Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875

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Sir Charles Lyell, first baronet, (1797-1875, APS, 1842) was a geologist and lawyer, whose Principles of Geology explained “former changes of the earth’s surface” by means of “modern causes.” Critical of the “catastrophist” views of many contemporary geologists, Lyell considered the earth “a system of balanced antagonistic processes,” a theory later described as uniformitarian. Although he rejected Jean Baptiste Lamarck’s theory of species mutability early in his career, later he favorably reviewed the arguments of Charles Darwin for natural selection as the evolutionary mechanism behind the emergence of new species.

The eldest son of Charles Lyell and Frances Smith, Lyell developed a passion for natural history as a boy in New Forest, Forfarshire in Scotland. He was educated in private schools in Midhurst, Sussex county England and entered Exeter College, Oxford in 1816, where he attended William Buckland’s lectures on mineralogy and geology for three years. Lyell graduated B.A. in 1819 with a second class in classical honors. He received an M.A. in 1821, before entering Lincoln’s Inn to prepare for a legal career. Nevertheless, Lyell aimed to become a man of science, and to this end Buckland recommended him for membership in the Geological Society, which he joined together with the Linnean society.

Lyell began Geological research in 1821, after meeting Gideon Mantel, an English obstetrician, geologist and paleontologist, working on “Secondary” formations of rocks in Sussex. Lyell also studied younger “Tertiary” formations of the Chalk area of Dorset and Hampshire developed during the Cretaceous period. So, by the age of 24 Lyell was doing the kind of geological research (later called stratigraphy) then practiced by other members of the Geological Society.

In 1822 Lyell was called to the bar; nevertheless, geology quickly became more important to him than the Law. In 1823 he was elected secretary of the Geological Society of London and spent the summer in Paris, making the rounds of French scientific circles, and improving his French, then the language of science. He met established figures of the French scientific community, including Georges Cuvier and Alexandre Brongniart (1770-1847, APS 1819). Brongniart’s former student Constant Prévost took time to show him the formations of the Paris basin.

Lyell’s meeting with Prèvost proved a critical juncture for his career, since Prèvost convinced the young Scot that the formations outside of Paris could have been deposited under the similar conditions as those existing in present day lakes and seas, the result of so-called “modern causes,” processes observable in the present world. Later that year, Lyell studied the sediments he found in a small, recently drained lake in Kinnordy, and, in his first scientific paper presented to the Geological Society Lyell asserted the lake deposits were very similar to some of the Parisian rocks he had examined. He found no sharp contrast between the “former world” and the present one. Consequently, he maintained that “modern causes” are adequate to explain traces of the remote past. This paper presented the basic idea for all of his future work in geology.

By 1825 Lyell’s father was displeased that his son had not established himself in a successful Law practice. Consequently, Lyell felt compelled to spend more time on legal work in 1826. However, the same year Lyell was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and was also appointed foreign secretary of the Geological Society. He was also becoming known in British intellectual circles, beyond geology. In addition to these memberships, in 1825 Scottish publisher John Murray invited Lyell to write for the Tory Quarterly Review. The position afforded Lyell a much needed source of income, but also provided him a venue for promoting the causes of moderate political reform, state sponsorship of the sciences and the reform of the ancient universities.

In an 1826 essay in the Quarterly Review on the publications of the Geological Society Lyell extolled the group for pursuing a science of careful observation, rather than speculative theorizing. While sticking to the accepted view that complex organisms had appeared over time, as the earth slowly cooled, he distinguished himself from other members of the Geological Society by suggesting that “modern causes” might be responsible for much more geological development than most contemporary geologists admitted. Lyell’s essays for the Quarterly Review concluded with a review of a new book on French geology by his friend George Scrope in which he agreed with the author that what was necessary to explain geological development was simply “Time! Time! Time!” Also, at this time Lyell began to plan a book to introduce his view that geology would only become truly scientific, if it was based on “modern causes,” since only these could be directly observed.

In 1828 Lyell joined Scottish geologist Roderick Murchison (1792-1871, APS 1860) in a fieldwork tour of the European continent. Heading first for Auvergne in central France, they moved on to Italy, where Lyell developed a rough timeline for the most recent era of the earth’s geologic development represented in Tertiary rock formations. Back in England after the continental tour, he presented his findings to the Geological Society, incorporating the evidence of a broad fossil survey in Tertiary formations by French conchologist Gerard Deshayes.

