Everything about Charles Lyell totally explained
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet,
KT, (
November 14,
1797 –
February 22,
1875) was a
Scottish lawyer,
geologist, and populariser of
uniformitarianism.
Charles Lyell was born in
Kinnordy,
Angus, the eldest of ten children. Lyell's father, also named Charles, was a lawyer and
botanist of minor repute and first exposed the younger Charles to the study of nature. Charles spent much of his childhood at the family’s other home,
Bartley Lodge in the
New Forest,
England, where his interest in the natural world was sparked.
Having been thrown out of
Exeter College, Oxford ending in 1820, Lyell encountered
geology as a serious profession under the wing of the naturalist
William Buckland. Upon graduation he took a professional detour into the law, completing a circuit throughout rural England where he could observe geology. As his eyesight began to fail him during long hours focusing on legal briefs he in turn adopted geology as a full time profession.
During the 1840s, he traveled to the
United States and
Canada, which resulted in his writing two popular travel-and-geology books: 1845's
Travels in North America and
A Second Visit to the United States (from 1849).
He won the
Copley Medal in 1858 and the
Wollaston Medal in 1866. After the
Great Chicago Fire, Lyell was one of the first to donate books to help found the
Chicago Public Library.
His wife Mary died in 1873, two years later 1875, Lyell died as he was revising the twelfth edition of Principles, he was buried in
Westminster Abbey. The central argument in
Principles was that "the present is the key to the past:" That geological remains from the distant past can, and should, be explained by reference to geological processes now in operation and thus directly observable. Lyell's interpretation of geologic change as the steady accumulation of minute changes over enormously long spans of time was also a central theme in the
Principles, and a powerful influence on the young
Charles Darwin, who was given Volume 1 of the first edition by
Robert FitzRoy, captain of
HMS Beagle, just before they set out on the
voyage of the Beagle. On their first stop ashore at
St Jago Darwin found rock formations which seen "through Lyell's eyes" gave him a revolutionary insight into the geological history of the island, an insight he applied throughout his travels. While in
South America Darwin received Volume 2 which firmly rejected the idea of organic
evolution, proposing "Centres of Creation" to explain diversity and territory of species. Darwin's ideas gradually moved beyond this, but in geology he was very much Lyell's disciple and sent home extensive evidence and theorising supporting Lyell's uniformitarianism, including Darwin's ideas about the formation of
atolls. On his return they became close friends. Lyell continued to firmly reject the idea of organic evolution in each of the first nine editions of the
Principles. Confronted with Darwin's
On the Origin of Species, he finally offered a tepid endorsement of evolution in the tenth edition.
Elements of Geology began as the fourth volume of the third edition of
Principles: Lyell intended
Elements to act as a suitable field guide for students of geology.. The systematic, factual description of geological formations of different ages contained in
Principles grew so unwieldy, however, that Lyell split it off into a single volume under the
Elements title in 1838. The book went through six editions, eventually growing to two volumes and ceasing to be the inexpensive, portable handbook that Lyell had originally envisioned. Late in his career, therefore, Lyell produced a condensed version titled
Student's Elements of Geology that fulfilled the original purpose.
Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man brought together Lyell's views on three key themes from the geology of the
Quaternary Period of Earth history: glaciers, evolution, and the age of the human race. First published in 1863, it went through three editions that year, with a fourth and final edition appearing in 1873.
Scientific contributions
Lyell's geological interests ranged from
volcanoes and geological dynamics through
stratigraphy,
paleontology and
glaciology to topics that would now be classified as
prehistoric archaeology and
paleoanthropology. He is best known, however, for his role in popularising the doctrine of
uniformitarianism.
Uniformitarianism
From
1830 to
1833 his multi-volume
Principles of Geology was published. The work's subtitle was "An Attempt to explain the former changes of the Earth's surface by reference to causes now in operation", and this explains Lyell's impact on science. He drew his explanations from field studies conducted directly before he went to work on the founding geology text. Lyell, in contrast focused on recent earthquakes (150 yrs), evidenced by surface irregularities such as faults, fissures, stratigraphic displacements and depressions.
