SIR CHARLES LYELL. 



ALILEO studied and found out the truth that 

 the earth moves around the sun, and died 

 recanting it. 



Buffon, the great French naturalist, studied, and 

 ascertained that the earth has been subject to 

 changes which must have required millions of 

 years. He wrote : " The waters of the sea have 

 produced the mountains and valleys of the land 

 the waters of the heavens, reducing all to a level, 

 will at last deliver the whole land over to the sea, 

 and the sea, successively prevailing over the land, 

 will leave dry new continents like those which we 

 inhabit." 



He was at once summoned before the Faculty of 

 Theology in Paris to recant his opinions, saying, 

 "I declare that I had no intention to contradict 

 the text of Scripture; that I believe most firmly 

 all therein related about the creation, both as to 

 order of time and matter of fact ; / abandon every- 

 thing in my book respecting the formation of the 

 earth, and, generally, all which may be contrary to 

 the narration of Moses." 



A little more than a century later, at Kinnordy, 

 Forfarshire, Scotland, a boy was born, Charles 

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