THE PLACE OF LYELL AND DARWIN IN HISTORY
From the account given in the foregoing pages, it will be seen that—without detracting from the merits of their predecessors or the value of the labours of their contemporaries—we must ascribe the work of establishing on a firm foundation of observation and reasoning the doctrine of evolution—both in the inorganic and the organic world—to the investigations and writings of Lyell and Darwin.
Lyell had to oppose the geologists of his day, who led by Buckland in this country and by Cuvier on the continent, were almost, without exception, hopelessly wedded to the doctrines of 'Catastrophism,' and bitterly antagonistic to all ideas savouring of continuity or evolution. And, in the same way, Darwin, at the outset, found himself face to face with a similarly hostile attitude, on the part of biologists, with respect to the mode of appearance of new species of plants and animals.
While Darwin doubtless derived his inspiration, and much valuable aid, from the Principles of Geology, and its gifted author, yet Lyell, with all his clearness of vision, logical faculty and literary skill, did not possess the strong faith and resolute courage—to say nothing of that wonderful tenacity of purpose and power of research which were such striking characteristics of Darwin—which would have enabled him to do for the organic what he did for the inorganic world. If it be true, as Darwin used to suggest, that the Origin of Species might never have been written had not Lyell first produced the Principles of Geology, I believe it is no less certain that the crowning of Lyell's great edifice, by the full application of his principles to the world of living beings, could only have been accomplished by a man possessing, in unique combination, the powers of observation, experiment, reasoning and criticism, joined to unswerving determination, which distinguished Darwin.
Starting from Lyell's most advanced post, Darwin boldly advanced into regions in which his friend was unable to lead, and indeed long hesitated to follow. Together, for nearly forty years, the two men—influencing one another 'as iron sharpeneth iron'—thought and communed and worked, aided at all times by the wide knowledge and judicious criticism of the sagacious Hooker; and together the fame of these men will go down to posterity.
There is a tendency, when a great man has passed from our midst, to estimate his merits and labours with undiscriminating, and often perhaps exaggerated, admiration; and this excessive praise is too often followed by a reaction, as the result of which the idol of one generation becomes almost commonplace to the next. A still further period is required before the proper position of mental perspective is reached by us, and a just judgment can be formed of the man's real place in history. The reputations of both Lyell and Darwin have, I think, passed through both these two earlier phases of thought, and we may have arrived at the third stage.
There was one respect in which both Lyell and Darwin failed to satisfy many both of their contemporaries and successors. Lyell, like Hutton, always deprecated attempts to go back to a 'beginning,' while Darwin, who strongly supported Lyell in his geological views, was equally averse to speculations concerning the 'origin of life on the globe.' Scrope[146], and also Huxley[147] in his earlier days, held the opinion that it was legitimate to assume or imagine a beginning, from which, with ever diminishing energy, the existing 'comparatively quiet conditions,' thought to characterise the present order of the world, would be reached. Both Lyell and Darwin insisted that geology is a historical science, and must be treated as such quite distinct from Cosmogony. And in the end, Huxley accepted the same view[148]. 'Geology,' he asserted, 'is as much a historical science as archaeology.'
The sober historian has always had to contend against the traditional belief that 'there were giants on the earth in those days!' The love of the marvellous has always led to the ascription of past events to the work of demigods who were not of like powers and passions with ourselves. Hence the invention of those 'catastrophies'—in which the reputations of deities as well as of men and women have often suffered. It is the same tendency in the human mind which makes it so difficult to conceive of all the changes in the earth's surface-features and its inhabitants being due to similar operations to those still going on around us.
Lyell's views have constantly been misrepresented by the belief being ascribed to him that 'the forces operating on the globe have never acted with greater intensity than at the present day.' But his real position in this matter was a frankly 'agnostic' one. 'Bring me evidence,' he would have said, 'that changes have taken place on the globe, which cannot be accounted for by agencies still at work when operating through sufficiently long periods of time, and I will abandon my position.' But such evidence was not forthcoming in his day, and I do not think has ever been discovered since. Professor Sollas has very justly said, 'Geology has no need to return to the catastrophism of its youth; in becoming evolutional it does not cease to remain essentially uniformitarian[149].'
Alfred Russel Wallace, who has always been as stout a defender of the views of Lyell as he has of those of Darwin, has given me his permission to quote from a letter he wrote me in 1888. After referring to what he regards as the weak and mistaken attacks on Lyell's teachings, 'which have of late years been so general among geologists,' he says:—
'I have always been surprised when men have advanced the view that volcanic action must have been greater when the earth was hotter, and entirely ignore the numerous indications that both subterranean and meteorological forces, even in Palaeozoic times, were of the same order of magnitude as they are now—and this I have always believed is what Lyell's teaching implies.'
