LYELL, SIR CHARLES. 



LYELL, SIR CHARLES. 



where he graduated as B.A.I n 1819 and M.A. in 1821. Here he had 

 the opportunity of attending the lectures of Dr. Buokland, professor 

 of geology, and thus acquired a taste for the science of which he 

 has been so conspicuous a cultivator. He was however destined for 

 the bar, and commenced practice as a barrister. His circumstances 

 not rendering his profession necessary for a livelihood, and his tastes 

 leading him to the culture of geology, he ultimately abandoned the 

 practice of the law. On the opening of King's College in 1832 he was 

 appointed professor of geology, but this position he soon gave up. 



Mr. Lyell was one of the early members of the Geological Society, 

 and from the time of the formation of that society to the present he 

 has enriched its ' Transactions ' with his contributions. One of his 

 earliest papers was published in the second volume of those ' Trans- 

 actions,' and was entitled, 'On a Recent Formation of Freshwater 

 Limestone in Forfarshire, and on some Recent Deposits of Freshwater 

 Marl ; with a Comparison of Recent with Ancient Freshwater 

 Formations ; and an Appendix on the Gyrogonite, or Seed- Vessel, of 

 the Chara.' This paper was published in 1826, and another in the 

 same year, in ' Brewster's Journal of Science,' entitled, ' On a Dike of 

 Serpentine cutting through Sandstone in the County of Forfar.' lu 

 1827 two other papers occur in the ' Geological Transactions,' one ' On 

 the Strata of the Plastic Clay Formation exhibited in the Cliffs between 

 Christchurch Head, Hampshire, and Studland Bay, Dorsetshire ;' the 

 other, ' On the Freshwater Strata of Hordwell Cliff, Beacon Cliff, and 

 Barton Cliff, Hampshire.' In this year also he wrote an article in the 

 ' Quarterly Review ' on Scrope's ' Geology of Central France.' These 

 papers all indicate powers of observation and comparison of a high 

 order, and prepared the geological world for the appearance of the 

 work on which above all others the reputation of Sir Charles Lyell 

 mainly rests ; this was his ' Principles of Geology." The first volume 

 of this work appeared in January 1830, the second in January 1832, 

 and the third volume in May 1833. Such however was the impression 

 produced by this work that second editions of the first and second 

 volumes were required before the third volume appeared. A third 

 edition of the whole work in four volumes appeared in May 1834, 

 a fourth edition in 1835, and a fifth in 1837. This work treated 

 geology from two points of view. First, the history of the earth was 

 examined with regard to its modern changes, and the causes producing 

 them ; second, an account was given of those monuments of analogous 

 changes of ancient date. The first comprehending an account of the 

 forces at work producing geological changes, and the second presenting 

 a survey of the changes that had been accomplished in the past. As 

 new editions of these works were required, and materials accumulated, 

 the author was induced to separate the two parts of the work, and in 

 1838 he published a volume entitled 'Elements of Geology,' which 

 contained a more full and elaborate treatment of that part of the first 

 work devoted to the ancient history of the earth, or what may be 

 called geology proper. A second edition of this work, in two volumes, 

 appeared in 1841. This work was again produced in one large volume 

 in 1851, with the title of ' Manual of Elementary Geology.' A fourth 

 edition appeared in 1852, and a fifth has since appeared. The 

 'Principles' were again published in three volumes in 1810, and in 

 one large volume in 1847, 1850, and 1853. 



Of these works, Sir Charles says, in his preface to the ninth edition 

 of the ' Principles,' " The ' Principles ' treat of such portions of the 

 economy of existing nature, animate and inanimate, as are illustrative 

 of geology, so as to comprise an investigation of the permanent effects 

 of causes now in action, which may serve as records to after ages of 

 the present condition of the globe and its inhabitants. Such effects 

 are the enduring monuments of the ever-varying state of the physical 

 geography of the globe the lasting signs of its destruction and reno- 

 vation, and the memorials of the equally fluctuating condition of the 

 organic world. They may be regarded as a symbolical language, in 

 which the earth's autobiography is written. In the ' Manual of Ele- 

 mentary Geology,' on the other hand, I have treated briefly of the 

 component materials of the earth's crust, their arrangement and 

 relative position, and their organic contents, which, when deciphered 

 by aid of the key supplied by the study of the modern changes above 

 alluded to, reveal to us the annals of a grand succession of past events 

 a series of revolutions which the solid exterior of the globe and its 

 living inhabitants have experienced in times antecedent to the creation 

 of man." Such ia the author's account of the two great works, which 

 more than any others have exercised an influence on the progress 

 and development of geological science. It was undoubtedly the 

 ' Principles ' that called the attention of geologists to the necessity of 

 regarding the past changes of the earth's surface as resulting from 

 causes now in operation. It demanded that geological science should 

 be placed upon the same foundation as the other inductive sciences, 

 and that those causes which could not be demonstrated to have existed 

 should cease to influence the theories of the geologist. This work 

 was at once acknowledged by the abler geologists of the day as an 

 expression of the principles of their science. It met however with 

 great opposition from those who imagined that it interfered with the 

 authoritative declarations of Scripture. Sir Charles Lyell's own uni- 

 versity was most decided in its opposition to the new views, although 

 its able professor of geology was not 80. At the present time, the 

 position taken by the author of the ' Principles ' is ganerally acknow- 

 ledged as the only one consistent with a philosophical pursuit of 



geological science ; and the theologian has admitted the necessity of 

 adapting his opinions to the requirements of correct reasoning and 

 undoubted facts. But whilst Sir Charles Lyell has thus the merit of 

 having placed geology on a true scientific basis, he is at the head of a 

 school of geologists whose views are not so generally accepted. 