In July 1830 Lyell published the first volume of Principles of Geology, recalling the title of Newton’s revolutionary Principia Mathematica. In it he attempted “to explain the former changes of the earth’s surface, by reference to causes now in operation.” He provided a systematic description of these so-called “modern causes” such as volcanoes, earthquakes, sedimentation and erosion, taken from a range of sources, including accounts of expeditions and voyages. However, Lyell’s main source was a major compilation of the physical and topographical changes recorded in human history published by Karl von Hoff in 1822-1824. He learned German specifically to read the work, and employed Hoff’s data to demonstrate his view that the earth is “a system of balanced antagonistic processes,” erosion balanced by sedimentation and crustal elevation offset by crustal subsidence.

Lyell began his book with strong criticism of contemporary geologists. He described the history of science as a protracted struggle between scientists with views similar to his own and those, who invoked catastrophes at every turn. Lyell described his own outlook, which stressed the “uniformity” of nature, as the genuinely scientific view, while equating his opponents with writers who claimed biblical authority to limit the earth’s history to a few thousand years. He lumped geologists, like his mentor Buckland with these literalist writers because he identified the “geological deluge” with the biblical flood. Nevertheless, Buckland had rejected biblical literalism by assuming an unlimited period of time for the earth’s development. Lyell’s goals were to make geology truly scientific, but also “to free the science from Moses.” The book received mixed reviews. Reviewers found his thesis about the power of modern causes significant and persuasive, but thought his criticisms of other geologists grossly unfair. Likewise, they considered Lyell’s skepticism about organic progression utterly unconvincing.

In 1831, Lyell was appointed professor of geology at the new King’s College in London. He lectured there during 1832 and 1833, offering similar lectures at the Royal Institution. But he resigned from King’s College in 1833 and gave no further lectures at the Royal Institution, since the salary provided too small an income to justify the distraction from his research and writing.

While doing field work in Germany, during the summer of 1831, Lyell met the 23-year old Mary Horner, daughter of the Whig reformer and geologist Leonard Horner. They married on July 12, 1832, after a geological honeymoon, settling in Hart Street, Bloomsbury in London near the British Museum and the Geological Society’s headquarters in Somerset House. Mary was well educated and fluent in French and German, and soon began helping her husband with translation, compensating for his poor eyesight. The marriage would remain childless.

Lyell produced the second volume of the Principles in 1832, dealing with “modern causes” in the organic realm, particularly the relationship between organisms and their enviornment. He rejected Jean Baptiste Lamarck’s theory of the incessant mutability of species, maintaining that species are “stable entities” that appear and become extinct piecemeal in time and space. He attributed extinctions not to catastrophes, but to the gradual changes in the environment explained in his first volume. It was in his review of Lyell’s second volume that William Whewell coined the terms “uniformitarian” and “catastrophist” for the two opposing schools of geologists.

In the third and final volume of the Principles Lyell laid out his time scale for the Tertiary era, which formed its core theme. He used the lengthy lists of fossilized species from Deshayes’s Paris survey of Tertiary formations to infer a chronological order for the era. Based upon the incidence of the fossilized remains of “recent” species in the various Tertiary strata, Whewell proposed to Lyell Greek-based names for successive periods of Tertiary time. The “Eocene” or early recent strata, the “Miocene” or middle recent strata, and the “Pliocene” or “almost” recent strata. Lyell maintained that the entire Tertiary era exemplified the essential “uniformity” of the earth throughout geologic time. Lyell laid to rest the alleged evidence of radically different conditions in earlier eras with his concept of “metamorphism”. He pointed out that deep burial within the earth’s crust of its oldest rocks had destroyed their fossils and altered them beyond recognition. Likewise, sedimentary strata were transformed by heat, being converted to crystalline rocks, when submerged below the earth’s surface. Lyell called these rocks “metamorphic” rocks.

In 1834, Lyell presented the Bakerian lecture at the Royal Society and afterward received the Society’s royal medal. However, it was awarded specifically for his work on modern causes, and not for his more controversial claims. In particular, even Lyell’s strongest supporters were critical of his rejection of a directional history of the world, while other critics took exception with his rejection of the mutability of species. In 1835-37 Lyell served as president of the Geological Society, and used his anniversary addresses to examine current geological research in light of his own approach to science. Although his notions of modern causes continued to gain headway among geologists, other aspects of his work did not. The uneven evaluation of his ideas influenced Lyell to divide his research into two parts. Subsequent editions of the Principles, beginning with the sixth edition (1840) focused purely on the interactions of “modern causes”. Lyell planned a separate book on the use of fossil mollusks in Tertiary geology, but this never appeared.

