360 >S'tV Cliarles Lyell. 



lectures on his favorite science at Boston, and partly in order to make 

 observations on the structure and formation of the Transatlantic Con- 

 tinent. He remained in the United States for a year, traveling over 

 the Northern and Central States, and extending his journey as far 

 southward as Carolina, and northward to Canada and Nova Scotia, his 

 explorations ranging from the basin of the St. Lawrence to the mouths 

 of the Mississippi. On returning from this joui-ney, he published his 

 "Travels in North America," a work of considerable interest to other 

 persons besides geologists, and showing that he could extend his obser- 

 vations to the stratification of society around him as well as that of the 

 earth beneath his feet. He paid a second visit to America in 1845, 

 Avhen he closely examined the geological formation of the Southern 

 States and the coasts that border on the Atlantic and tlie Gulf of 

 Mexico, and more especially the great sunken area of New Madrid, 

 which had been devastated by an earthquake 30 or 40 years previously. 

 Upon reaching England, he published his "Second Visit to the United 

 States," a companion to his former work. For his other scientifiic 

 papers we must refer our readers to the "Proceedings" of the Geologi- 

 cal Society, 1846-9, audits "Transactions." 



"Late in life, about ten or twelve years ago, Sir Charles Lyell pub- 

 lished anothor very important work, on "The Antiquity of Man," 

 summarizing and discussing all the important facts accumulated up to 

 that time in favor of the high antiquity of the human race, viewed 

 from the slandjwints of the archseologist, the geologist, and the philolo- 

 gist. 



"Numerous honors were conferred on Lyell in recognition of his ser- 

 vices to science. As far back as 1836 he was elected to the Presiden- 

 tial Chair of the Geological Society, to which he was re-elected in 1850. 

 He received from Her Majesty the honor of knighthood in 1848, and in 

 1855 the honorary degree of D. C. L., of the University of Oxford 

 was conferred upon him. He had been for many years a Fellow of the 

 Royal Society, and in 1833 received one of the Royal Society's Gold 

 Medals for his "Principles of Geology." Li 1858 the Royal Society 

 conferred upon him the highest honor at their disposal — the Copley 

 Medal ; and in 1864-5 he filled the Presidential Chair of the British 

 Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the Wol- 

 laston Gold Medal from the Geological Society of London in 1865 (his 

 continued official connection with which had precluded his receiving it 

 earlier). He was raised in 1864, on the recommendation of the then 

 Prime Miiister, Lord Palmerston, to a Baronetcy, which now becomes 

 extinct by his decease. He was a Deputy-Lieutenant for his native 

 county of Forfarshire. 



