364 Heviews — Life of 8ir Charles Lijell, Barf. 



a man of independent means, resided for some time, and to whose 

 literary and scientij&c tastes the son owed his bent of mind. Born 

 in 1797, he went to Oxford at the age of eighteen, whei'e an 

 interest in geology was aroused by the lectures of Buckland ; and 

 from this date his attention seems to have been given more and more 

 to the subject. 



As early as 1817, when staying with Mr. Dawson Turner, F.E.S., 

 at Yarmouth, Lyell became much interested in the recent changes 

 that have taken place in the coast-line of Norfolk — a county to 

 which he returned again and again, and which perhaps thus early 

 served to direct his attention to the particular subjects which after- 

 wards occupied so much of his life. On this excursion he also 

 became interested in the great pear-shaped flints, then recently 

 described by Dr. Buckland under the name of Paramoudras. 



These memoranda we gather from letters addressed by Lyell to 

 his father, and the work now before us is chiefly composed of letters 

 from Lyell to his father, his sister, his father-in-law Leonard Horner, 

 to Murchison, Mantell, Sedgwick, Scrope, Herschel, Darwin, Sir 

 Charles Bunbury, and othei's. In addition to these, we have an auto- 

 biography of his earliest years and school-life ; his journal of a tour 

 in France, Switzerland, and Italy in 1818; and journals addressed 

 to Miss Horner, and afterwards (when she became his wife) to Lady 

 Lyell. Prefixed to each chapter is a brief summary of the leading 

 events in Lyell's life ; and with these and a few other trifling excep- 

 tions, Lyell tells the whole story of his life, so far as it is contained 

 in these volumes. The plan thus adopted gives the work a very 

 miscellaneous character; we have remarks on Slavery, Education, 

 the Division of Property, the Indian Mutiny, and various branches 

 of science, as well of geology. Here and there we have reminiscences 

 of distinguished individuals, such as Cuvier, Mrs. Somerville, Bab- 

 bage, Prince Albert and other members of the Royal Family ; as 

 well as of many geologists in whom we take more especial interest. 

 The letters tell the story of Lyell's life so far as its more prominent 

 features are concerned, and they indicate the many subjects which 

 permanently or temporarily engaged his attention. We should have 

 been glad, however, to hear a little more about the surroundings of 

 his life, of his method of carrying on work, and the reception his 

 works received ; of the part he may have taken in the great con- 

 troversies of the time, such as that on the Cambrian and the Silurian 

 question, and on the Antiquity of Man. Some brief account of 

 Lyell's addresses to the Geological Society'- might have been given, 

 as also of his classification of the Tertiaiy strata, and the part he 

 took in recommending the establishment of the Geological Survey. 

 But while we thus venture to point out these omissions, we ought 

 not to be the less grateful to the lady who has edited the work with 

 such evident care, and who probably had not the materials to supply 

 all the wants we have noted. Moreover, we must not forget that 

 the history of geological progress is in great part told in Dr. A. 

 Geikie's Life of Murchison, and in his earlier Memoir (partly in 

 conjunction with George Wilson) of Edward Forbes; in Prof. 



