of German 

 geologists."] 



C. Darwin to James Geikie. 



Down, November 16, 1876. 



My dear Sir, — I hope that you will forgive me for troub- 

 ling you with a very long letter. But first allow me to tell 

 you with what extreme pleasure and admiration I have just 

 finished reading your ' Great Ice Age.' It seems to me ad- 

 mirably done, and most clear. Interesting as many chapters 

 are in the history of the world, I do not think that any one 

 comes [up] nearly to the glacial period or periods. Though 

 I have steadily read much on the subject, your book makes 

 the whoie appear almost new to me. 



I am now going to mention a small observation, made by 

 me two or three years ago, near Southampton, but not fol- 

 lowed out, as I have no strength for excursions. I need say 

 nothing about the character of the drift there (which includes 

 palaeolithic celts), for you have described its essential feat- 

 ures in a few words at p. 506. It covers the whole country 

 [in an] even plain-like surface, almost irrespective of the 

 present outline of the land. 



The coarse stratification has sometimes been disturbed. 

 I find that you allude " to the larger stones often standing on 

 end ; " and this is the point which struck me so much. Not 

 only moderately sized angular stones, but small oval pebbles 

 often stand vertically up, in a manner which I have never 

 seen in ordinary gravel beds. This fact reminded me of what 

 occurs near my home, in the stiff red clay, full of unworn 

 flints over the chalk, which is no doubt the residue left un- 

 dissolved by rain water. In this clay, flints as long and thin 

 as my arm often stand perpendicularly up ; and I have been 

 told by the tank-diggers that it is their " natural position ! " 



