174 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 



accumulated much valuable evidence on the age and 

 deposition of lava-beds, and the formation of volcanic 

 cones. He also revisited Sicily in 1858, when he 

 made such observations upon the structure of Etna 

 as entirely refuted the theory of "craters of elevation," 

 upheld by Yon Such and Elie de Beaumont. 



In the month of September, 1848, Lyell received 

 the honour of knighthood. This was done principally 

 at the solicitation of Lord Lansdowne, who in a 

 letter to Lyell, dated September 11th, says: — "I 

 have thought it on consideration so fit in the dis- 

 tinguished situation you occupy, and with your scien- 

 tific reputation, that you should receive the distinc- 

 tion of knighthood, that I took it upon myself to 

 mention the subject to the Queen, and I have her 

 Majesty's authority to state that she will most willingly 

 confer it upon you, and she understands that is with- 

 out any solicitation on your part." 



In 1863 Sir Charles published a most important 

 work, which took a large proportion of the public very 

 much by surprise, and creating as it did the sensation 

 of the season in the literature of science. This was 

 the " (reological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, 

 with Remarks on Theories of the Origin of Species by 

 Variation. " In it the author brought forward a 

 great amount of research with regard to prehistoric 

 times. He had previously opposed the doctrine of 

 development, but in this remarkable work he gave 

 his adhesion to Darwin on the origin of species. A 

 fourth edition of this truly scientific work, enlarged 

 and greatly improved, appeared in 1873. 