In 1838 Lyell produced a book entitled Elements of Geology that examined the whole stratigraphical record from the most recent to most ancient formations. The work interpreted terrestrial processes in terms of geological uniformity for a wide audience of educated lay readers. Written in a clear and persuasive style, the book also appeared in American editions and French and German translations, giving Lyell’s ideas international currency.

In 1841-42 Lyell was invited to the United States to give the Lowell lectures in Boston, after which he and his wife traveled widely, publishing a two volume record of Travels in North America, containing his geological, political and social observations. In an encore appearance they returned to America in 1845-46, when he was invited to give the Lowell lectures once again. He also made two subsequent visits to the United States in 1852 and 1853.

By this point in his career Lyell had become a prominent man of science. He was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society in 1842, knighted by the Queen in 1848 and served on the Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. During a second term as president of the Geological Society in 1848-51, Lyell once again criticized the alleged fossil evidence for species change. Some puzzling field observations from Madeira in the Canary Islands came to his attention in 1857, forcing him consider once more the possibility of an evolutionary mechanism behind the development of species. Shortly before this in 1856, Charles Darwin informed Lyell of his own theory of natural selection as the mechanism behind evolution. Despite the implications of Darwin’s ideas for his geology and his view of human life, Lyell encouraged him to publish without delay.

Lyell’s last major work, entitled The Antiquity of Man, published in 1863, was informed by Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859), as well as new geological evidence that established the existence of early human beings alongside mammoths and other extinct mammals. Lyell now reviewed the evidence for evolution quite favorably, although he only clearly embraced the idea four years later in the tenth edition of the Principles (1867-68).

Lyell was active in the British Association for the Advancement of Science in its early years, serving as president for the Bath meeting in 1864. Also, that year he was created a baronet, and in 1866 received the Wollaston medal, the Geological Society’s highest award. Lyell’s Elements went through eight editions, and the twelfth edition of the Principles was published posthumously in 1875. Lyell died on February 22, 1875 at his London home, preceded two years earlier by his wife Mary. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

From the guide to the Sir Charles Lyell papers, 1806-1874, 1806-1874, (American Philosophical Society)

