Item 73 - James David Forbes to William Whewell

3 pp

Carlisle - Mr and Mrs Forbes are to go on an excursion to Cumberland. JDF will search for traces of glaciers in the lake country, and compare his findings with those he made at Skye last year. His conclusions from the latter 'appear to have been adopted with more than common unanimity by geologists holding various opinions' [Notes on the Topography and Geology of Cuchullin Hills in Skye and on the Traces of Ancient Glaciers which they Present, Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, 1846]. Although JDF has not read through Michael Faraday's 'big memoir...it seems to me that he has formed an undue estimate of the importance of his discoveries in this instance and has put them forth with a prominence which he used not to display'. Roderick Murchison's work on Russia is a fine piece but too 'exclusively technical' [The Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains, vol. 1, London, 1845]. Charles Lyell will not increase his reputation by publishing any more 'American Notes' [Travels in North America, 2 vols., London, 1845].