24 THE COMING [CH. 



Species 1 * : ' Consistent uniformitarianism postulates 

 evolution, as much in the organic as in the inorganic 

 world 17 / 



It is not difficult to trace the causes of this change 

 in the attitude of mind with which Huxley regarded 

 the doctrine of ' uniformitarianism.' He assures us 

 *I owe more than I can tell to the careful study of 

 the Principles of Geology 1 *,' and again ' Lyell was for 

 others as for me the chief agent in smoothing the road 

 for Darwin 19 .' From the perusal of the letters of 

 Lyell, published in 1881, Huxley learned that the 

 author of the Principles of Geology had, at a very 

 early date, been convinced that evolution was true of 

 the organic as well as of the inorganic world though 

 he had been unable to accept Lamarckism, or any 

 other hypothesis on the subject that had, up to that 

 time, been suggested. There can be little doubt, 

 however, that a chief influence in bringing about the 

 change in Huxley's views was his intercourse with 

 Darwin who was, from first to last, an uncom- 

 promising l uniformitarian.' 



We are fully justified, then, in regarding the 

 teaching of Button and Lyell (to which Whewell gave 

 the name of 'uniformitarianism' as being identical 

 with evolution. The cockpit in which the great battle 

 between catastrophism and evolution was fought out, 

 as we shall see in the sequel, was the Geological 

 Society of London, where doughty champions of each 