I believe that Mr Wallace's expression, adopted from the mathematicians, 'the same order of magnitude,' would have met with Lyell's complete acquiescence. He was not so unwise as to suppose that, in the limited periods of human history, we must necessarily have had experience—even at Krakatoa or 'Skaptar Jokull'—of nature's greatest possible convulsions, but he fought tenaciously against any admission of 'cataclysms' that would belong to a totally different category to those of the present day.
Apart from theological objections, the most formidable obstacle to the reception of evolutionary ideas had always been the prejudice against the admission of vast duration of past geological time. It was unfortunate that, even when rational historical criticism had to a great extent neutralised the effect of Archbishop Usher's chronology, the mathematicians and physicists, assuming certain sources of heat in the earth and sun could have been the only possible ones, tried to set a limit to the time at the disposal of the geologist and biologist. Happily the discovery of radio-activity and the new sources of heat opened up by that discovery, have removed those objections, which were like a nightmare to both Geology and Biology.
Lyell used to relate the story of a man, who, from a condition of dire poverty, suddenly became the possessor of vast wealth, and when remonstrated with by friends on the inadequacy of a subscription he had offered, the poor fellow exclaimed sadly, 'Ah! you don't know how hard it is to get the chill of poverty out of one's bones.'
Geologists and biologists alike have long been the victims of this 'chill of poverty,' with respect to past time. So long as physicists insisted that one hundred millions, or forty millions, or even ten millions of years, must be the limit of geological time, it was not possible to avoid the conclusion stated by Lord Salisbury in 1894, 'Of course, if the mathematicians are right the biologists cannot have what they demand[150].' But now geologists and biologists may alike feel that the liberty with respect to space, which is granted ungrudgingly to the astronomer, is no longer withheld from them in regard to time. We can say with old Lamarck:—
'For Nature, Time is nothing. It is never a difficulty, she always has it at her disposal; and it is for her the means by which she has accomplished the greatest as well as the least results. For all the evolution of the earth and of living beings, Nature needs but three elements—Space, Time and Matter[151].'
Darwin, equally with Lyell, has suffered from a reaction following on extravagant and uninformed praise of his work. The fields in which he laboured single-handed, have yielded to hundreds of workers in many lands an abundant harvest. New doctrines and improved methods of enquiry have arisen—Mutationism, Mendelism, Weismannism, Neo-Lamarckism, Biometrics, Eugenics and what not—are being diligently exploited. But all of these vigorous growths have their real roots in Darwinism. If we study Darwin's correspondence, and the successive essays in which he embodied his views at different periods, we shall find, variation by mutation (or per saltum), the influence of environment, the question of the inheritance of acquired characters and similar problems were constantly present to Darwin's ever open mind, his views upon them changing from time to time, as fresh facts were gathered.
No one could sympathise more fully than would Darwin, were he still with us, in these various departures. He was compelled, from want of evidence, to regard variations as spontaneous, but would have heartily welcomed every attempt to discover the laws which govern them; and equally would he have delighted in researches directed to the investigation of the determining factors, controlling conditions and limits of inheritance. The man who so carefully counted and weighed his seeds in botanical experiments, could not but rejoice in the refined mathematical methods now being applied to biological problems.
Let us not 'in looking at the trees, lose sight of the wood.' Underlying all the problems, some of them very hotly discussed at the present day, there is the great central principle of Natural Selection—which if not the sole factor in evolution, is undoubtedly a very important and potent one. It is only necessary to compare the present position of the Natural History sciences with that which existed immediately before the publication of the Origin of Species, to realise the greatness of Darwin's achievement.
The fame of both Lyell and Darwin will endure, and their names will remain as closely linked as were the two men in their lives, the two devoted friends, whose remains found a meet resting-place, almost side by side, in the Abbey of Westminster. Very touching indeed was it to witness the marks of affection between these two great men; an affection which remained undiminished to the end. Lyell was twelve years senior to Darwin, and died seven years before his friend. During the last year of Lyell's life, I spent the summer with him at his home in Forfarshire. How well do I recollect the keenness with which—in spite of a near-sightedness that had increased with age almost to blindness—he still devoted himself to geological work. The 264 note-books, all carefully indexed, were in constant use, and visits were made to all the haunts of his youth, with the frequent pathetic appeal to me, 'You must lend me your eyes.' In spite of age and weakness, he would insist on clambering up the steepest hills to show me where he had found glacial markings, and would eagerly listen to my report on them. But the great delight of those days was the arrival of a letter from Darwin! Lyell was the recipient of many honours, and he declined many more, when he feared that they might interfere with the work to which he had devoted his life, but the distinction he prized most of all was that conferred on him by his life-long friend, who used to address him as 'My dear old Master,' and subscribe himself 'Your affectionate pupil.'
