LINNEAI* SOCiEXi' OF LONDON. IV 



Among Sir Charles Lyell's greatest and most popular works 

 must be mentioned liis celebrated treatise ' On the Geological 

 Evidences of the Antiquity of Man,' the first edition of which 

 appeared in 1863. Nor should it be forgotten that he contri- 

 buted in the course of his active life about eighty papers to various 

 scientific journals. All his writings were marked by rare vigour 

 of reasoning, by great wealth of illustration, and by remark- 

 able clearness of diction. It is therefore hardJy surprising that 

 his geological works have been among the most popular, although 

 the most scientific, of their class. 



It is scarcely necessary to catalogue Sir Charles Lyell's long list 

 of scientific honours. He was elected President of the Geological 

 Society in 1836, and again in 1850. The Society's Wollaston 

 Medal was awarded to him in 1866, not merely for the high value 

 of his literary work, but also in recognition of his original re- 

 searches in the classification of the tertiary formations. He re- 

 ceived the Eoyal Society's Copley Medal in 1858, having received 

 the Society's gold medal five-aud-twenty years previously. Sir 

 Charles presided over the Bi-itish Association at tlie Bath Meeting 

 in 1864<, having been President in the Geological Section at New- 

 castle in 1838, at Glasgow in 1840, at Birmingham in 1 849, and 

 at Aberdeen in 1850. In 1848 he was knighted, in recognition of 

 the great value of his scientific labours, and in 1864 he received 

 a baronetcy. 



Sir Charles Lyell was married, in 1832, to Mary Elizabeth, the 

 eldest daughter of Mr. Leonard Horner, himself a distinguished 

 geologist. For more than forty years Lady Lyell was the con- 

 stant companion of the great geological teacher, accompanying 

 him in all his travels, aiding him in his literary labours, and sym- 

 pathizing with him at every step of his researches, 



Eew men have ever been more thoroughly devoted to their 

 special subject than Sir Charles Lyell was to geology. In 

 whatever direction his studies might appear to be tending, he 

 skilfully caused them to converge to a common focus, the great 

 end of all his researches being the development of a sound geolo- 

 gical philosophy. It was he who expounded to us the great prin- 

 ciples of the Huttonian system, and taught us to interpret the 

 history of the past by the careful study of the present. Most 

 geologists of this age have gained their first insight into the prin- 

 ciples of the science from Sir Charles's writings, and many of 

 them have been iruided in their researches bv his kind! v counsel. 



