The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

RECORD: Darwin, C. R. 1850.11.08. If we hypothetically for moment suppose that series of formations went back thrice as far as Silurian. CUL-DAR205.9.238. Edited by John van Wyhe (Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 9.2021. RN1

NOTE: The brown crayon number '22' indicates that this document was filed by Darwin in his portfolio for the subject of Palaeontology: extinction.

Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volume CUL-DAR205.9 contains notes on palaeontology and geology [regarding theory of evolution].

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Nov 8 /50/ If we hypothetically for moment suppose that series of formations went back thrice as far as Silurian, what wd be their ending they wd die out by denudation & metamorphosis - the thickest & widest wd last remain therefore oldest wd be oceanic - yet strata in N. Hemisphere does not ascend with the appearance of dying out of formations— Silurian very wide not metamorphosed yet thick. Perhaps

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if world takes more resemblance.

I grant, if all fossils of all formations from Silurian down now existing buried over whole world are supposed even approximately to represent all that have lived within such times, my theory must be given up.

Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)