Eminent Lmn</ Geologists — G. Poulett Scrope. 195 



points of subterranean agency began to bo acknowledged ; and even 

 in 182G-7, when liis volume " On the Geology and Extinct Volcanos 

 of Central France " issued from the press, illustrated by an Atlas 

 containing faithful copies of elaborate drawings made on the spot, a 

 different opinion began to be formed as to the authority of his earlier 

 work. Lyell and Murchison followed his footsteps in Auvergne, the 

 Cantal, and the Haute Loire, and on their return testified to the 

 accuracy of his drawings and dcsci'iptions of the facts there exhibited, 

 as well in respect to the volcanic formations as to the remai'kable 

 proofs of the immense amount of denudation effected by sub-aerial, 

 or atmospheric, agency. In 1827, a review of his work on Central 

 France appeared in the Quarterly,^ from the pen of Mr. Lyell, in 

 which full justice was done to the author, and the general attention 

 of geologists attracted to the subject. One passage in particular, 

 from this able review, we will insert here, relative to the theory of 

 denudation : — " We consider Mr. Scrope's work the most able that 

 has appeared since Pla}' fair's illustration of the Huttonian theory, in 

 support of the opinion that " valleys have been shaped out progres- 

 sively by the action of rivers, or of such floods as may occur in the 

 ordinary course of nature " (p. 477). Two or three years later 

 (1830), Mr. Lyell published the first edition of his gTcat work, "The 

 Elements of G-eology," in which the doctrines of Hutton and Play- 

 fair, as to the influence on the earth's surface of both the igneous 

 and aqueous agencies of change were so ably and fully advocated ; 

 and it is not unreasonable to suppose that, in the interval, his views 

 on theoretical geology had been considerably influenced by those 

 which had been previously enounced by Mr. Scrope, and the facts 

 and arguments adduced by him in their support. However this may 

 be, Mr. Scrope, in his turn, reviewed the new and interesting volume 

 of Mr. Lyell, in the same periodical, the Quarterly (vol. xliii., p. 

 411), and exjoressed both admiration for and agreement with the 

 author on almost all points — ^except, perhaps, that of the doctrine of 

 absolute uniformity in the series of geological changes (see p. 464) — 

 a doctrine still, we believe, advocated by Sir C. Lyell, and still 

 questioned by other eminent geologists.^ In 182G and 1827 Mr. 

 Scrope contributed to the Transactions of the Geological Society 

 two papers, with copious illustrations, " On the Phlegrjean Fields, 

 near Naples," and " On the Ponza Islands." (Geol. Trans., 2nd ser., 

 vol. ii. and vol. vi.) 



With regard to the controversy between the rival Geological 

 Schools of Uniformitarians and Evolutionists, it will be seen by 

 those who may look into the two quarterly articles above referred to, 

 upon Sir Charles Lyell's principles, that, although from a very early 

 period a believer in the Uniformity of Causation, Mr. Scrope has 

 always diff'ered somewhat from the Lyellian doctrine, as to the 

 absence of any indications in the series of geological facts of Pro- 

 gressive Development. 



Perhaps even in the present day the argument has not been more 



^ Quart. Eev., vol. sxxvi., p. 437. 



* See AnniTersary Address to tlie Geol. Soc. Lond. 1869, by Prof. Huxley. 



