2 Geological Progress, 



parisons. Each used his talent well — but the works of Lyell, being 

 those in subject and in language which commanded the largest 

 audiences, may naturally, from their vwide distribution in space, be 

 supposed to be those which will ha e the longest duration in time. 

 Considering how he, more than any other man, has contributed to 

 the advancement of Geology, partly by original observation, although 

 more by generalization from the facts collected by others, it does 

 seem strange that we should read in the "Edinburgh Eeview " for 

 July, 1875, 'Hhat it may be affirmed that his chief characteristics 

 were those of a retiring student," and that " the share which he had 

 in the classification of the Tertiary rocks constitutes his principal 

 claim to be remembered by posterity." Were it not for the high 

 position occupied by the journal in which these statements have 

 been made, it would be needless to criticize them. But we might 

 well ask, — " Has the Eeviewer ever ' thumbed ' many pages of Lyell's 

 Principles, that he should so ignore the work of our foremost geo- 

 logical teacher ? " 



The final results of Geological inquiry, apart from their economic 

 bearings, are to picture the successive changes in physical geography 

 that have taken place. No one has taught this more plainly than 

 Lyell. The science truly progresses by the help of many workers. 

 Some take up the geology of their immediate neighbourhood, and 

 work it out in detail. Some pay their attention to particular strata, 

 tracing them over large areas, and working out their history. Some 

 devote themselves to physical geology and geography, and work out 

 problems connected with the formation of rocks and the changes of 

 climate in past periods. Others occupy themselves in indoor study, 

 determining the different organic remains found in the strata, or in- 

 vestigating the mineral structure of rocks. The record of local 

 facts and the determination and description of fossils, afford the 

 details necessary for the grand deductions of Geology. And to 

 appreciate the value of details contributed in different branches of 

 the science, to generalize upon them, or in other words to act as the 

 architect and build up the Geological structure, has been in great 

 part the work of Lyell. As observed in the short obituary notice 

 of him published in the Geological Magazine for March, 1875, 

 " It is in the character of historian and philosophical expounder of 

 geological thought that Lyell has achieved so m.uch for our science." 



And it is the grand results of geological research that are the most 

 interesting not merely to the world at large, but to the geologist himself. 



To know that the name of a fossil is Thecachampsa Squanlcensis, 

 is in itself of no interest, unless we know something of the habits 

 and allies of the creature ; to know that certain rocks in Yesso belong 

 to the " Toshibets-Karafto system of folds," is again of no interest, 

 unless we know something of the natural history of the rocks and 

 the conditions under which they were deposited ; nor could many 

 appreciate a " Nepheline-nosean-phonolite " unless they knew some- 

 thing of its physical or chemical history. 



If the geologist wish, now-a-days, to increase the general stock of 

 knowledge, he cannot study in detail rock-formation and paleeon- 