From a very early period in the history of human intelligence, a 

 notion has been entertained that the various forms of animals and 

 plants, which inhabit or have inhabited the surface of the earth, are 

 modifications of one common form, and that the more complicated 

 have grown out of, or been developed from the simpler forms of animal 

 and vegetable life. In support of this theory the forms of organic 

 beings have been appealed to, and the geologist has thus been made a 

 party to the question. Lamarck and Oken on the Continent, and the 

 anonymous author of the ' Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation' 

 in this country, have supported this view. Sir Charles Lyell not only 

 opposes this theory, but denies that in the history of the strata there 

 is any evidence that the lowest forms of animals were created first. 

 The only fact he admits favouring the hypothesis of development is 

 the late appearance of man on the surface of the earth. Regarding 

 negative evidence as no support to any theory of progress, he sees no 

 reasonable objection to the anticipation that the highest forms of 

 Mammalia, except man, should be found in the lowest Silurian rocks. 

 On this question another party has arisen, with Professor Owen and 

 Professor Sedgwick at their head, who, whilst repudiating the develop- 

 ment theory, and believing in the special creation of specific forms, 

 yet hold that the species first created were lower in the scale of 

 organisation than those subsequently created, and that during the 

 changes to which the earth has been subjected in its past history, it 

 has been gradually fitted for a succession of organisms, each group of 

 which presents a higher type .of organisation than those which preceded 

 it. This question is occupying the minds of the moat distinguished 

 palaeontologists of the present day. 



Sir Charles Lyell has twice visited the United States of America, 

 and delivered courses of lectures before the scientific institutions of 

 that country. His chief aim however has been to examine the geology 

 of the new world. His papers on this subject are very numerous and 

 important, and are as follows : ' On the Carboniferous and Older 

 Rocks of Pennsylvania ; ' ' On the Stigmaria Clay in the Blossberg Coal 

 Field, Pennsylvania ; ' ' On the Recession of the Falls of Niagara ; ' 

 ' On the Tertiary Formations, and their connection with the Chalk 

 in Virginia, and other parts of the United States ; ' ' On the Fossil 

 Footprints of Birds, and Impressions of Rain-drops in the Valley of 

 the Connecticut ; ' ' On the Ridges, Elevated Beaches, Inland Cliffs, 

 and Boulder Formations of the Canadian Lakes and Valley of St. 

 Lawrence ; ' ' On the Tertiary Strata of the Island of Martha's Vine- 

 yard in Massachusetts ; ' ' On the Geological position of the Mastodon 

 Giganteum, and associated fossil remains at Bigbone Lick, Kentucky, 

 and other localities in the United States and Canada ; ' ' On the 

 upright Fossil Trees found at different levels in the Coal Strata of 

 Cumberland, is' ova Scotia; ' ' On the Coal Formations of Nova Scotia, 



probable Age and Origin of a bed of Plumbago and Anthracite 

 occurring in Mica Schist, near Worcester, Massachusetts ; ' ' Ou the 

 Miocene Tertiary Strata of Maryland, Virginia, and of North and South 

 Carolina ; ' ' On the White Limestone, and other Eocene or Older 

 Tertiary Formations of Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia ; ' ' On 

 the Coal Fields of Tuscaloosa, Alabama ; ' ' On the evidence of Fossil 

 Footprints of a quadruped allied to the Cheirotherium in the Coal 

 Strata of Pennsylvania ; ' ' Observations on the Fossil Plants of the 

 Coal Field of Tuscaloosa; Alabama, with a description of some species 

 by C. I. F. Buubury;' 'On the Delta and Alluvinl Deposits of the 

 Mississippi, and other points in the Geology of North America^ 

 observed in the years 1845-46; ' 'On the Coal Fields of Alabama; ' 

 ' On the Newer Deposits of the Southern States of North America; ' 

 'On the Footmarks discovered in the Coal Measures of Pennsyl- 

 vania ; ' ' On the Structure and probable age of the Coal Field of the 

 James River, near Richmond, Virginia ; ' ' On the Relative Age and 

 Position of the so-called Nummulite Limestone of Alabama.' These 

 papers were published in the ' Proceedings ' and ' Transactions ' of the 

 Geological Society, ' Reports of the British Association/ and ' Sillimau's 

 Journal of American Science.' 



In addition to this series of papers Sir Charles has published two 

 works giving an account of his travels in America. The first appeared 

 in 1841, and was entitled ' Travels in North America, with Geological 

 Observations on the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia,' 2 vols. 

 8vo, with a geological map. These volumes contain an account of 

 personal incident, as well as popular descriptions of the geology of the 

 district visited. In these volumes he describes the educational insti- 

 tutions of America, and strongly insists on their superiority to our 

 own similar institutions, on account of the extensive cultivation of the 

 natural sciences. In his second journey he more particularly visited 

 the southern states, and records in his work his personal adventures 

 together with an account of the geology of the districts through which 

 he passed. This work is entitled ' A Second Visit to the United 

 States,' and was published in 1845. 



Previous to his journeys to America he had travelled on the Conti- 



