NATURE 



341 



THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1875 



SIR CHARLES LYELL, BART., I'M-S. 

 Born Nov. 14, 1797, Died Feb. 22, 1875. 



L YELL'S life was uneventful. Great changes in 

 thought, great scientific discoveries, are not called 

 events. Yet, as might have been e.xpected in the case of a 

 man so active, so famous, so far travelled, his life was full 

 of incident, and groups of incidents lead to or make up 

 events. We are indeed in the habit of looking upon Sir 

 Charles Lyell as representing an idea, a theory, a principle 

 — and rightly so. We cannot say exactly that he originated 

 a new method of investigation, but by the use of the right 

 methods, and in the determination to follow fairly each 

 established fact to its logical consequences, he has taught 

 us the laws which have governed the changes of which 

 we can observe the results in the crust of the earth. 



We hear of him as a boy making a collection of insects 

 in the New Forest, to which his father removed soon after 

 he was born. At Oxford we find him studying under Buck- 

 land. When called to the bar we hear of him on circuit, 

 but already known as a student of nature ; for the story 

 goes that he was often missed, and in reply to the ques- 

 tion "Where's Lyell.'"' the answer was, " Oh! he's sure to 

 be somewhere at the bottom of a well, seeking for truth." 



The list of his various papers shows how much original 

 work he did in the earlier part of his career : on the 

 older and newer deposits of his native county, Forfar- 

 shire ; on various beds in Hampshire ; the results of 

 observations as to earth movements and other phenomena 

 in Scandinavia ; on denudation and volcanoes in the 

 Auvergne ; many papers on the Tertiary deposits at home 

 and abroad, and many on various parts of America. 

 Sixteen years ago he published an elaborate memoir on 

 Mount Etna ; but latterly the result of his work has ap- 

 peared in his larger books instead of in separate papers, 

 and it is wonderful how far he was able to carry out bis 

 determination to verify on the ground all the observations 

 upon which any important reasoning was founded. 



No mind more quick to realise the bearing of the new 

 facts continually being brought before it ; no judgment 

 more sound to decide whether the evidence was as yet 

 sufficient. Hence, as work after work and edition 

 after edition came out, the geological world turned 

 anxiously to read his judgment on the vexed questions of 

 the day, knowing that no prejudice would prevent his 

 reversing his own former decision if new light had 

 been thrown upon the subject. Doubtful inferences, 

 which depended upon long inductions and incomplete 

 evidence, were always given with such a clear statement 

 of the sources of error still remaining, that many brilliant 

 but too hasty generalisers complained of his tardy accept- 

 ance of their ingenious theories ; but the public benefited 

 by his caution and care. 



There were many great workers and grand reasoners 

 in the field of geological research when Lyell began his 

 course. But his work did not clash with theirs. The 

 chief of them were collecting evidence among the older 

 rocks ; Lyell's work was at first among the newer and, as 

 we have seen, even among living forms of life. He at 

 Vol. XI. — No. 279 



first watched active or quite recent volcanoes, while 

 others were searching among the older records of the 

 rocks what really were the facts that had to be inter- 

 preted. 



For the general question, most of those who had got 

 beyond the Wernerian theory were contented to adopt 

 the views of Hutton, with more or less stress laid upon the 

 periodic catastrophes to destroy the old order of things 

 and to bring new land surfaces within reach of the 

 agencies which Hutton held would then giadually mould 

 and carve them into the varying outlines of hill and 

 valley. 



But Lyell's line' of investigation soon taught him that 

 there were forces in action sufficient not only to chisel 

 and carve the rocks when thrown up by unexplained con- 

 vulsions, but that this successive bringing of portions of 

 the earth's crust within reach of the graving tool was also 

 part of the oidinaiy operations of nature. 



This was, in fact, the true theory of evolution applied 

 fully to the crust of the earth, and this paved the way for 

 a rational explanation of the origin of species by Darwin, 

 as the continuity of life is not consistent with the Hut- 

 tonian theory of periodic interruptions of universal extent. 

 Lyell pointed out that it was a matter of observation that 

 variations occurred — variations of level, variations of tex- 

 ture, of hardness, or solubility — that a process of natural 

 selection determined which should stand and which 

 perish. He was at least as successful as the naturalist in 

 giving a satisfactory reason for the occurrence of many 

 of the variations by reference to observed surroundings 

 and known laws. His views commended themselves to 

 the judgment of thinking men, and Cuvier's " Theory of 

 the Earth " was never reproduced in England after the 

 appearance of Lyell's "Principles" in 1829-30. He 

 steadily opposed the views of Lamarck, who explained the 

 origin of species chiefly by some not very clearly defined 

 adaptability in organic nature which enabled it to develop 

 from time to time such varieties of structure as the 

 changes of external circumstances required; much-used 

 organs were strengthened and developed ; unused organs 

 were reduced to a rudimentary state. Lamarck's theory 

 was the suggestion of a method by which results such 

 as those observed might have been produced, but he did 

 not show that it was one of the ordinary operations of 

 nature to produce such results in that way. Therefore, 

 the evidence brought forward by Lamarck being faulty, 

 Lyell denied his conclusion, and opposed Lamarck's view 

 as to the continuity of life. When, however, Darwin 

 applied to natural history the methods which Lyell had 

 long used to explain the phenomena of the crust of the 

 earth, and again brought forward the theory of continuity 

 of life, but explained it by variation and natural selection, 

 Lyell accepted the conclusion because now founded on 

 sound reasoning. 



Darwin's theory of the evolution of life by the survival 

 of the fittest holds, though we might possibly have to 

 limit our application of it. Lamarck's notion of the deve- 

 lopment of new forms by dependent modification is not 

 supported by sufficient direct evidence, even when we 

 allow the continuity of life. 



Lyell's claim to fame lies in this, that he organised the 

 whole method of inquiry into the history of the formation 

 of the crust of the earth, and established on a sound 