During the seven years that elapsed after the death of Lyell, I saw Darwin from time to time, for he loved to hear 'what was doing' in his 'favourite science.' On board the Beagle, before he had met the man whose life and work were to be so closely linked with his own, he was in the habit of specially treasuring up any 'facts that would interest Mr Lyell'; in middle life he declared that 'when seeing a thing never seen by Lyell, one yet saw it partially through his eyes[152]'; and never, I think, did we meet after the friend was gone, without the oft repeated query, 'What would Lyell have said to that?'
These reminiscences of the past, in which I have ventured to indulge, may not inappropriately conclude with a reference to the last interview I was privileged to have with him, who was 'the noblest Roman of them all!' On the occasion of his last visit to London, in December, 1881, Charles Darwin wrote asking me to take lunch with him at his daughter's house, and to have 'a little talk' on geology. Greatly was I surprised at the vigour which he showed on that afternoon, for, contrary to his usual practice, he did not interrupt the conversation to retire and rest for a time, though I suggested the desirability of his doing so, and offered to stay. His brightness and animation, which were perhaps a little forced, struck me as so unusual that I laughingly suggested that he was 'renewing his youth.' Then a slight shade passed over his countenance—but only for a moment—as he told me that he had 'received his warning.' The attack, to which his son has alluded, as being the prelude to the end[153], had occurred during this visit to town; and he intimated to me that he knew his heart was seriously affected. Never shall I forget how, seeing my concern, he insisted on accompanying me to the door, and how, with the ever kindly smile on his countenance, he held my hand in a prolonged grasp, that I sadly felt might perhaps be the last. And so it proved.
And now all the world is united in the conviction which Darwin so modestly expressed concerning his own career, 'I believe that I have acted rightly in steadily following and devoting myself to science!'
For has not that devotion resulted in a complete reform of the Natural-History Sciences! The doctrine of the 'immutability of species'—like that of 'Catastrophism' in the inorganic world—has been eliminated from the Biological sciences by Darwin, through his steadily following the clues found by him during his South American travels; and continuity is now as much the accepted creed of botanists and zoologists as it is of geologists. As a result of the labours of Darwin, new lines of thought have been opened out, fresh fields of investigation discovered, and the infinite variety among living things has acquired a grander aspect and a special significance. Very justly, then, has Darwin been universally acclaimed as 'the Newton of Natural History.'
NOTES
In the following references, L.L.L. indicates the "Life and Letters of Sir Charles Lyell" by Mrs K. Lyell (1881), D.L.L. the "Life and Letters of Charles Darwin" by F. Darwin (1887), M.L.D. "More Letters of Charles Darwin" edited by F. Darwin and A. C. Seward (1903), and H.C.E. Huxley's "Collected Essays."
[1] The Darwin-Wallace Celebration, Linn. Soc. (1908), p. 10.
[2] Darwin and Modern Science (1909), pp. 152-170.
[3] Pope, Essay on Man, Ep. I. lines 111-2.
[4] Genesis, Chap. XXX. verses 31-43.
[5] Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1900 (Bradford), pp. 916-920.
[6] Ibid. 1909 (Winnipeg), pp. 491-493.
[7] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 468.
[8] Origin of Species, Chap. XV. end.
[9] Milton, Paradise Lost, Bk. VII. lines 454-466.
[10] Edinb. Rev. LXIX. (July 1839), pp. 446-465.
[11] Principles of Geology, Vol. I. (1830), p. 61.
[12] Zittel, Hist. of Geol. &c. Eng. transl. p. 72.
[13] Quart. Rev. Vol. XLVIII. (March 1832), p. 126.
[14] Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1866 (Nottingham).
[15] H.C.E. Vol. VIII. p. 315.
[16] Ibid. p. 190.
[17] D.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 179-204.
[18] H.C.E. Vol. V. p. 101.
[19] D.L.L. Vol. II. p. 190.
[20] Edinb. Rev. Vol. LXIX. (July 1839), p. 455 note.
[21] 'Theory of the Earth,' Vol. II. p. 67.
[22] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 272.
[23] Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1833 (Cambridge), pp. 365-414.
[24] Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales, p. xliv.
[25] Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory, p. iii.
[26] Edinb. Rev. LXIX. (July 1839), p. 455 note.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Zittel, Hist. of Geol. &c. Eng. transl. p. 141.
[29] Considerations on Volcanoes, &c. (1825), pp. iv-vi.
[30] Volcanoes of Central France, 2nd Ed. (1858), p. vii.
