70 THE COMING [CH. 



distinguished contemporaries in the Geological 

 Society. 



The admiration felt for the author's industry and 

 skill, in the collection and marshalling of facts and 

 of the observations made by him in his repeated 

 travels, were eloquently expressed by the generous 

 Sedgwick, as follows : 



* Were I to tell " the author " of the instruction I received from 

 every chapter of his work, and of the delight with which I rose 

 from the perusal of the whole, I might seem to flatter rather than 

 to speak the language of sober criticism ; but I should only give 

 utterance to my honest sentiments. His work has already taken, 

 and will long maintain a distinguished place in the philosophic 

 literature of this country 62 .' 



Nevertheless, in the same address to the Geo- 

 logical Society, in which these words were spoken, 

 Sedgwick goes on to argue forcibly against the 

 doctrine of continuity, and to assert his firm belief 

 in the occurrence of frequent interruptions of the 

 geological record by great convulsions. 



Whewell was equally enthusiastic with Sedgwick, 

 concerning the value of the body of facts collected 

 by Lyell, declaring that he had established a new 

 branch of science, ' Geological Dynamics ' ; but he 

 also believed with Sedgwick, that the evolutionary 

 doctrine was as obnoxious to true science as he 

 thought it was to Scripture. 



These were the views of all the great leaders of 



