Miscellanies. 213 



18. Mr. Lyell and Mr. Murchison. — Mr. Lyell, the distinguished Eng- 

 lish geologist, now in the United States, having finished his course of 

 lectures in the Lowell Institute in Boston, is warmly solicited by many 

 of the first citizens of Philadelphia, to repeat his lectures in that city ; 

 we understand that he will comply with their wishes, and thus afford to 

 them, as he has done to the citizens of Boston, a rich intellectual treat. 

 Mr. Lyell's lectures, like his writings, are analytical ; unfolding the co- 

 pious and accurate results of his own wide-spread and scrutinizing re- 

 searches in many countries, he leads his audience forward through the 

 very paths which, for twenty years he has himself trod, in acquiring the 

 knowledge whose rich stores he lucidly displays along with that which 

 othei's have contributed. The elementary information which he im- 

 parts, is the result rather than the text of his instructions. 



It were to be desired that this highly gifted philosopher were al- 

 lowed sufficient time to follow out this most instructive mode of teach- 

 ing, until every department of the science shall have been fully illus- 

 trated ; when, in conclusion, a synthetical summary of general princi- 

 ples, founded on the ample basis of his own detailed and exact observa- 

 tions, combined with those of other geologists, would present in one 

 perspicuous and convincing view, the grand elements of the science. 

 His pictorial illustrations are ample, and some of them of magnificent 

 dimensions and imposing splendor. Mr. Lyell's writings pi-esent a 

 model of skillful analysis of geological phenomena, conducted with 

 logical accuracy and with great candor. They are adorned by a style 

 of elegant simplicity ; his Principles and Elements must ever stand in 

 the highest order of scientific classical literature, and we trust that his 

 active and successful researches will be continued for many years, 

 cheered and aided as they are by one to whom, as the companion of 

 his travels, all his views and efforts ai'e as familiar as they are inter- 

 esting. He now proceeds to the Southern States, as far as South Caro- 

 lina and Georgia, and will return to give his course in Philadelphia in 

 February. The Middle, AVestern and Northern States, and Canada, 

 will occupy his spring and summer ; and he will embark for England 

 in August, at the end of a year from the time of his arrival. 



Mr. Lyell's visit is most acceptable to the American geologists, who 

 expect his presence and assistance in Boston, at their meeting, April 

 25, 1842, and we trust that the subsequent year may afford them the 

 additional gratification of the presence of Mr. Murchison, than whom 

 no one is more eminent in active and successful labors in the common 

 cause. This gentleman has just returned to England from a second 

 visit to the Russian empire. " He has been to Moscow, and to the 

 Asiatic flank of the Ural Mountains. His tour has been most success- 

 ful, and he will be able to throw much light on the geology of a great 