[31] See Quart. Rev. Vol. XXXVI. (Oct. 1827), pp. 437-485.
[32] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 46.
[33] Principles of Geology, Vol. II. 2nd Ed.
[34] L.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 47-8.
[35] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 268.
[36] Environs de Paris (1811), p. 56.
[37] Trans. Geol. Soc. 2nd Ser. Vol. II. pp. 73-96.
[38] See Mantell's Geology of the Isle of Wight and L.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 114-122.
[39] Hist. of Geol. &c. Eng. transl. p. 188.
[40] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 173.
[41] British Critic and Theological Review (1830), p. 7 of the review.
[42] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 177.
[43] Preface to Vol. III. of the 'Principles' (1833), p. vii.
[44] L.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 233-4.
[45] Charles Lyell and Modern Geology (1898), p. 214.
[46] Proc. Geol. Soc. Vol. I. p. 374.
[47] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 196.
[48] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 197.
[49] Proc. Geol. Soc. Vol. I. pp. 145-9.
[50] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 253.
[51] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 234.
[52] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 271.
[53] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 270.
[54] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 271.
[55] Quart. Rev. Vol. XLIII. (Oct. 1830), pp. 411-469 and Vol. LIII. (Sept. 1835), pp. 406-448. Both these reviews are by Scrope. The Review of the 2nd Vol. of the 'Principles,' Q.R. Vol. XLVII. (March 1832), pp. 103-132 is by Whewell.
[56] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 270.
[57] Ibid. Vol. I. pp. 260-1.
[58] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 314.
[59] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 165.
[60] M.L.D. Vol. II. p. 232 and D.L.L. Vol. II. p. 190.
[61] L.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 316-7.
[62] Proc. Geol. Soc. Vol. I. pp. 302-3.
[63] L.L.L. Vol. II. p. 41.
[64] See also D.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 72-3.
[65] Nineteenth Century, Oct. 1895, and Controverted Questions in Geology (1895), pp. 1-18.
[66] M.L.D. Vol. II. p. 117.
[67] D.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 337-8 and p. 342.
[68] Origin of Species, Chap. X. See also Darwin and Modern Science, pp. 337-385.
[69] D.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 341-2.
[70] L.L.L. Vol. II. p. 44.
[71] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 296.
[72] Ibid. p. 72.
[73] Ibid. p. 71.
[74] A. R. Wallace, 'My Life, &c.' (1905), Vol. I. p. 433.
[75] The Darwin-Wallace Celebration, Linn. Soc. (1908), p. 118.
[76] L.L.L. Vol. II. p. 459.
[77] Report of lecture at Forrester's Hall.
[78] H.C.E. Vol. VIII. p. 312.
[79] D.L.L. Vol. II. p. 190.
[80] L.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 2, 3.
[81] Ibid. Vol. II. p. 36.
[82] Ibid. Vol. II. p. 5.
[83] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 94.
[84] L.L.L. Vol. I. pp. 417-8.
[85] H. F. Osborn, 'From the Greeks to Darwin' (1894), p. 165.
[86] Loc. cit. pp. 467-469.
[87] L.L.L. Vol. I. p. 168.
[88] Ibid. Vol. II. p. 365.
[89] D.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 23, 29, 39.
[90] Ibid. Vol. III. p. 15 (see also pp. 11-14).
[91] 'Origin of Species,' 6th Ed. (1875), p. xiv.
[92] 'Darwin and Modern Science,' p. 125.
[93] 'Origin of Species,' 6th Ed. (1875), pp. xvi, xvii.
[94] M.L.D. Vol. I. p. 3.
[95] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 41.
[96] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 41.
[97] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 52.
[98] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 58.
[99] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 58.
[100] H.C.E. Vol. II. p. 271.
[101] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 73.
[102] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 263.
[103] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 38.
[104] H.C.E. Vol. II. p. 20.
[105] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 275.
[106] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 83.
[107] Ibid. Vol. II. pp. 5-10.
[108] H.C.E. Vol. II. p. 71.
[109] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 47.
[110] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 84.
[111] Macmillan's Magazine, Feb. 1888, p. 241.
[112] My Life, &c. Vol. I. p. 355.
[113] Darwin-Wallace Celebration, Linn. Soc. (1908), pp. 6-7.
[114] Ibid. pp. 14-16.
[115] D.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 116-7.
[116] 'Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection' (1871), Preface, pp. iv, v.
[117] Darwin-Wallace Celebration, Linn. Soc. (1908), p. 7.
[118] Ibid. p. 7.
[119] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 66.
[120] Ibid. Vol. I. pp. 62-3.
[121] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 66.
[122] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 66.
[123] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 83.
[124] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 84.
