INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



SIR CHARLES LYELL was born near Kirriemuir, Forfarshire, 

 Scotland, on November 14, 1797. He graduated from Exeter 

 College, Oxford, in 1819, and proceeded to the study of law. 

 Although he practised for a short time, he was much hampered 

 in this profession, as in all his work, by weak eyesight; and after 

 the age of thirty he devoted himself chiefly to science. 



Lyell's father was a botanist of some distinction, and the son 

 seems to have been interested in natural history from an early 

 age. While still an undergraduate he made geological journeys 

 in Scotland and on the Continent of Europe, and throughout his 

 life he upheld by precept and example the importance of travel 

 for the geologist. 



The first edition of his "Principles of Geology" was published 

 in 1830; and the phrase used in the sub-title, "an attempt to ex- 

 plain the former changes of the earth's surface, by reference to 

 causes now in action" strikes the keynote of his whole work. 

 All his life he continued to urge this method of explanation in 

 opposition to the hypotheses, formerly much in vogue, which as- 

 sumed frequent catastrophes to account for geologic changes. The 

 chapters here printed give his own final statement of his views 

 on this important issue. 



Lyell's scientific work received wide recognition: lie was more 

 than once President of the Geological Society, in 1864 was Presi- 

 dent of the British Association, was knighted in 1848, and made 

 a baronet in 1864. He possessed a broad general culture, and his 

 home was a noted center of the intellectual life of London. He 

 twice came to the United States to lecture, and created great 

 interest. On his death, on February 22, 1875, he was buried in 

 Westminster Abbey. 



Persistent as were Lyell's efforts for the establishment of his 

 main theory, he rcr,:ained remarkably open-minded; and when the 

 evolutionary hypothesis was put forward he became a warm sup- 

 porter of it. Darwin in his autobiography thus sums up Lyell's 

 achievement: "The science of geology is enormously indebted to 

 Lyell more so, as I believe, than to any other man who ever 

 lived." 



