176 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 



hyaenas, and other extinct animals, were now recon- 

 sidered, and a large body of facts, hitherto slighted as 

 inconclusive, was brought into view. Sir Charles 

 Lyell's work reviews the facts and considers their bear- 

 ing, introducing also a discussion of the Darwinian 

 hypothesis, and a summary of the recent controversy 

 on the relation of the brain of man to that of the 

 quadrumana. The tardiness which geologists have 

 shown to embrace results which now seem so firmly 

 established, and the materials for arriving at which have 

 long been at hand, is a remarkable instance of scientific 

 caution, not to call it a strong prepossession in favour 

 of an assumed theory. The question must now be 

 considered as settled, to the extent that a far greater 

 antiquity must be assigned to man than has hitherto 

 been believed. How much greater that antiquity may 

 be than the indications at present discovered show, 

 remains for further inquiry." 



In 1864 Sir Charles Lyell was created a baronet, 

 when the honour was conferred him as President at the 

 British Association, at Bath. 



His services to the science of geology were now 

 universally acknowledged, both at home and abroad, and 

 he was a member of nearly every American and Conti- 

 nental scientific society. 



During the latter years of his life, his sight, always 

 weak, failed him altogether, and he became very feeble 

 up to the time of his death, which took place on Feb- 

 ruary 22, 1875, he being then in his seventy- eighth 

 year. 



This melancholy event, although not unexpected, was 