[125] 'The Foundations of the Origin of Species' (1909), p. xv.
[126] Letter to A. R. Wallace, Christ's Coll. Mag. Vol. XXIII. (1909), p. 229.
[127] D.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 16-18.
[128] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 347.
[129] D.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 19-21.
[130] Huxley's Life and Letters (1900), Vol. I. p. 94.
[131] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 83.
[132] Science Progress, Vol. III. (1908), pp. 537-542.
[133] D.L.L. Vol. II. p. 160.
[134] H.C.E. Vol. II. pp. 227-243.
[135] D.L.L. Vol. II. pp. 179-204.
[136] Ibid. Vol. II. p. 255.
[137] The Review is republished in H.C.E. Vol. II. pp. 1-21.
[138] Huxley's Life and Letters, Vol. I. pp. 179-189.
[139] D.L.L. Vol. II. p. 185.
[140] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 93.
[141] See Haeckel's 'History of Creation.'
[142] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 71.
[143] Ibid. Vol. I. p. 72.
[144] D.L.L. Vol. I. p. 98; Vol. III. pp. 217-218.
[145] H.C.E. Vol. II. p. 247.
[146] Quart. Rev. XLIII. pp. 464-467 and Vol. LIII. pp. 446-448.
[147] H.C.E. Vol. VIII. p. 315.
[148] H.C.E. Vol. V. p. 99.
[149] The Age of the Earth and other Geological Studies, p. 322.
[150] Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1894 (Oxford), p. 13.
[151] 'Hydrogéologie,' p. 67.
[152] M.L.D. Vol. II. p. 117.
[153] D.L.L. Vol. III. p. 356.
INDEX
Adaptation, in relation to divergence of species, Darwin's recognition of, [108], [109]
Agriculturalists, ideas of creation, [5], [6]
Arnold, Matthew, on Lucretius and Darwin, [3], [4]
Auvergne, N. Desmarest on, [17];
Scrope on, [35];
visited by Lyell and Murchison, [56], [57];
their memoir on, [58]
'Beagle,' H.M.S., Darwin's voyage in, [98], [99];
narrative of, [106]
Bonney, T. G., estimate of amount of Lyell's travels by, [56], [57]
Botanical works of Darwin, [141]
British Critic, Whewell's review of Lyell in, [53]
Broderip, W. J., aid given to Lyell by, [65];
Vol. II. of Principles dedicated to, [65]
Brown, Robert, assistance to Lyell by, [47]
Buckland, Dr, on infant Geological Society, [26];
champion of 'Catastrophism' in England, [27];
'Equestrian Geology' of, [28];
influence on Lyell, [34], [44];
2nd edition of Vol. I. of Principles dedicated to, [44];
his opposition to Lyell, [71]
Cambridge, Darwin at, [97], [98]
Candolle, A. P. de, on struggle for existence, [107]
Catastrophism, origin of idea of, [14], [15];
defined, [22];
origin of term, [22];
connexion with orthodoxy, [21];
championed by Buckland, Sedgwick &c., [27];
opposition by Lyell and Darwin to, [105]
Centres of Creation, Lyell's views on, [65]
Chambers, Robert, publishes Vestiges of Creation, [92];
his reasons for anonymity, [93]
Chemists, part played in early days of Geological Society by, [26]
Christ's College, Cambridge, the home of Milton and Darwin, [13];
of Paley, [108]
Clodd, E., his Pioneers of Evolution, [16]
Continuity, term for Evolution suggested by Grove, [23]
Conybeare, W. D., advocacy of Catastrophism, [27];
criticism of Hutton, [28];
misconception of Hutton, [29];
on formation of Thames Valley, [58];
friendship with Lyell, [69]
Creation, legends of, [5]-[7];
use of term by Lyell and Darwin, [11];
contrast of their views with those of Milton, [12], [13]
Criticisms of the Principles of Geology, [68], [69], [70], [71];
of the Origin of Species, [132]-[139]
Cuvier, his strong support of Catastrophism, [31], [46], [50], [102]
Darwin, Charles, nobility of character, [3];
his use of term 'Creation,' [11];
on grandeur of idea of Evolution, [12];
his devotion to Lyell and the Principles of Geology, [63], [73]-[75], [78];
his horror of slavery, [76];
opposition to Catastrophism, [77];
opinion of Lamarck's works, [90], [91]:
on the Vestiges of Creation, [94];
his dislike for speculation, [101];
his optimism and courage, [77];
his birth and education, [95], [96];
life at Edinburgh, [97];
voyage in the 'Beagle,' [99], [100];
first awakening to the idea of Evolution, [102], [104];
work with Lyell at Geological Society, [105];
begins 'species work,' [106];
influence of Malthus's work on, [107];
intercourse with Wallace, [113];
action in respect to theory, [128], [129];
his first literary ambitions, [116];
