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Letters from Phillips, John to Charles Lyell, 1836 - 25 January 1864

 File — Box: Box 1.11
Identifier: Coll-203/1/207

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Letters are summarised by Lyell, noting original numbering given in brackets () and with some additional commentary provided where possible, linking Lyell's letters to Philips, now held at Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

  1. J. Phillips on fossil shells. 1836. Part for C. Stokes. (2).
    Reply to a letter from Lyell to Phillips (Oxford University Museum of Natural History, John Phillips Collection, Reference no. JP/C/1/L/233, dated 23 May 1836) which enclosed a letter from Mr Stokes, who was to read a paper on fossil wood, and asked for help in answering it. Only the final leaf of Phillips's reply is here [earlier page(s) sent on to Stokes?].
  2. Prof. Phillips on Saurian in the Coal of Ardwick Manchester. 1838. (1).
    Reply to a letter from Lyell to Phillips (Oxford University Museum of Natural History, John Phillips Collection, Reference no. JP/C/1/L/235, dated 10 Oct 1838), about the supposed saurian at Ardwick mentioned in Phillips's treatise in Lardner's Encyclopaedia, asking what evidence he had, from whom, and whether he believed it. Phillips also mentions his Crinoidal Columsio, the Crinoidal blunder Lyell referred to in an earlier letter to Phillips (Oxford University Museum John Phillips Collection, Reference no. JP/C/1/L/234), an error in the same treatise as above.
  3. Prof. Phillips instructions about Holderness & Bridlington tertiaries. May 1839. (3).
    For Lyell's study of the Supracretaceous boulder deposits and raised beaches of England. Phillips listed, for the Yorkshire coastal area, people to contact as geological guides and what to look for where.
  4. Prof. Phillips on fossil cones. 1840. (4).
    Phillips's main purpose was to ask Lyell to check the state of his uncle William Smith's collection at the British Museum. He feared that few specimens remained as they had been, referenced precisely to their geological and geographical place.
  5. J. Phillips on Quarrington Hill (Durham) section. June 1851. (10)
  6. J. Phillips. 4 February 1853. Hennesey on Herschel's grinding down of globe to central spheroid. (12).
    Reply to a letter from Lyell to John Phillips (Oxford University Museum of Natural History, John Phillips Collection, Reference no. JP/C/1/L/246, dated 3 Feb 1853) seeking a paper or information on Mr Hennesey's theory of the thickening of the Earth's crust - refuting or commenting on Hopkins's controversial theory - which Mr Darwin thinks he may have read about in the Belfast meeting report [BAAS, Sept 1852]. Lyell said he's reprinting Principles and ought to notice it.
  7. J. Phillips. March 1853. Holderness coast 000 [a thousand] added. (11).
    Phillips corrected the figures for volume of coastal erosion he had given to Lyell in haste.
  8. J. Phillips,. May 2? 1853. Want of air-breathers in Oolitic (Yorksh) equisetum beds. (5)
  9. Oldest known fossil fish. Augt 10 1854. (6)
  10. John Phillips on Ramsay's glacial theory of Permian conglomerate. June 9th 1855. (7)
  11. J. Phillips, His pre & post-glacial beds. Age of cavern bones. 5 May 1863. (8)
    Reply to a letter from Lyell to Phillips (Oxford University Museum of Natural History, John Phillips Collection, Reference no. JP/C/1/L/255, dated 4 May 1863), which asked whether he's right that Phillips (a) coined the terms pre- and post-glacial, and (b) attributed hippopotamus bones from a cave near Leeds to post-glacial before Falconer & Prestwich, as he had to get priorities correct for the new edition of Elements of Geology.
  12. Professor Phillips. Jan 25th 1864. Fault in Strata at Bath. Springs later than Trias. Deoxidation of air producing nitrogen. (9)

Dates

  • Creation: 1836 - 25 January 1864

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Full Extent

1 folder (12 letters, 8 envelopes)

Related Names

Subjects

Physical Storage Information

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections Repository

https://library.ed.ac.uk/heritage-collections
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