In these areas he concluded that the recent strata (rock layers) could be categorized according to the number and proportion of marine shells encased within. Based on this he proposed dividing the
Tertiary period into three parts, which he named the
Pliocene,
Miocene, and
Eocene.
Glaciers
In
Principles of Geology (first edition, vol. 3, Ch. 2, 1833)
Lyell proposed that
icebergs could be the means of transport for
erratics. During periods of global warming, ice breaks off the poles and floats across submerged continents, carrying debris with it, he conjectured. When the iceberg melts, it rains down sediments upon the land. Because this theory could account for the presence of diluvium, the word "drift" became the preferred term for the loose, unsorted material, today called "till." Furthermore, Lyell believed that the accumulation of fine angular particles covering much of the world (today called
loess) was a deposit settled from mountain flood water. Today some of Lyell's mechanisms for geologic processes have been disproven, though many have stood the test of time.
His observational methods and general analytical framework remain in use today as foundational principles in geology.
Evolution
Charles Darwin was a close personal friend, and Lyell was one of the first prominent scientists to support
On the Origin of Species; he also fully accepted
natural selection as the driving engine behind evolution in his tenth edition of
Principles.
In fact, Lyell was instrumental in arranging the peaceful co-publication of the theory of natural selection by Darwin and
Alfred Russel Wallace in
1858, reflecting the fact that each had arrived at the theory independently (Darwin long before Wallace, however). Lyell's own
The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man followed a few years later in
1863. Lyell's data was important because Darwin thought that populations of an organism changed very slowly, requiring what is now known as "geologic time".
Geological Surveys
Mention should be made concerning the promotion of Geological Surveys. Lyell stated the “economic advantages” that geological surveys could provide, citing their felicity in mineral rich countries and provinces. Modern surveys, like the
U.S. Geological Survey, map and exhibit the natural resources existing within the country. So, in endorsing surveys, as well as advancing the study of geology, Lyell helped to forward the business of modern extractive industries, such as the coal and oil industry.
Bibliography
Principles of Geology
- Principles of Geology 1st vol. 1st edition, Jan. 1830 (John Murray, London).
- Principles of Geology 1st vol. 2nd edition, 1832
- Principles of Geology 2nd vol. 1st edition, Jan. 1832
- Principles of Geology 2nd vol. 2nd edition, Jan. 1833
- Principles of Geology 3rd vol. 1st edition, May 1833
- Principles of Geology 4 vols. 3rd edition, May 1834
- Principles of Geology 4 vols. 4th edition, June 1835
- Principles of Geology 4 vols. 5th edition, March 1837
- Principles of Geology 3 vols. 6th edition, June 1840
- Principles of Geology 1 vol. 7th edition, Feb. 1847
- Principles of Geology 1 vol. 8th edition, May 1850
- Principles of Geology 1 vol. 9th edition, June 1853
- Principles of Geology 10th edition, 1866-68
- Principles of Geology 11th edition, 1872
- Principles of Geology 2 vols. 12th edition, 1875 (published posthumously)
Elements of Geology
Elements of Geology 1 vol. 1st edition, July 1838 (John Murray, London)
Elements of Geology 2 vols. 2nd edition, July 1841
Elements of Geology (Manual of Elementary Geology) 1 vol. 3rd edition, Jan. 1851
Elements of Geology (Manual of Elementary Geology) 1 vol. 4th edition, Jan. 1852
Elements of Geology 1 vol. 5th edition, ????
Elements of Geology 6th edition, 1865
Student's Elements of Geology, 1871
Travels in North America
Travels in North America 2 vols., 1845 (John Murray, London)
A Second Visit to the United States of North America 2 vols., 1849 (John Murray, London)
Antiquity of Man
Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man 1 vol. 1st edition, Feb. 1863 (John Murray, London)
Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man 1 vol. 2nd edition, April 1863
Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man 1 vol. 3rd edition, Nov. 1863
Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man 1 vol. 4th edition, May 1873
Life, Letters, and Journals
Life, Letters, and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell 2 vols. 1st edition, K. M. Lyell, ed., 1881 (John Murray, London)
Miscellaneous
Lyell Land in East Central Greenland is named after him.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Charles Lyell'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://charles_lyell.totallyexplained.com">Charles Lyell Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