difficulties of work caused by ill-health, [117], [118], [119];
his loss of appreciation for music and literature, and its cause, [134], [135];
later writings on Evolution, [141], [144];
his declining years, [147], [158], [159];
his death, [147];
present position of his theory of Natural Selection, [155], [156], [159]
Darwin, Erasmus, his independent conception of Lamarckism, [91], [92];
absence of influence on his grandson, [95], [101]
Darwin, Erasmus (the younger), advice given to Charles on publication, [122]
Darwin, Francis, edited Life and Letters &c., [121];
extracts from C.D.'s note-books &c., and Foundations of the Origin of Species, [123];
on his father's health, [118]
Darwin, Mrs, her care of her husband's health, [118];
read proofs of Origin of Species, [132]
Daubeny, C. G. B., assists Lyell in his researches, [47]
De la Beche, H., his attitude with respect to evolution, [71]
Deshayes, G. B., assists Lyell in conchological work, [66]
Desmarest, N., work in Auvergne, [17];
evolutionary views of, [17], [20]
Earthworms, Darwin's work on, [147]
Edinburgh, Darwin's life at, [97];
Wernerian Society at, founded by Jameson, [21], [25]
Egypt, idea of inorganic evolution originated in, [15]
Entomology, influence of, on Lyell, [42], [57];
on Darwin, [96];
on Wallace, [110]
'Equestrian Geology,' popularity of, at Oxford, [27];
at Cambridge, [28]
Evolution, in organic and inorganic world, [14];
how ideas originated, [15]-[16], [82], [83];
revolution effected by, [1], [32], [159];
causes of opposition to, [20], [21], [155];
opposition of Sedgwick and Whewell, [83];
support of Herschel, [83]
Euclid, influence on Darwin, [108]
Faraday, M., assistance given to Lyell by, [47]
Fitton, Dr, on supposed indebtedness of Hutton to Generelli, [18];
and of Lyell to Hutton, [18];
on causes of Hutton's failure to reform geology, [23], [25];
his attitude towards Lyell's views, [30], [71]
Fluvialists, [58]
Forbes, David, intercourse with Darwin, [119]
Fossil bones, discovery of, in South America first suggests to Darwin mutability of species, [102]
Foundations of the Origin of Species, [123]
Frazer, J. G., on legends of creation, [5], [7]
Galapagos Islands, influence of study of fauna on Darwin, [104]
Generelli, advocacy of Evolution, [17], [20]
Geographical distribution, Lyell on, [65];
Wallace on, [146]
Geological Society, foundation of, [25];
early history, [26];
connexion of Lyell with, [44], [71]:
of Scrope, [50];
discussions on rival doctrines at, [24], [25], [29], [30], [60], [76], [77], [105]
Geology, Darwin's interest in, [96], [99], [124], [147], [158]
Gibbon, his influence on Lyell, [52], [67]
Greenough, G. B., founds Geological Society and first President, [26];
his strong support of Wernerism, [26], [29]
Grove, R., suggests term 'Continuity,' [23]
Günther, Dr, his estimate of number of species of animals, [10]
Haeckel, E., credits Lyell with early conviction of Evolution, [84]
Henslow, J. S., friendship for and help of Darwin, [97], [98], [99];
opposition to Evolution, [27], [72]
Heredity, early recognition of importance, [9]
Herschel, J., belief in Evolution, [12], [71];
correspondence with Lyell, [12], [83], [85]
Hoff, C. von, influence of his works on Lyell, [49]
Hooker, J. D., friendship with Lyell's father, [126];
voyage to Antarctic with Ross, [126];
introduction to Darwin, [126];
correspondence with, [127];
assistance to Darwin, [126];
advice to, [129];
on origin of Australian flora, [139];
friendship with Lyell, [79], [126]
Hutton, his Theory of the Earth, [17], [18], [19], [20];
rarity of the book, [30];
small influence of, [21];
supposed infidelity and persecution of, [21], [22], [25], [69];
Lyell's mistaken views on, [54];
difference of his theory from Lyell's, [53]
Huxley, T. H., early views on distinction of Uniformitarianism and Evolution, [23];
later view of identity, [23], [24];
influence of Darwin on, [24], [127], [144];
on 1st edition of Principles, [67], [80], [81];
argues for Lyell's belief in Evolution, [84];
reviews Origin of Species, [136], [137];
reply to Bishop of Oxford, [138];
defence of Darwinism, [140];
on Darwin's death, [147], [148];
on Lyell's death, [80]
Hybridity, Lyell's discussion on, [65], [103]
Hypotheses of Creation, twofold character of, [5]-[8]
