[farthing?] on your side respecting your heretical and damnable doctrine of
the ocean falling. You see I am orthodox to the burning pitch.


LETTER 521. TO D. MILNE-HOME.
Down, [September] 20th, [1847].

I am much obliged by your note. I returned from London on Saturday, and I
found then your memoir (521/1. "On the Parallel Roads of Lochaber, with
Remarks on the Change of Relative Levels of Sea and Land in Scotland, and
on the Detrital Deposits in that Country," "Trans. R. Soc. Edinb." Volume
XVI., page 395, 1849. [Read March 1st and April 5th, 1847.]), which I had
not then received, owing to the porter having been out when I last sent to
the Geological Society. I have read your paper with the greatest interest,
and have been much struck with the novelty and importance of many of your
facts. I beg to thank you for the courteous manner in which you combat me,
and I plead quite guilty to your rebuke about demonstration. (521/2. Mr.
Milne quotes a passage from Mr. Darwin's paper ("Phil. Trans. R. Soc."
1839, page 56), in which the latter speaks of the marine origin of the
parallel roads of Lochaber as appearing to him as having been demonstrated.
Mr. Milne adds: "I regret that Mr. Darwin should have expressed himself in
these very decided and confident terms, especially as his survey was
incomplete; for I venture to think that it can be satisfactorily
established that the parallel roads of Lochaber were formed by fresh-water
lakes" (Milne, loc. cit., page 400).) You have misunderstood my paper on a
few points, but I do not doubt that is owing to its being badly and
tediously written. You will, I fear, think me very obstinate when I say
that I am not in the least convinced about the barriers (521/3. Mr. Milne
believed that the lower parts of the valleys were filled with detritus,
which constituted barriers and thus dammed up the waters into lakes.):