Obituary — Sir Charles Lyell. 



143 



Hampshire, and Studland Bay, Dorsetshire ;" another " On the 

 Freshwater Strata of Hordwell Cliff, Beacon Cliff, and Barton 

 Cliff, Hampshire;" and an elaborate paper on the "Belgian 

 Tertiaries." In 1827 he contributed to the Quarterly a 

 review of Mr. Poulett Scrope's " Geology of Central France" 

 (the perusal of which is said first to have stimulated him to 

 prepare and publish "The Principles of Geology" on which 

 his reputation as a philosophical writer mainly rests). These 

 lesser works all showed a power of observation and of general- 

 ization which prepared the learned world for some greater and 

 more important treatise from his pen, which should deal, not 

 with local details, but with the general principles of the 

 science. Nor were they disappointed when his magnum opus, 

 " The Principles of Geology," appeared in three successive 

 instalments, published respectively in 1830, 1832, and 1833. 

 The work, subsequently enlarged into two volumes, has passed 

 through numerous editions, and is still in as much demand as 

 ever among students of the science. The work was subse- 

 quently divided into two parts, which have been published as 

 distinct books — viz. "The Principles of Geology, or the 

 Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants, as illus- 

 trative of Geology," and secondly, "The Elements of Geology, 

 or the Ancient Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants, as 

 illustrated by its Geological Monuments." The substance of 

 the last-named work has also been published under the title of 

 " The Manual of Elementary Geology," a French* translation 

 of which was issued under the auspices of the famous Arago. 



Already, some time previous to the publication of this work, 

 Mr. Lyell had been chosen a Vice-President of the Geological 

 Society ; and in 1828 he had undertaken a journey into the 

 volcanic regions of Central France, visiting Auvergne, Cantal, 

 and Velay, and continuing his journey to Italy and Sicily. He 

 published the results of this expedition in the " Edinburgh 

 Philosophical Transactions," and also in the " Annales des 

 Sciences Naturelles." 



It was, however, the publication of his " Principles of Geology" that gave 

 him that established reputation which he ever since continued to enjoy. 

 " Which of lis," asked Prof. Huxley, in his Anniversary Address to the 

 Geological Society in 1869, " has not thumbed every page of the ' Principles 

 of Geology' ?" And he adds, " I think that he who writes fairly the history 

 of his own progress in geological thought will not easily be able to separate 

 his debt to Hutton from his obligations to Lyell." This cordial testimony of 

 a fellow-labourer in the cause of scientific enlightenment exactly indicates 

 Sir Charles Lyell's place in the history of that task. He was a man of 

 singularly open mind, one of those who stand above their contemporaries 

 and hail the dawn of new truths upon the world. His own works mark the 

 progress of his own as well as of the public opinion on the great problems 

 raised by scientific discovery, and he remained to the end of his life always 

 ready for the reception of new facts, and for the corresponding modifications 

 of opinion. 



Sir Charles Lyell married, in 1832, Mary Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the 

 late Mr. Leonard Horner, but was left a widower in 1873. 



Sir Charles Lyell had travelled and seen much. Thus in early manhood he 