Ideas v. Actions, Wallace on, [4]
Independent discovery of Natural Selection by Wallace, [113];
Darwin's letter on, [113]
Italian geologists, their anticipation of evolutionary ideas, [17]
Jacob, his frauds based on ideas of heredity and variation, [9]
Jameson, R., founds Wernerian Society 1807, [25];
influence on Darwin, [97]
Journal of Researches, by Darwin, [106];
dedicated to Lyell, [72]
King's College, London, Lyell professor at, [65], [66]
Kinnordy, Lyell at, [42], [43], [46]
Kirwan, De Luc, and Williams, opposition to Hutton, [25]
Lamarck, his Hydrogéologie, [87];
Philosophie Zoologique, [88];
Lyell's admiration of, [64], [89];
criticism of theory, [64], [90];
views of Darwin on, [90], [91];
on geological time, [155]
Linnean Society, papers of Darwin and Wallace at, [112], [129], [130]
Literature, Lyell and, [52], [67];
Darwin and, [116], [117], [120];
his loss of interest in, [134], [135]
Lockhart and Quarterly Review, [60]
Lucretius, belief in Evolution, [3], [4]
Lyell, Charles, use of term 'Creation,' [11];
on grandeur of idea of Evolution, [12];
birth and ancestry, [41];
influence of Buckland on, [34], [42]-[44];
on Cuvier, [46];
change of views not due to Hutton's works, [45];
but to travel and observation, [45];
in East Anglia, [45];
abandons career as barrister for geology, [48];
work with Dr Mantell, [48];
visits to Continent, [48];
influence of von Hoff's works, [49];
of Scrope, [50];
his remarks on Hutton's supposed heresies, [51], [54];
influence of Gibbon on his literary style, [52];
praise of Hutton and Playfair at later date, [53];
review of Scrope's book on Auvergne, [56];
visit to Auvergne with Murchison, [56];
advocacy of travel for geologists, [56];
journeys in Italy, [58];
Lyell on Murchison, [57];
Murchison on Lyell, [58];
Lyell's avoidance of controversy, [63];
differences of opinion with Scrope, [62], [63];
attention to literary style, [65];
professorship at King's College, London, [65], [69];
lectures, [66];
controversies at Geological Society, [71];
aid of Darwin in discussions, [71];
his friendship with Darwin, [73], [104], [105];
his extreme caution, [75]-[77];
candour in finally accepting Natural Selection, [77];
opposition to his views, [83], [84];
his belief in Evolution at an early date, [81], [84]-[86];
his anticipation of 'Mimicry,' [85], [86];
his action in Darwin-Wallace episode, [113], [129];
induces Darwin to commence writing his work, [128];
his attitude towards theory of Natural Selection, [139], [140], [145];
great influence of Lyell's works on Darwin and Evolution, [150];
misrepresentation of his views, [152]-[154];
his declining years, [157];
last hours, [80];
Hooker's tribute to his memory, [79], [80]
Lyell, Charles (the elder), botanist and student of Dante, [41];
intercourse with the Hookers, [126]
Malthus, On Population, influence of work on Darwin, [107];
on Wallace, [112]
Man, descent of, Darwin's work on, [142], [144];
Wallace's views on, [144]
Mantell, Lyell's researches with, [48];
correspondence with, [55], [89]
Matthew, P., anticipation of theory of Natural Selection, [92]
Milton, description of creation, [13];
Darwin's early love of his poetry, [134];
at Christ's College, Cambridge, [13]
Mimicry, doctrine of, Lyell's early recognition of importance, [85], [86]
Modern Science, Darwin and, [148]
Murchison, accompanies Lyell to Auvergne, [56];
opinion of Lyell, [57];
Lyell's opinion of, [57], [58];
3rd Vol. of Principles dedicated to, [66];
correspondence with, [59]
Murray, John, and Quarterly Review, [60];
publishes Lyell's works, [60];
publishes Darwin's works, [130];
his reminiscences of Darwin, [132]
Music, Darwin's loss of power to appreciate, and its cause, [134], [135]
Natural Selection, theory of, defined by Huxley, [106];
forestalled by Wells, Matthew &c., [18], [19];
first conception of by Darwin, [107];
by Wallace, [112]
'Neptunism' or 'Wernerism' and Catastrophism, [18]
Newton, Professor A., on vague hopes of solution of 'species question' before Darwin, [94], [109]
Origin of Species, first idea of, [121];
plan proposed to follow Principles, [123];
first sketch of 1842, enlarged draft of 1844, commencement of great treatise on Evolution in 1856, interruption by arrival of Wallace's papers, [128], [129];