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creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Letter: 1833 Oct. 22, Kinnordy, Kirriemuir, to David Laing, Edinburgh / Cha. Lyell. University of Edinburgh - Main Library, Edinburgh University Library
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. [Letter] July 9, 1874, London [to] Rev. Bonney. University of California, San Diego, UC San Diego Library; UCSD Library
referencedIn Morton, Samuel George, 1799-1851. Papers, 1838-1844. American Philosophical Society Library
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Autograph letter signed : Kinnordy, Kirriemuir, N.B., to George Sumner, [1849 July 19]. Pierpont Morgan Library.
referencedIn Vol. I, 1837-1870.British Museum: Applications, etc., for Reading Room tickets: 1824-1881.: Partly printed.includes:f. 1 British Museum: Reading Room ticket: 1824.: Printed.f. 2 Charles Frederick Barnwell, FRS; FSA: Letter to Sir H. Ellis: 1837.f..., 1837-1870 British Library
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Letter: 1836 Jan. 27, Kinnordy, to David Laing, South Bridge Street [Edinburgh] / Cha. Lyell. University of Edinburgh - Main Library, Edinburgh University Library
referencedIn Scientists Collection, 1563-1973 American Philosophical Society
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Correspondence, 1811-1882. American Philosophical Society Library
creatorOf Sir Charles Lyell correspondence, 1811-1882, 1811-1882 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn LETTERS, chiefly from men of science, to James Croll, F.R.S., LL.D. (d. 1890), physical geologist, with letters to his biographer, James Campbell Irons, etc.; 1863-1898 and n.d. Some appear in Irons's Dr. Croll's Life and Work, 1896. The names of the..., 18th century-19th century British Library
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Letter : London, to David Milne, 1840 Feb. 15. Texas Christian University
referencedIn Papers of Professor Robert Harkness (1816-1878), 1855-1877 Edinburgh University Library
referencedIn Richard Owen papers, 1827-1889, 1827-1889 American Philosophical Society
creatorOf Alison, Archibald, 1757-1839,. Papers pertaining to Charles Darwin and evolution, 1771-1821. University of Virginia. Library
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creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Letter to [?]. 73 Harley St., [London], Eng. 1871 Oct. 28. University of Iowa Libraries
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referencedIn Adam Sedgwick: Letters and Papers, 1818-1916 Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives
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creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Catalogue of specimens of the tertiary formation of the Paris basin / by Charles Lyell. Natural History Museum
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creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Letter: 1845 Sept. 12, Kinnordy, Kirriemuir, to David Laing / Cha. Lyell. University of Edinburgh - Main Library, Edinburgh University Library
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referencedIn Books from the library of Amos Bronson Alcott, 1579-1893. Houghton Library
referencedIn Vol. III. 1860.includes:f. 2 Jane Ferraro, wife of the Marquis de La Marmora: Letter to Griffin and Co.: 1860. f. 3 Alfonso Ferraro, Marquis de La Marmora: Biographical notice of: 1860. ff. 5, 8 M-E-Lamaartine, wife of Alphonse de Lamartine: Lett..., 1860 British Library
referencedIn American Museum of Natural History. Miscellaneous correspondence collection, 1796-1926, 1871-1926 (bulk) Campbell University, Wiggins Memorial Library
creatorOf MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS AND PAPERS. Paper and vellum; ff. 225. British Library arrangement. A. Examination of Philip Wake before Sir Salathiel Lovell, Recorder of London, relating to the setting fire to the house of Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., in Bloomsbur..., 1360-1977 British Library
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Autograph letter signed : London, to Dr. Percy, 1863 May 22. Pierpont Morgan Library.
referencedIn Milman, Henry Hart, 1791-1868. Letters, 1838 June 4-1870 March 1, Deanery, St. Pauls. to George Ticknor, Boston. Dartmouth College Library
referencedIn Choate, Rufus, 1799-1859. Letter, 1841 December 19, Washington, to George Ticknor [n.p.]. Dartmouth College Library
creatorOf SIR HENRY ELLIS: private and official letters to Sir Henry Ellis K.H., (b.1779, d.1869), Principal Librarian of the British Museum, mostly on antiquarian matters and frequently relating to his duties at the British Museum; 1812-1866, n.d. A few lette..., 1812-1866 British Library
referencedIn Samuel George Morton papers, 1838-1844, 1838-1844 American Philosophical Society
creatorOf Shecut, John L. E. W. (John Linnaeus Edward Whitridge), 1770-1836. Mineralogical tracts. American Museum of Natural History
creatorOf Sir Charles Lyell papers, 1806-1874, 1806-1874 American Philosophical Society
creatorOf LETTERS, ETC., TO SIR RICHARD OWEN, K.C.B., Superintendent of the natural history collections at the British Museum; 1856-1859, n.d. Supplements Add. MSS. 33348, 39954. Followed (ff. 27-30) by a letter of Col. Frederick Brine, R.E., 29 July 1864, enc..., 1856-1864 British Library
creatorOf British Association for the Advancement of Science. Meeting. [Addresses to the British Association for the Advancement of Science]. American Museum of Natural History
referencedIn Alexander von Humboldt papers, 1801-1859, 1793-1859 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Palfrey family papers, 1713-1915 Houghton Library
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Prescott-Lyell letters, 1849-1852. Massachusetts Historical Society
referencedIn Samuel Peckworth Woodward letters, 1836-1865, 1836-1865 American Philosophical Society
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Letter to "Dear Sir," 1871, February 14. Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens
