176 ANTIQUITY OF MAN. [l863. 



taken from the railway-cuttings, which first drew Evans and me 

 there after my return from St Acheul. I see by my note-books 

 that I first made out the structure of the Ouse Valley at Bedford 

 in 1854. . 



The Easter excursion is thus mentioned : " 7th 

 March 1863. To Peterborough with Evans and Lub- 

 bock." They geologised at Peterborough, March, 

 Essendine, Oundle, and Orton, &c. 



The publication by Lyell in 1863 of his 'Antiquity 

 of Man ' brought prominently before the general public 

 the geological evidences of the great age of the stone 

 implements. Lyell was naturally regarded as the judge 

 who would better than any other geologist sum up the 

 evidence, and place it clearly and intelligibly before 

 those who had no special scientific knowledge. So suc- 

 cessful was his great book that soon a second edition 

 was called for ; and a third edition was issued before the 

 end of the year, two months later. It was unfortu- 

 nate, however, that his treatment of the history of the 

 subject was in important respects so meagre that the 

 labours of the original investigators were not made 

 manifest. Dr Falconer drew attention to this in the 

 pages of the 'Athenaeum' (April 14, 1863), and, writing 

 with the authorisation of his friend Prestwich, he 

 pointed out how important it was to state clearly how, 

 and by whom, the antiquity of man was established ; 

 whereas Lyell had mentioned certain conclusions as if 

 they were original results arrived at by himself, and 

 had failed in many cases to indicate the sources whence 

 his information was derived. 



In his reply, Lyell contended that he could not give 

 a full history of the various views, and that all his. 

 readers wanted was to learn from him, in as few words 

 as possible, what his own conclusions were, after read- 



