CONTENTS. Xili 



CHAPTER X. 



THE LIFE OF HUTTON. 



PAGE 



The rise of the modern school of geology— The continuity of 

 the operations of nature and their sameness — The necessity 

 of studying the existing state of things in order to com- 

 prehend the past — The denial of catastrophes — Hutton's 

 theory of the earth the foundation of scientific geology , 22 1 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM SMITH. 

 The succession of the strata recognized — Strata known by their 

 fossils, position, and mineral contents — England surveyed 

 by Smith and made the type of the results of the suc- 

 cession of changes studied by geology . , . , 236 



CHAPTER XH. 



THE LIFE OF MURCHISON. 



The older rocks of the globe studied accurately and surveyed 

 — The general similarity of the succession of strata in 

 many parts of the world decided — The geology of Wales 

 and Scotland described — The commencement of accurate 

 geological surveys . , , , , , . .275 



CHAPTER Xni. 



THE LIFE OF LYELL. 



The study of existing nature and its changes undertaken in 

 order to comprehend the past changes during geological 

 ages — The uniformity of natural operations under law — 

 Catastrophes abolished — The succession of life on the 

 globe, and that of the tertiary ages explained — The 

 antiquity of man and of the great ice age established . 307 