referencedIn Parkman family, Edward Twisleton, and Sarah Wyman Whitman additional papers, 1763-1917 (inclusive) 1850-1907 (bulk). Houghton Library
creatorOf Avebury, John Lubbock, 1st Baron, 1834-1913. Avebury Papers. A. General Correspondence, 1855-1911. Vol. I (ff. 180). 1855-1859. British Library
creatorOf Avebury, John Lubbock, 1st Baron, 1834-1913. Avebury Papers. A. General Correspondence, 1855-1911. Vol. II (ff. 139). 1860-1862. British Library
referencedIn Vol. XIX. (ff. 513). Undated. A-L.includes:f. 1 Charles Abbot, 2nd Baron Colchester: Letter to C. Babbage: n.d. f. 3 Arthur Adams, zoologist: Letter to Sir E. Belcher.: n.d. f. 4 Richarda Airy, wife of Sir G B Airy: Letter to C. Babbage: n. d. f. ..., 19th century British Library
referencedIn Woodward, Samuel Pickworth, 1821-1865. Letters, 1836-1865. American Philosophical Society Library
referencedIn Letters of scientists, 1655-1973. American Philosophical Society Library
referencedIn An Annotated Calendar of the Letters of Charles Darwin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society, 1799-1882 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Records of the Erving Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy kept by John White Webster, 1824-1835 and undated. Harvard University Archives.
referencedIn Clough, Arthur Hugh, 1819-1861. Letter [n.d.], Cambridge, to Mrs. Ticknor [n.p.]. Dartmouth College Library
referencedIn Hooker, William Jackson, Sir, 1785-1865. Letters, 1819-1863. American Philosophical Society Library
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Letter, [n.d., Boston?], to G. Ticknor, Boston. Dartmouth College Library
referencedIn vol. III., ff. 483, 1826-1858.includes:ff. 1, 25, 53 Adolphe Théophile Brongniart: Letters to R. Brown: 1824, 1826, 1828.: Fr. f. 6 Samuel Nicolaus Casström, KPS; Councillor of Commerce at Stockholm: Letters to R. Brown: 1821-1826. f. 7 William Elf..., 1826-1858 British Library
referencedIn Thomas Henry Huxley Papers, 1851-1895, 1851-1895 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Vol. XV. (ff. 490). Oct. 1854-Apr. 1856.includes:f. 1 Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby: Letter to C. Babbage: 1854. f. 3 Baden Powell, Savilian professor of geometry: Letters to C. Babbage: 1837-1856. f. 5 Louisa Tempé Undy: Letter to C. Babbage... British Library
referencedIn Henry Adams autograph album, 1833-1939. Houghton Library
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Letter : London, to David Milne, 1840 Feb. 15. University of Chicago Library
referencedIn Emerson family papers, 1699-1939. Houghton Library
referencedIn Wiseman, William, Sir, b. 1885-1962. Sir William Wiseman papers, 1916-1961 Yale University Library
referencedIn Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874. Correspondence, 1829-1874 Houghton Library
creatorOf Dwight, Theodore Frelinghuysen, 1846-1917. Theodore F. Dwight papers, 1660-1916. Library of Congress
referencedIn Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker correspondence, 1844-1910, 1844-1910 American Philosophical Society
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Autograph letter signed : London, to Thomas Sopwith, 1841 Jan. 27. Pierpont Morgan Library.
referencedIn KNIGHTLEY MANUSCIPTS. Vol. IV A (ff. 249). Letters and papers, mostly autograph, of peers, statesmen, men of letters, etc., arranged alphabetically; 1690 -1908. Included are three letters, in French, addressed to the Marquise du Châtelet (supplement..., 1690-1908 British Library
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Autograph letter signed : London, to an unidentified recipient, 1831 July 2. Pierpont Morgan Library.
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Letter: 1836 Jan. 11, Kinnordy, Kirriemuir, to William Laing / Cha. Lyell. University of Edinburgh - Main Library, Edinburgh University Library
referencedIn Vol. X. (ff. 696). Oct. 1838-Dec. 1841.includes:f. 1 Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 1st Baronet: Letters to C. Babbage: 1834-1861. ff. 3, 115, 534 Robert Vaughan Richards, barrister: Letters to C. Babbage: 1831-1841. ff. 5, 389 Julius Jeffreys: Lett... British Library
creatorOf Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875. Letter : London, to unknown man, 1870 May 11. University of Chicago Library
referencedIn Papers of Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875), 1823-1875 Edinburgh University Library
creatorOf Merrill, George P. (George Perkins), 1854-1929. Papers, 1837-1931, bulk 1891-1920. Raymond H. Fogler Library
referencedIn Babbage, Charles, 1791-1871. Correspondence. Vol. XIV, 1852-Sept. 1854. British Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
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Place Name Admin Code Country
Amberg, Bavaria
Guienne, Province of, France
Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
Roda, Egypt
Luton, Bedfordshire
Great Britain
India, Asia
Dallington House, Northamptonshire
Canada, North America
Augsburg, Germany
Malta, Europe
United States of America
India, Asia
New Zealand, Australia
Spires, Germany
Mottram - in - Longendale, Cheshire
Waterloo, Belgium
Netherlands, Europe
Hungary, Europe
Clifton-on-Teme, Worcestershire
Russell, New Zealand
Althorp, Northamptonshire
India, Asia
High Cliff, Hampshire
Liverpool, England
Philadelphia (Pa.)
Mountstuart House, Isle of Bute
New Zealand, Australia
Glasgow, Scotland
Grenada, the W. Indies
South Africa, Africa
Quebec, Canada
Rouen, France
Dominica, the W. Indies
Ratisbon, Bavaria
St. Vincent, West Indies
London, England
Kirkwall, Scotland
Dublin, Ireland
Great Britain
Hoechstett, Bavaria
Yezo al. Hokkaido, Japan
Brazil, South America
Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany
Hakodate, Japan
West Indies, America
Tahiti, Pacific Ocean
Subject
Booksellers and bookselling
Beyond Early America
Botany
Evolution
Geology
Geology
Natural history
Natural selection
Paleontology
Science
Science
Scientists
Occupation
Scientists
Activity

Person

Birth 1797-11-14

Death 1875-02-22

Male

Britons

English

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