110 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 4. 



improvements in ore-dressing machinery used at Ems, 

 by K. P. Rotliwell, New Tork, N. Y. ; Determination 

 of manganese in spiegel, by G. C. Stone, Newark, 

 N.J. ; Gas analysis, by Magnus Troilius, Pliiladel- 

 pliia, Penn. ; Determination of copper in steel, by 

 Magnus Troilius; History and statistics of the manu- 

 facture of coke, by J. D. Weeks, Pittsburg, Penn. ; 

 Notes on settling-tanks in silver-mills, by Albert 

 Williams, jun., Washington, D.C. ; Water-gas as a 

 fuel, by W. A. Goodyear, New Haven, Conn.; The 

 occurrence of gold in Williamson county, Texas, by 

 Prof. C. A. Schaeffer, Ithaca, N.T. ; On the utility 

 of the method adopted by the Pennsylvania geologi- 

 cal survey of the anthracite fields, by B. S. Lyman, 



Northampton, Mass.; A new form of hydraulic sep- 

 aration for the mills of Lake Superior, by Prof. R. H. 

 Richards, Boston. Mass. ; An accident resulting from 

 the use of blast-furnace slag-wool, by Prof. T. Egles- 

 ton. New York, N.Y. 



On motion of Mr. Bayles of New York, a proposed 

 amendment to rule 6, requiring an additional regular 

 meeting during the year, was laid on the table. 



On motion of the same gentleman, a suitable vote 

 of thanks was passed to all the gentlemen in Boston 

 ■who had put the members of the institute under 

 obligations; and, after a formal surrendering of his 

 charge by the retiring president, Mr. Rothwell, the 

 meeting was adjourned. 



SIR CHARLES LYELL.^ 



When he returned from this journej-, he en- 

 tered Lincoln's Ino, and began a rather desul- 

 torj' life in the law ; and for the five subsequent 

 3'ears his geology had little growth save in his 

 holidaj'-time. But his ej'es, weak from child- 

 hood, gave him more trouble as j'ears went on. 

 He found the studies little to his taste, and 

 each vacation drew him more and more strong- 

 ly to science. In 1823 he became secretary of 

 the geological society. This seems to mark the 

 turning-point in his career ; for, though he 

 nominally kept his place as a student for the 

 bar, we find him more and more separated 

 from it in interest. In this j'ear he published 

 his first geological paper. 



Perhaps the most interesting part of his 

 letters, at least to the general reader, are those 

 to his father from Paris in 1823. He had an 

 easy entrance to the society of that day, and 

 his clear pictures of many of the scientific 

 men are extremely entertaining. Humboldt, 

 Cuvier, La Place, Broquiert, C. Prdvost, Trom- 

 soe, all came under his trenchant pen. Of 

 these Constant Provost was doubtless his most 

 efiective teacher ; for his was a spirit of singu- 

 lar insight, and the lines of his thought some- 

 what resembled those of Lyell's own mind. 

 He has left a scanty record in his writings, 

 but his power is marked in his effect on all who 

 came within his influence. 



In 1825, at his father's request, he once 

 again went about his law ; was called, and for 

 two years rode circuit with his mind on older, 

 if less musty, things than Jarndj'ce vs. Jarn- 

 dyce, and the like. This seems to have been 

 the last chance the law had of winning a very 

 keen intelligence to its fields : henceforth he 

 seems to have left it altogether. In 1828 his 

 Principles of geology first took definite shape 



^ Continued from No. 3. 



in Ms mind, and until Ms first edition in 1830 

 he was busied in many' journeys after facts for 

 his work. Central France, Italj-, Spain, and 

 Germanj' gave him the most of his field-mat- 

 ter ; endless talks with the workers of those 

 countries, for which his considerable knowl- 

 edge of modern languages well fitted him, did 

 the rest. In these and other journeys, his let- 

 ters and journals show his read}' understand- 

 ing of men and their societies. He was never 

 a solitarj' worker : almost every thing comes 

 out in talks and work with others. Even Ms 

 journals are always addressed to some one. It 

 was an admirable feature of his character, that 

 he was generally' out of himself, and even his 

 antagonisms are sympathetic. 



His southern journey carried him to Sicily ; 

 but it is curious to note that he was delayed 

 in Naples bj' need of care in avoiding the 

 Tripolitan pirates, bj' a steamship-journej'. It 

 seems strange, that, in the days of emancipa- 

 tion of British slaves, with all the navies of 

 Europe free from larger calls to action, this 

 nest of pirates should have been tolerated. 



In 1831 he was appointed professor of ge- 

 ology in King's College, London. His nomi- 

 nation had to be confirmed bj' a board of 

 bishops and other church-magnates ; and Ms 

 open opposition to the notion of a deluge and 

 a seven-daj's' creation made it doubtful if he 

 would receive it. At last, in a fine English 

 waj', thej' declared "that they considered 

 some of ray doctrines startling enough, but 

 could not find that they were come by otherwise 

 than in a straightforward manner, and logically 

 deducible from the facts ; so that, whether the 

 facts were true or otherwise, there was no 

 reason to infer that I had made my theory 

 from any hostile view towards revelation." 



His experience as a lecturer in Kings Col- 

 lege was not such as to procure him much 

 profit or intellectual gain : so, though he deemed 

 his work successful, he soon abandoned it. 



