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Proceedings of the Royal Society 
to him in 1858, and the Geological Society’s Wollaston Medal was 
awarded to him in 1866. 
In the year 1864 he presided at the Bath Meeting of the 
British Association for the Advancement of Science. He was 
Patron of the Scotch Geological Society. In the year 1848 he 
was knighted, and in the year 1864 he received a baronetcy in 
recognition of his services to science. 
Sir Charles Lyell was married in 1832 to Mary Elizabeth, eldest 
daughter of the late Leonard Horner, himself a distinguished 
geologist. Lady Lyell was a devoted wife, and sympathised with 
her husband in his pursuits, accompanying him in all his travels, 
and assisting him in literary work. 
During the last five or six years, Sir Charles Lyell lost his eye- 
sight to such an extent that he could neither read nor recognise 
his friends. The last time that I was in his house, Harley Street, 
London, Lady Lyell had to lead him, and make known to him the 
presence of several friends who came in. 
Lady Lyell’s death in the year 1874 was a severe shock to her 
husband. After that event, Sir Charles’s health rapidly failed. His 
death was caused by a severe fall on the staircase of his house, he 
having, owing to his blindness, missed the uppermost step. 
Probably few men were ever so devoted to any special object, as 
Sir Charles Lyell was to geology, through his whole life. He was 
inspired by a genuine love of truth, and for its sake did not 
hesitate to retract opinions when he found he was mistaken. In 
the three first editions of his “ Antiquity of Man” he had expressed 
his concurrence in the opinion of some Scotch geologists, that the 
land near the Firth of Forth had risen 25 feet since the Homan 
occupation. In the last edition of the work, he revoked that 
concurrence. In the account given by him of the Glen Roy terraces, 
he published his belief, that they were due to fresh water lakes. 
In a letter which I received from him shortly before his death, 
adverting to some facts recently discovered, he allows, that perhaps 
after all, Darwin’s theory of the terrace having been made by the 
sea, might prove to be correct. Sir Charles Lyell in this respect 
showed an example to all men of science, in caring more for the 
interests of truth, than for mere consistency. 