the 'Abstract' or Origin of Species commenced, [130];
finished, [131];
Osborn, H. F., his From the Greeks to Darwin, [16];
on Lamarck, [87]
Paley, his influence on Darwin, [108]
Phillips, John, his attitude towards Lyell's views, [30], [71]
Philosophers, on Evolution, [16], [82]
Playfair, John, his Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory, [29];
explains the causes of Hutton's failure, [30]
'Plutonism,' 'Vulcanism,' or 'Huttonism,' [18]
Poets and Evolution, [16]
Prestwich, Sir J., opposition to Lyell's views, [72]
Prevost, Constant, aid to Lyell, [50];
opposition to Cuvier, [50]
Priestley, persecution of, [21], [69]
Principles of Geology, first idea of, [55];
early draft sent to publisher in 1827, [56];
withdrawn and rewritten in 1830, [56];
issue of first volume, [63];
success, [64];
decision to confine Vol. II. to Organic Evolution, [65];
3rd volume, classification of Tertiaries and Metamorphic theory, [66];
later editions, [66];
Elements, Manual and Student's elements, [67];
success of work, [67];
Darwin's opinion on, [67];
Wallace on, [79];
criticisms of, [68], [69], [70], [71]
Pythagoras, his evolutionary ideas, [16]
Quarterly Review, articles by Lyell, [56], [89];
Reviews, of the Principles by Scrope, [56], [89];
of the Origin by Huxley, [136], [137]
Scrope, G. Poulett, education, [34];
travels, [34];
work in Auvergne, [35];
in Italy, [35];
delay in publishing, [35];
work on volcanoes, [36];
his just views on Evolution, [37]-[39];
cause of want of recognition of his work, [39], [40];
devotion to politics, [40];
reviews of Principles, [41], [61];
correspondence with and influence on Lyell, [50], [61];
his differences of opinion from Lyell, [62], [63], [151];
effects of his review, [64]
Sedgwick, A., advocates Catastrophism, [27], [28];
opposition to Hutton, influence on Scrope, [34];
on Darwin, [98];
opposition to Lyell, [83];
weakening of opposition to, [58];
dislike to Evolution, [83]
Shipley, A. E., estimate of number of species of animals, [10]
Slavery, views of Lyell and Darwin, [76]
Smith, W., influence of his teaching on Geological Society, [27]
Sollas, W. J., on Evolution and Uniformitarianism, [152], [153]
Species, origin of idea of, [9];
number of species of animals, [10];
of plants, [11]
Struggle for existence, Lyell on, [103], [107];
de Candolle on, [107]
Theory of the Earth, Hutton's, [17];
Scrope's, [36]
Thompson, G. P., see Scrope, [33]
Time geological, Lyell on, [154];
Lamarck on, [155]
Tollet, Miss G., aids Darwin in revising Origin of Species, [132]
Uniformitarianism, origin of the term, [14], [15], [22]
Uniformity (or Continuity), Lyell's real views on, [62], [63];
misconceptions of his views on, [151], [152], [155]
University of London, Lyell's connexion with, [59], [65]
Variation, early recognition of its importance, [9];
Lyell's discussion of, [64], [103];
Darwin's work on, [141]
Vestiges of Creation, influence of, [93];
Darwin on, [94];
Wallace on, [110]
Vines, S. H., estimate of number of species of plants, [10]
Volcanoes, Scrope on, [36]
Vulcanism, see Plutonism &c., [18]
Wallace, Alfred Russel, on ideas and actions, [4];
his early life, [110];
in South America, [110];
in Malay Archipelago, [110];
influence of Principles on, [79], [110];
speculations at Sarawak, [111];
influence of Malthus on, [112];
conception of idea of Natural Selection, [111], [112];
ignorance of Darwin's views, [112];
statement on his relation to Darwin, [113], [114];
his magnanimity, [114];
on geographical distribution of animals, [146];
his defence of Lyell's principle of Uniformity, [153]
Wells, Dr, his anticipation of theory of Natural Selection, [92]
Werner, success of his teachings, [21], [26], [27];
his influence on early geologists, [26]
Wernerian Society, founded, 1807, by Jameson, [21], [25]
Wernerism, [18]
Whewell, Dr, contrast of doctrines of Hutton and Lyell, [22], [53];
originates terms 'Catastrophism,' 'Uniformitarianism,' [22];
and 'Geological Dynamics,' [70];
reviews Principles, [53];
opposition to Evolution, [83]
World, small part known to ancients, [9]
Worms, Darwin's work on, [147]
Zittel, K. von, on Hutton's work, [19];
on von Hoff and Lyell, [50]
Zoonomia of Erasmus Darwin, [101]
Cambridge:
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